Despite the maturity of network file
servers and network-attached storage and their ubiquity in corporate storage
infrastructures, file-share management continues to be a great challenge for
virtually every corporate IT manager.
Even with the vastly improved
performance and storage capacity of file servers and NAS units, in the end,
scalability can be achieved only by purchasing more and more units.
As a result, storage devices end up
sprawled across the network, creating inefficient storage usage and making
management difficult, to say the least.
Each file server and NAS unit is an
individual hardware entity with its own storage. Unfortunately, when one unit
starts to run out of storage capacity, there is no easy way for IT managers to
fix the problem. IT managers can move shares from smaller NAS units to larger
ones as the need arises, but this migration process is tedious and typically
requires a fair amount of downtime.
To avoid the downtime and mind-numbing
resource-juggling, many IT managers purchase far more storage than they need.
But new technologies can obviate this kind of surplus purchasing. In this
package, eWEEK Labs looks at two very different solutions that can help IT
managers control their network file services in the way that is best for
them.
For companies with substantial SAN
(storage area network) investments, OnStor Inc.'s 2260 NAS Gateway is a good solution. The 2260 NAS Gateway uses Fibre
Channel-attached storage, allocating it to clients as virtual file servers on
the IP network.
All the storage used by the NAS Gateway
comes from the SAN and is not held captive by servers or NAS units. When storage
resources run low, an IT manager can add a Fibre Channel RAID unit to the SAN
and have the NAS Gateway redistribute the resources accordingly.
NeoPath Networks Inc.'s FD-200 File Director takes a different tack, allowing IT managers to
manipulate the NAS resources they already have.
Instead of consolidating storage with a
SAN, file director solutions seamlessly migrate files between NAS units without
cutting off clients from their data. File directors are a good fit for companies
that already have significant investments in NAS and file servers and want to
maximize their systems.
IT managers who must wring more
capacity out of their hardware or ease storage management tasks should see
whether a file director or NAS gateway product fits the bill.
Senior Analyst Henry Baltazar can be
reached at henry_baltazar@ziffdavis.com.
