The virtualisation future: Software-Defined Storage

In previous articles I’ve discussed how Hyper-Converged Infrastructure (HCI) is making big moves with many seeking to take advantage of the benefits it promises – such as reduced costs, simplified management and consolidated resources – to name a few.

For companies that have invested in virtualisation technology or operate their own onsite servers, transitioning to a software defined architecture powered by a HCI promises massive performance and cost optimization benefits by enabling a platform that can deliver containers, virtual machines and storage in a single, software-defined stack. Moreover, HCI integration with Software-Defined Storage (SDS) is swiftly emerging as a key technological advantage in enterprise data centres.

Comparing surveys of early adopters with more current ones, the results show a sharp increase in the recognition of the economic benefits generated by SDS. Considering both the technical and business benefits offered by Software-Defined Storage, it’s quickly becoming the rule instead of the exception when it comes to storage solutions.

What is software-defined storage?

SDS is a delivery model for storage not just a new type of storage. The Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) describes SDS as “Virtualized storage with a service management interface. [It] includes pools of storage with data service characteristics that may be applied to meet the requirements specified through the service management interface.”

Research indicates 94 percent of organizations plan to adopt SDS as part of their near-future business plans. The primary reason driving early adopters to move to SDS is future-proofing their storage infrastructure to absorb new technologies. But there are plenty of additional advantages for virtualisation or server-running organisations to consider benefiting from.

SDS makes tech companies more agile

From a business perspective, the benefits of SDS include extending the life of existing storage assets. Businesses are realising SDS lets them avoid hardware lock-ins from storage vendors and lower costs by letting them shop around several storage vendors. On the tech side, SDS enables network operators to better manage the storage, flow, and access to the massive amounts of data typically generated by rich media, big data, business analytics, and wireless device adoption.

“You can use more media types than you would be able to do otherwise,” says Sinclair. IT professionals are free to manage data, rather than the storage hardware (which can remain of the user’s choice). The secret is in how you use the software to manage the hardware. Users grow increasingly agile in how they benefit from virtualization without having to buy new hardware. This agility could make all the difference between being responsive enough to capitalise rapidly on opportunities for growth or diversification – or not.

Bring improved scalability to your business

In many current, non-SDS models, systems often comprise of high-performance storage arrays, each having one or two controllers managing a number of disk drives. Storage capacity is increased in a scale-up approach by adding more drives. This strategy works well for smaller amounts of data. But as more disks are added to the array, the controller gradually reaches its throughput limit.

The response of SDS is to redefine storage by scaling out rather than up. Instead of adding more disks, SDS expands capacity, adding storage available to the system as well as compute power. SDS implementations consequently increase in performance while expanding in capacity. Businesses benefit by becoming more adaptable – all the better to meet growing (or diversifying) business demands.

When it comes to implementation, Sinclair thinks transforming your digital business requires transforming your IT infrastructure: “The resulting infrastructure not only needs to manage the increased scope and scale of incoming and outgoing data, it must also become more agile and flexible,” he says. “The more innovative a business becomes at using data, the greater the likelihood new products, services and initiatives will need to pivot quickly.”

How Microsoft’s Storage Spaces Direct can help

You can stand up such systems quickly. Testing and evaluation are quick and easy, and there’s no need to get new hardware, providing more agility in deployment. We suggest that anyone with legacy Storage Area Network (SAN) infrastructure consider replacing it with Microsoft’s Storage Spaces Direct (S2D) product.  

Storage Spaces Direct uses industry standard servers with locally-attached drives to create highly available, highly scalable software-defined storage at a fraction of the cost of traditional solutions.  Its hyper-converged architecture radically simplifies procurement and deployment while delivering unrivalled performance.  

Storage Spaces Direct is included in Windows Server 2016 and Windows Server Insider Preview Builds, therefore needs no additional cost in terms of licensing – and users also benefit from tax savings compared to competing HCI players.  Compounding these cost and efficiency benefits, all software-defined components are nicely integrated in to the Windows Server OS.

We expect continued growth in the SDS market going forward and would be happy to chat with you on taking advantage of this emerging approach. Drop me a message if you're keen to explore this.