Are Server SANs The Future Or Just Hype?

An emerging software-defined storage technology is getting a lot of attention, but using direct-attached storage as a common storage pool isn't without complications.

Howard Marks

March 5, 2014

1 Min Read
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There's been a lot of buzz in the storage and virtualization communities about using the storage in, or directly attached to, virtualization hosts as a replacement for the shared storage systems that have been the enterprise standard for almost two decades. As VMware’s VSAN prepares to emerge from its public beta next month, the hype is only building. Will server SANs take over the datacenter or are we rapidly climbing the Gartner Hype Cycle’s Peak of Inflated Expectations?

To be clear, the products we’re talking about create a common pool of storage from the flash memory and spinning disks on the virtualization hosts themselves. Stu Miniman at Wikibon dubbed this technology Server SAN, and I previously called it Storage Software Definus Virtucalis Scaleoutus.

In many ways server SANs, including the Maxta Storage Platform, Sanbolic’s Melio platform, Atlantis ILIO USX and EMC’s ScaleIO, in addition to the aforementioned VSAN, are software implementations of the hyper-converged systems like those from Nutanix, Scale Computing and Simplivity.

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About the Author(s)

Howard Marks

Network Computing Blogger

Howard Marks</strong>&nbsp;is founder and chief scientist at Deepstorage LLC, a storage consultancy and independent test lab based in Santa Fe, N.M. and concentrating on storage and data center networking. In more than 25 years of consulting, Marks has designed and implemented storage systems, networks, management systems and Internet strategies at organizations including American Express, J.P. Morgan, Borden Foods, U.S. Tobacco, BBDO Worldwide, Foxwoods Resort Casino and the State University of New York at Purchase. The testing at DeepStorage Labs is informed by that real world experience.</p><p>He has been a frequent contributor to <em>Network Computing</em>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<em>InformationWeek</em>&nbsp;since 1999 and a speaker at industry conferences including Comnet, PC Expo, Interop and Microsoft's TechEd since 1990. He is the author of&nbsp;<em>Networking Windows</em>&nbsp;and co-author of&nbsp;<em>Windows NT Unleashed</em>&nbsp;(Sams).</p><p>He is co-host, with Ray Lucchesi of the monthly Greybeards on Storage podcast where the voices of experience discuss the latest issues in the storage world with industry leaders.&nbsp; You can find the podcast at: http://www.deepstorage.net/NEW/GBoS

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