Chapter 1

Information Storage and
Management
Storing, Managing, and Protecting Digital Information
Ali Broumandnia, Broumandnia@gmail.com 1

Section I Storage System
In This Section:
• Chapter 1: Introduction to Information Storage and Management
• Chapter 2: Storage System Environment
• Chapter 3: Data Protection: RAID
• Chapter 4: Intelligent Storage Systems

Chapter 1
Introduction to Information Storage and
Management
• 1.1 Information Storage
• 1.2 Evolution of Storage Technology and Architecture
• 1.3 Data Center Infrastructure
• 1.4 Key Challenges in Managing Information
• 1.5 Information Lifecycle
• Summary

Key Concepts:
• Data and Information
• Structured and Unstructured Data
• Storage Technology Architectures
• Core Elements of a Data Center
• Information Management
• Information Lifecycle Management

This chapter describes the evolution of information storage
architecture from simple direct-attached models to complex
networked topologies.
It introduces the information lifecycle management (ILM)
strategy, which aligns the information technology (IT)
infrastructure with business priorities.

• Information created by individuals gains value when shared
with others. When created, information resides locally on
devices such as cell phones, cameras, and laptops.
• To share this information, it needs to be uploaded via
networks to data centers. It is interesting to note that while the
majority of information is created by individuals, it is stored
and managed by a relatively small number of organizations.

Figure 1-1: Virtuous cycle of informationAli Broumandnia, Broumandnia@gmail.com 7

1.1 Information Storage
Businesses use data to derive information that is
critical to their day-to-day operations. Storage is a
repository that enables users to store and retrieve this
digital data.

1.1.1 Data
• Data is a collection of raw facts from which
conclusions may be drawn.
• Data in this form is called digital data and is
accessible by the user only after it is processed by
a computer.

With the advancement of computer and communication
technologies, the rate of data generation and sharing has increased
exponentially. The following is a list of some of the factors that
have contributed to the growth of digital data:
• Increase in data processing capabilities
• Lower cost of digital storage
• Affordable and faster communication technology

• Increase in data processing capabilities: Modern-day computers provide a
significant increase in processing and storage capabilities. This enables the
conversion of various types of content and media from conventional forms to
digital formats.
• Lower cost of digital storage: Technological advances and decrease in the cost
of storage devices have provided low-cost solutions and encouraged the
development of less expensive data storage devices. This cost benefit has
increased the rate at which data is being generated and stored.
• Affordable and faster communication technology: The rate of sharing digital
data is now much faster than traditional approaches. A handwritten letter may
take a week to reach its destination, whereas it only takes a few seconds for an
e-mail message to reach its recipient .Ali Broumandnia, Broumandnia@gmail.com 12

1.1.2 Types of Data
• Data can be classified as structured or unstructured based on how it is stored
and managed.
• Structured data is organized in rows and columns in a rigidly defined
format so that applications can retrieve and process it efficiently. Structured
data is typically stored using a database management system (DBMS).
• Data is unstructured if its elements cannot be stored in rows and
columns, and is therefore difficult to query and retrieve by business
applications. For example, customer contacts may be stored in various forms
such as sticky notes, e-mail messages, business cards, or even digital format
files such as .doc, .txt, and .pdf.

1.1.3 Information
• Data, whether structured or unstructured, does not
fulfill any purpose for individuals or businesses unless it
is presented in a meaningful form.
• Businesses need to analyze data for it to be of
value.
• Information is the intelligence and knowledge
derived from data.

• Because information is critical to the success of a business,
there is an ever present concern about its availability and
protection.
• Legal, regulatory, and contractual obligations regarding the
availability and protection of data only add to these concerns.

1.1.4 Storage
• Data created by individuals or businesses must be stored so that it is easily
accessible for further processing. In a computing environment, devices
designed for storing data are termed storage devices or simply storage.
• Devices such as memory in a cell phone or digital camera, DVDs, CD-
ROMs, and hard disks in personal computers are examples of storage
devices.

1.2 Evolution of Storage Technology and Architecture
• Historically, organizations had centralized computers (mainframe) and
information storage devices (tape reels and disk packs) in their data center. The
evolution of open systems and the affordability and ease of deployment that
they offer made it possible for business units/departments to have their own
servers and storage. In earlier implementations of open systems, the storage
was typically internal to the server.
• The proliferation of departmental servers in an enterprise resulted in
unprotected, unmanaged, fragmented islands of information and increased
operating cost. Originally, there were very limited policies and processes for
managing these servers and the data created. To overcome these challenges,
storage technology evolved from non-intelligent internal storage to intelligent
networked storage.

