Software-defined storage
Software-defined storage (SDS) is a marketing theme for promoting storage technologies. Based on the same concepts in Software-defined networking (SDN) SDS has generated interest in the storage and virtualization markets, particularly after the high-value acquisition of Nicira by VMware.
As of 2013[update] the theme lacks consensus. Several companies have used the phrase "software-defined storage" to promote their products or plans,[1][2][3][4][5] representing either disaggregation of previously bundled storage products or new products with selectable functionality. The result can reflect different optimizations from e.g. hyperscale web service providers, who have built huge infrastructures using x86 whiteboxes and custom software.
Characteristics of software-defined storage could include any or all of the following non-compulsory features:[6][7]
- automation with policy-driven storage provisioning - with SLAs replacing technology details
- virtual volumes - allowing a more transparent mapping between large volumes and the VM disk images within them, to allow better performance and data management optimizations
- commodity hardware with storage logic abstracted into a software layer
- programability - management interfaces that span traditional storage array products, as a particular definition of separating "control plane" from "data plane"
- abstraction of the logical storage services and capabilities from the underlying physical storage systems, including techniques such as in-band storage virtualization
- scale-out architecture
SDS forms a part of a broader software-defined data center (SDDC) concept[8] wherein all the virtualized storage, server, networking and security resources required by an application can be defined by software and provisioned automatically.
See also
References
- ^ VMware introduction of Software Defined Data Center
- ^ What Is Software-defined Storage?
- ^ Software-defined Storage and how does it differ from Hardware-driven storage?
- ^ ScaleIO Raises $12M for Software Defined Storage
- ^ "Software-Defined Storage: Fusion-io Software Creates Shared Flash Storage".
- ^ Robinson, Simon. "Software-defined storage: The reality beneath the hype". ComputerWeekly.com.
- ^ Coraid,Inc. "The Fundamentals of Software-Defined Storage" (PDF).
- ^
Venkatraman, Archana. "Software-defined datacentres demystified". Computer Weekly. TechTarget. ISSN 0010-4787. Retrieved 2013-05-09.
The term software-defined datacentre (SDDC) rose to prominence this year during annual virtualisation conference VMworld 2012 [...] A software-defined datacentre is an IT facility where the elements of the infrastructure - etworking, storage, CPU and security - are virtualised and delivered as a service. The provisioning and operation of the entire infrastructure is entirely automated by software.