Data storage has come a long way since the days of disk systems. Sure, those disk systems might still be used here and there—but now they’re attached to a network and software-defined so you have total control over exactly how it’s formatted.
Data storage is the process by which information technology archives, organizes, and shares the bits and bytes that make up the things you depend on every day—from applications to network protocols, documents to media, and address books to user preferences.
Software-defined storage
Software-defined storage (SDS) is part virtualization software and part storage management software: It abstracts the bits and bytes of data contained with hardware, formats the data into block, object, or file format, and organizes the data for network use. SDS works particularly well with workloads based on unstructured data (like the block storage systems that containers and microservices rely upon), since it can scale in ways that hardwired storage solutions can’t.
Cloud Storage
When a physical resource like storage is virtualized and orchestrated by management and automation software, it becomes cloud storage. There are nuances to this description (the resource has to be made available on-demand through self-service portals supported by automatic scaling and dynamic resource allocation) but virtualization, management, and automation are the 3 foundational elements of any cloud resource—storage included.
Network-attached storage
Network-attached storage (NAS) is a storage architecture that makes data more accessible among a network. A stripped-down operating system is installed on a box of hardware that’s no more complex than an ordinary server—hard drives, processors, random-access memory, and all. This box (know as a NAS box, NAS server, NAS head, or NAS unit) becomes responsible for the entire network’s data storage, organization, and sharing functions.
Object storage
An object is a piece of data paired with any associated metadata that provides context about the bytes contained within the object (things like how old or big the data is). Those 2 things—the data and metadata together—make an object. The Data stored in objects is uncompressed and unencrypted.
File storage
File storage is the dominant technology used on direct- and networked-attached storage systems. It takes care of 2 things: organizing data and representing it to us. With file storage, data is arranged on the server side in the exact same format we clients see it. This allows us to request a file by some unique identifier.
Block Storage
Block storage splits a single storage volume (like a virtual or cloud storage node, or a good old fashioned hard disk) into individual instances known as blocks. Each block exists independently of another and can be formatted with its own data transfer protocol and operating system—giving you complete configuration autonomy.
Why RedHat
Software-defined storage is inherently open. It decouples hardware from software, freeing you from vendor lock-in. Red Hat has taken “open” a step further. Our software-defined storage is also open source. It draws on the innovations of a community of developers, partners, and customers. This gives you control over exactly how your storage is formatted and used—based on your business’ unique workloads, environments, and needs.
