Storage is often the backbone of any business, critical to running day-to-day operations. Therefore, it is vital that you choose the right solution for your data center, even if you have to take a long time to make this decision. Considering the following pre-purchase considerations to help you find the perfect storage solution for your business.
IT infrastructure is a crucial part of every enterprise. It provides the foundation for mission-critical applications, maintains secure communications and stores valuable data.
The best NAS systems are designed to be compatible with your existing IT systems and services. Enterprise NAS storage should be able to work with the rest of your hardware and support the protocols used in your company's networks. This can include support for standard IP-based storage protocols like CIFS (Common Internet File System), NFS (Network File System) and FTP (File Transfer Protocol).
Enterprise NAS systems typically look very similar — they all contain hard drive bays and network ports in similar locations — but each model is unique and requires its software configurations. Make sure your Network Attached Storage will work with existing networking equipment before purchasing.
If an enterprise-class product requires a special setup procedure, such as firmware configuration, it requires a greater investment in time and money. Make sure to get a solution that is as easy as it gets when it comes to deployment.
Storage tiering is the process of moving infrequently used data from fast hard disk drives to slower, low-cost storage media. This reduces the cost of storage and increases capacity utilization. The data is still available, but it can be accessed more quickly.
The hardware architecture of the NAS storage must include support for hardware redundancy. NAS vendors deploy hardware redundancy in different ways. Some configurations provide hardware redundancy by utilizing RAID arrays on two separate controllers. Others use a single controller with multiple RAID arrays or a single controller with software-based RAID protection. The best architectures use both hardware and software RAID technology to provide fast performance while ensuring data reliability.
Enterprise storage needs can quickly scale beyond the capabilities of several terabytes of capacity. While it may be tempting to limit your purchase to a smaller capacity unit, doing so could lead to upgrades within just a few years. It is advisable to go for scale-out type storage, so you don't have to replace all your storage just to give it a small upgrade.
Enterprise NAS systems should include advanced features, e.g., StoneFly’s super scale-out enterprise NAS storage supports features such as deduplication, compression, and automated storage tiering for seamless data management.
Enterprise NAS solutions should provide fine-grained access control for files and folders. This is particularly important if you'll be implementing your storage solution in a heterogeneous environment.
It might just be the time to upgrade to an enterprise NAS storage solution. We hope this post will help you in making an informed decision. If this helped you, give us a thumbs up.