|
Is
Unmanaged Storage Really Less Expensive?
| |
DAS |
SAN |
| Security
|
1.15
|
0.85 |
| Performance |
1.32
|
0.96
|
| Connectivity |
2.03 |
1.11
|
| Scalability |
1.11
|
0.70 |
| Availability |
1.34 |
1.16
|
| Recoverability |
1.43 |
1.02 |
| Manageability |
8.62 |
2.62
|
| The
effectiveness score is the relationship of storage
requirements to storage delivery. A score of 1.00
indicates a balanced level where service delivery
meets the level of application requirement. A
score below 1.00 indicates areas where application
requirements are being met and exceeded. A score
above 1.00 indicates areas where there is under-delivery
of services to meet application requirements. |
Effectiveness
Compares the Impact of Storage Technologies
The assumed promise of managed storage over unmanaged
is that managed storage will be more effective in
meeting the needs of the application. Gartner puts
that assumption to the test in its “Effectiveness”
evaluations, a Gartner Storage assessment process
that compares the relationship of the ability to deliver
services against the application storage requirements.
This relationship is studied within the spheres of
security, performance, connectivity, scalability,
availability, recoverability and manageability.
“SAN
technologies consistently enable enterprises to
meet the storage needs of business, but this comes
at a higher hardware, software and support cost.”
Unmanaged
storage technologies, such as is common in DAS, are
frequently unable to meet even average application
requirements and fall short in several key aspects.
SAN technologies, while delivering better effectiveness
in most aspects, still has room for improvement in
the manageability aspect. This gap is common as there
continues to be a lack of integrated storage management
solutions in the storage market.
SAN
technologies consistently enable enterprises to meet
the storage needs of business, but this comes at a
higher hardware, software and support cost. This higher
TCO flies in the face of assumptions that SAN is always
less expensive than DAS.
It
is no longer less expensive to “add storage
rather than manage it.” With an understanding
of the cost and staffing requirements for various
storage technologies, the data center manager will
be better able to make strategic purchasing and implementation
decisions.
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