Are you running a small business and looking for a way to reduce your IT budget? The good news is that technology is constantly evolving, and so is the cost of running a business. For example, data storage and data protection are some of the areas where technology keeps evolving. That is why data storage can now be virtualized. So you can quickly deploy data storage virtualization while reducing the cost and complexity of IT.
What Is a Virtual SAN?
SAN (storage area network) is a software-defined network (SDN) that connects storage systems together in order to provide centralized management of all the storage devices that are in the network. This reduces the complexity of managing all of the appliances. Instead, all the storage devices are managed by a single control point.
The biggest benefit of an SDN is that it offers centralized management and monitoring. Centralized management eliminates the need to manage and monitor each device individually. This centralized management gives you more time to focus on your business.
The second biggest benefit is that it is secure. In addition, you don’t have to worry about a security breach since it is associated with the virtual control rather than on each individual SAN. This means you can increase security and be proactive to protect your business. You can also easily configure and add storage capacity to the SDN. This flexibility allows you to grow your business. In order to be able to offer these benefits, a virtual SAN (vSAN) is the best solution.
How Is a vSAN Different From a Physical SAN?
A virtual SAN (vSAN) is a software-defined virtual network that allows storage devices to communicate with one another. When a SAN is implemented using physical hardware devices, the communication between the storage devices is done using dedicated circuits.
However, when you run a vSAN using software-defined virtual networking, you can connect these storage devices together by applying a network connection, such as TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) or Fibre Channel. Additionally, with a virtualized SAN, you can have a unified network for your IT infrastructure with centralized management and monitoring. The latter scenario is simply impossible with a physical SAN.
Advantages of Virtual SAN
You can virtualize the storage capacity of your SAN. With a physical SAN, you are constrained in the amount of storage capacity you can offer. However, with a virtualized SAN you can provide as much storage capacity as you like. On top of that, a virtualized SAN provides flexibility to grow your business. Instead of having to purchase new hardware devices, you can just deploy more storage devices. Let’s dive into other key benefits of vSAN:
- Reduced Cost – When you implement a virtual SAN, you eliminate the need to purchase new hardware devices. You also avoid the cost of maintaining these hardware devices;
- Increased Efficiency – When you manage the storage devices using software, you eliminate the need to manage these devices individually. This allows you to make better use of your time;
- Higher Availability – If your SAN fails, you don’t need to take the system down. You just run a new vSAN and plug it in. With a physical SAN, you have to take down the system to repair the hardware;
- Simplified Management – You don’t need to manage each individual device separately. Instead, all your storage appliances are managed by a single control point. This allows you to concentrate on managing your business;
- Simplified Management of Backup – You no longer need to manually create backups. Instead, you can use automated and scheduled backups;
- Simplified Network Management – When your SAN is configured using physical hardware devices, you have to take down the system to manage the network. In addition, the control point is usually located on the SAN management system. This means you have to manage both the control point and the SAN management system. With a vSAN, you can manage your network using a desktop or laptop computer. This means you only need to connect to the network once to manage the entire network. You don’t need to access the SAN management system and take down the system;
- More Flexibility – A virtual SAN allows you to grow your business. This is because you can just add storage capacity to the network. You no longer have to purchase new devices;
- Enhanced Security – When a SAN is implemented using physical hardware devices, your data is only as secure as the hardware devices. If the hardware devices are compromised, then your data is compromised. However, when a vSAN is implemented, the security of your data lies with the virtual control. This means the control is in a data center that is different from your company’s data center. This prevents security breaches from reaching your company.
vSAN Architecture
You can configure vSAN using any type of architecture. The type of architecture you use is completely dependent on the needs of your organization. The most common types of vSAN architecture are:
- Distributed – A distributed architecture is the most scalable vSAN solution. The basic requirement for a distributed architecture is that it be supported by a distributed storage operating system (DSOS);
- Scalable – A scalable architecture is based on a shared storage system (SSS). This shared storage system stores vSAN clusters;
- Hybrid – The hybrid architecture is based on a shared storage system. However, it has a distributed vSAN infrastructure;
- Storage Network Controller (SNC) – SNC architectures have the storage devices connected to a vSAN using a storage network controller;
- Storage Switch (S-Switch) – S-Switch architectures have the storage devices connected to a vSAN using an S-Switch.
Again, there is no good or bad vSAN architecture. It all depends on the needs of your business and the processes that you have been running so far.
Final Say!
Obviously, vSAN is ideally suited for businesses of all sizes. It is a flexible storage infrastructure that gives you more choices and freedom of deployment options. You can easily reduce your IT budget by deploying a virtual SAN solution like vSAN.
