Planning a Storage Strategy, The Book:

Document Category: Other
Subject: Other
Vendor:
Keywords: Business Processes, Management, Planning, Strategy
Document Date: January 1st, 2008
Author: Randy Kerns
Short Description:
The definitive guide to planning for information storage as a business process.

Full Summary:

Storing and retrieving data are vital functions to almost all companies. Planning for meeting the demands for storage in capacity, performance, data protection including security, storage management, and availability is really a business process that must take into consideration both business and technical factors. For most companies, this has been dealt with in a reactionary manner by relying on the talents of the storage professionals responsible to handle the situations as they occur. It is equally important to plan for regulatory compliance, business continuity, and operational efficiency.

This book introduces developing a storage strategy over a three to five year timeframe and a plan for implementing the storage strategy. Any storage strategy considers future requirements, integration of technologies and the risk associated, and meeting the current needs with a tactical plan. The book highlights the necessary information and a method for obtaining and analyzing the requirements as well as understanding the future technology impacts. Planning for technology change is one of the most overlooked elements in Information Technology. The process to employ in gathering information and making judgments regarding what and how to integrate into the storage strategy are highlighted in this book.

1 Introduction	1
What is a storage strategy?	2
Who is responsible for the storage strategy?	4
Storage is more than just devices	4
The Ins and Outs of a Storage strategy	5
Storage is a critical business	8
Storage doesn’t necessarily mean complexity	11

2 Business Issues	12
Storage Investment	12
Importance of Storage	14
Competitiveness in Business	16
Visibility of Failure	17
Storage Demand	18
Continuous Operation	19
Complexity	21
Effective Use of Resources	22
Investment Value	23
Consistency in Storage Strategy Implications	26

3 Requirements	27
Business Requirements	27
How to Deliver Capacity and Business Continuity	28
Security of Information	29
Risk Management	31
Availability Requirements	32
Security Requirements	37
Financial Operation Requirements	41
Major Change Requirements	42
Measurement Requirements – Total Cost of Ownership	42
Measurement Requirements – Return On Investment	44
Obtaining the Requirements	46
Regular Business Process	47

4 Storage Strategy Components	48
Storage Environment – Architecture	48
Storage Management	54
Disk Systems	59
Tape Systems	66
NAS Systems	70
Storage Device Special Features	75
Services	80
Operational Procedures	83
Organization	83
Business Procedures	84
Standards vs. “Standardize”	85
Strategic Developments	88
Future Technologies	88
Storage Virtualization	90
SCSI – Internet SCSI	94
InfiniBand	99
RDMA – Remote Direct Memory Access	100
Storage Grid	102
Global Namespace	105
De-duplication	107
Continuous Data Protection	107

5 Strategic Decisions	111
Sources for Storage Information	111
Education	114
Product Information	115
Procedures	117
Decision Process	120
Time	121
Technology Turns	122
Tactics	122
Validation	126
Critical Choices	126
Selling the Strategy	128

6 Development of the Strategy	130
Get the Requirements	132
Storage Infrastructure	139
Storage Management	141
Strategic Initiatives	144
Storage Practices	148

7 Recommendations	150
Work with IT Staff	150
Cross Area Exposure	153
Business Economics Education	153
Managing to a Process	153
Implementation of the Storage Strategy	156
Evaluate and Measure Effectiveness	158
Refine the Process	159

8 Summary	161

Appendix	163
Index	169
About Randy Kerns	172

This book will be mailed upon ordering