Highlights of this technology evolution include:
• Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID):
• Direct-attached storage (DAS):
• Storage area network (SAN):
• Network-attached storage (NAS):
• Internet Protocol SAN (IP-SAN):

• Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID): This technology was
developed to address the cost, performance, and availability
requirements of data. It continues to evolve today and is used in all
storage architectures such as DAS, SAN,…
• Direct-attached storage (DAS): This type of storage connects
directly to a server (host) or a group of servers in a cluster. Storage
can be either internal or external to the server. External DAS
alleviated the challenges of limited internal storage capacity.
Highlights of this technology evolution include:

• Storage area network (SAN): This is a dedicated, high-performance
Fiber Channel (FC) network to facilitate block-level communication between
servers and storage. Storage is partitioned and assigned to a server for
accessing its data. SAN offers scalability, availability, performance, and cost
benefits compared to DAS.
• Network-attached storage (NAS): This is dedicated storage for file
serving applications. Unlike a SAN, it connects to an existing communication
network (LAN) and provides file access to heterogeneous clients. Because it is
purposely built for providing storage to file server applications, it offers higher
scalability, availability, performance, and cost benefits compared to general
purpose file servers.

• Internet Protocol SAN (IP-SAN): One of the latest evolutions in storage
architecture, IP-SAN is a convergence of technologies used in SAN and NAS. IP-
SAN provides block-level communication across a local or wide area network
(LAN or WAN), resulting in greater consolidation and availability of data.
Storage technology and architecture continues to
evolve, which enables organizations to consolidate,
protect, optimize, and leverage their data to achieve the
highest return on information assets.

Storage technology and architecture continues to evolve, which
enables organizations to consolidate, protect, optimize, and leverage
their data to achieve the highest return on information assets.Ali Broumandnia, Broumandnia@gmail.com 23

1.3 Data Center Infrastructure
• Organizations maintain data centers to provide centralized data
processing capabilities across the enterprise. Data centers store
and manage large amounts of mission-critical data.
• Large organizations often maintain more than one data center to
distribute data processing workloads and provide backups in the
event of a disaster.

1.3.1 Core Elements
• Application: An application is a computer program that provides the logic
for computing operations.
• Database: Database management system (DBMS) provides a structured
way to store data in logically organized tables that are interrelated.
• Server and operating system: A computing platform that runs
applications and databases.
• Network: A data path that facilitates communication between clients and
servers or between servers and storage.
• Storage array: A device that stores data persistently for subsequent use.

1.3.2 Key Requirements for Data Center Elements
• Uninterrupted operation of data centers is critical to the
survival and success of a business. It is necessary to
have a reliable infrastructure that ensures data is
accessible at all times. While the requirements, shown in
Figure 1-6, are applicable to all elements of the data
center infrastructure, our focus here is on storage
systems..Ali Broumandnia, Broumandnia@gmail.com 27

• Availability: All data center elements should be designed to
ensure accessibility. The inability of users to access data can
have a significant negative impact on a business.
• Security: Polices, procedures, and proper integration of the data
center core elements that will prevent unauthorized access
to information must be established.

• Scalability: Data center operations should be able to allocate
additional processing capabilities or storage on demand, without
interrupting business operations.
• Performance: All the core elements of the data center should be
able to provide optimal performance and service all processing
requests at high speed.
• Data integrity: Data integrity refers to mechanisms such as error
correction codes or parity bits which ensure that data is written to
disk exactly as it was received.

• Capacity: Data center operations require adequate resources to
store and process large amounts of data efficiently. When capacity
requirements increase, the data center must be able to provide
additional capacity without interrupting availability, or, at the very
very least, with minimal disruption.
• Manageability: A data center should perform all operations and
activities in the most efficient manner. Manageability can be
achieved through automation and the reduction of human
(manual) intervention in common tasks.

