One of the biggest obstacles to the widespread use of storage area
networks (Sans) may soon be removed, as suppliers move towards
adopting an open standard, writes Eric Doyle.
A specification, codenamed Bluefin, has been submitted to the
Storage Networking Industry Association (Snia) by a consortium of
some of the main players in the San market.
The proposal uses technology from the Web-Based Enterprise
Management initiative which describes system resources based on a
common information model devised under the Managed Object Format
standard. The system will introduce new technology for security,
locking and discovery for San management.
The lack of interoperability has not only curtailed San adoption
but has also held back plans for storage virtualisation, where all
discs, whether attached or remote subsystems, held in a San or a
network-attached storage array, are managed as a single, federated
storage pool.
John Webster, a senior analyst at the Data Mobility Group, said,
"Managing the complexity of Sans has become a key user issue - a
problem that is compounded by the multi-supplier environment most
users have. Without comprehensive standards for management and
testing for interoperability, users will be forced to pay
artificially high prices for solutions and, as a result, will find
it more difficult to achieve the promised value of storage
networking."
Snia was set up in 1997 to develop a standard architecture for
managing disc arrays, switches and hosts. The standards body said a
common model of device behaviour and a common language to read and
set control information would be a prerequisite for this.
Don Swatik, vice-president of global alliances and information
sciences at storage specialist EMC, said, "The successful
development of open industry standards presents a tremendous
opportunity to reduce the time, effort and cost of delivering
management tools for heterogeneous networked environments. If
accepted by Snia, the contribution of the Bluefin specification
will go a long way to getting suppliers and users well down the
road towards the management of heterogeneous storage networks."
EMC has announced that Bluefin will form the basis of its
forthcoming Widesky storage management middleware technology, which
addresses the issues of managing a multi-supplier storage
infrastructure. Other members of the Bluefin development group are
expected to make product announcements when Snia gives the
specification its official stamp of approval.
Companies involved in the development of Bluefin include BMC,
Brocade, Computer Associates, Dell, EMC, Emulex, Gadzoox,
Hewlett-Packard, Hitachi, IBM, JNI, Prisa Networks, QLogic,
StorageTek, Sun and Veritas.