storage ICT
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http://www.dcseurope.info/n/wkrt
Cloud storage An optimal service As organisations look to invest in the cloud for data
backup, they often overlook one big hurdle – the network. Poor network performance can lead to high disaster recovery costs and missed recovery point objectives (RPO). It can also make it difficult for remote users to easily access the stored data. This threatens the success of cloud storage projects, and can result in increased expenditures as organisations try to make up for limited replication throughput and poor connectivity by buying more wide area network (WAN) capacity or upgrading servers. By Dave Greenfield, product marketing manager, Silver Peak.
AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL, cloud computing involves the predictable delivery of hosted services via a shared WAN, such as the internet. Regardless of the type of cloud computing initiative, they all have one thing in common – data is centralised, while users are distributed. It is this type of environment that can de-stabilise any cloud initiative. If this happens, the entire cloud storage investment can be jeopardised.
Three network elements that impact replication throughput and storage initiatives are bandwidth, latency caused by distance and poor network quality caused by packet loss. The relationship between the three is complicated, with some having a greater impact than others in any given network environment. Adding more bandwidth, for example, will not always make a difference to cloud storage projects if there is too much latency due to extremely long distances. Similarly, all the bandwidth in the world will not matter if packets are being dropped or delivered out of order due to congestion, as is often the case in MPLS and internet connections.
Some believe that by deploying additional bandwidth to their WAN links will solve these network challenges. Mathematically this can be shown to be untrue. Furthermore, given the price of WAN bandwidth, it can be extremely expensive – a cost that can easily be avoided.
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www.dcseurope.info I November 2013
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