1.3.3 Managing Storage Infrastructure
Key management activities:
• Monitoring is the continuous collection of information and the review
of the entire data center infrastructure include security, performance,
accessibility, and capacity.
• Reporting is done periodically on resource performance, capacity, and
utilization.
• Provisioning is the process of providing the hardware, software, and
other resources needed to run a data center. Provisioning activities
include capacity and resource planning. Capacity planning ensures that
the user’s and the application’s future needs will be addressed in the
most cost-effective and controlled manner.

1.4 Key Challenges in Managing Information
• Exploding digital universe: The rate of information growth is increasing
exponentially. Duplication of data to ensure high availability and
repurposing has also contributed to the multifold increase of
information growth.
• Increasing dependency on information: The strategic use of
information plays an important role in determining the success of a
business and provides competitive advantages in the marketplace.
• Changing value of information: Information that is valuable today may
become less important tomorrow. The value of information often
changes over time.

1.5 Information Lifecycle
• The information lifecycle is the “change in the value of
information” over time. When data is first created, it often has the
highest value and is used frequently.
• As data ages, it is accessed less frequently and is of less value to
the organization. Understanding the information lifecycle helps to
deploy appropriate storage infrastructure, according to the
changing value of information.

1.5.1 Information Lifecycle Management:
• Information lifecycle management (ILM) is a proactive
strategy that enables an IT organization to effectively
manage the data throughout its lifecycle, based on
predefined business policies. This allows an IT organization
to optimize the storage infrastructure for maximum return
on investment.

An ILM strategy should include the following characteristics:
• Business-centric: It should be integrated with key processes, applications, and
initiatives of the business to meet both current and future growth in information.
• Centrally managed: All the information assets of a business should be under the
purview of the ILM strategy.
• Policy-based: The implementation of ILM should not be restricted to a few
departments. ILM should be implemented as a policy and encompass all business
applications, processes, and resources.
• Heterogeneous: An ILM strategy should take into account all types of storage
platforms and operating systems.
• Optimized: Because the value of information varies, an ILM strategy should consider
the different storage requirements and allocate storage resources based on the
information’s value to the business.Ali Broumandnia, Broumandnia@gmail.com 37

1.5.2 ILM Implementation
• The process of developing an ILM strategy includes four activities:
• 1- Classifying data and applications on the basis of business rules and
policies to enable differentiated treatment of information
• 2- Implementing policies by using information management tools,
starting from the creation of data and ending with its disposal
• 3- Managing the environment by using integrated tools to reduce
operational complexity
• 4- Organizing storage resources in tiers to align the resources with data
classes, and storing information in the right type of infrastructure based on the
information’s current value

• Steps 1 and 2 are aimed at implementing ILM in a limited way
across a few enterprise-critical applications. In Step 1, the goal is to
implement a storage networking environment. Storage
architectures offer varying levels of protection and performance
and this acts as a foundation for future policy-based information
management in Steps 2 and 3. The value of tiered storage
platforms can be exploited by allocating appropriate storage
resources to the applications based on the value of the
information processed.Ali Broumandnia, Broumandnia@gmail.com 39

• Step 2 takes ILM to the next level, with detailed application or data
classification and linkage of the storage infrastructure to business
policies. These classifications and the resultant policies can be
automatically executed using tools for one or more applications,
resulting in better management and optimal allocation of storage
resources.
• Step 3 of the implementation is to automate more of the
applications or data classification and policy management activities
in order to scale to a wider set of enterprise applications.

1.5.3 ILM Key Benefits
• 1- Improved utilization by using tiered storage platforms and
increased visibility of all enterprise information.
• 2- Simplified management by integrating process steps and
interfaces with individual tools and by increasing automation.
• 3- A wider range of options for backup, and recovery to balance
the need for business continuity.

• 4- Maintaining compliance by knowing what data needs to be
protected for what length of time.
• 5- Lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) by aligning the
infrastructure and management costs with information value.
1.5.3 ILM Key Benefits

Summary
• This chapter described the importance of data, information, and storage
infrastructure. Meeting today’s storage needs begins with understanding
the type of data, its value, and key management requirements of a
storage system. This chapter also emphasized the importance of the ILM
strategy, which businesses are adopting to manage information effectively
across the enterprise. ILM is enabling businesses to gain competitive
advantage by classifying, protecting, and leveraging information.
• The evolution of storage architectures and the core elements of a data
center covered in this chapter provided the foundation on information
storage. The next chapter discusses storage system environment.

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