According to Mike Casey, VP and Principal Analyst at
Contoural, Inc. "A
tiered storage strategy, properly planned
and executed, can increase service levels for your critical
applications and data sets, while reducing the overall cost of
data storage."
But, setting up a plan of action is not intuitive. Because
you may need help deciding if a tiered storage strategy is right
for you, defining the architecture necessary in building a tiered
environment and selling this vision to management .
In this lesson you will walk away with a better understanding of
what
tiering can do for your storage,and your business -- and how to
classify your data, design your tiered storage architecture, and
sell your plan to management.
The professors for Tiered Storage School are seasoned experts
from Contoural,
Inc. Both Mike Casey and Greg Forest bring more than 20 years
of IT experience to the Tiered Storage School classroom.
Class is in session, enjoy!
Tiered Storage School
Lesson 1: The right storage at the right cost
Most businesses today are faced with high growth in the amount of
data they have to store, but IT budgets are flat or being reduced.
IT can no longer afford to keep all their data on high-end storage
platforms, or staffing levels to manage large numbers of storage
targets. The answer is to produce a small set of storage tiers that
align with business requirements to provide the optimum service
level at the lowest cost. Lesson one of Tiered Storage School will
help you understand the key drivers of data growth -- including
regulatory
compliance, litigation discovery readiness, and business
productivity. These business drivers provide the motivation and
justification for a tiered storage strategy, and help you define
the retention policies and service level objectives that your
storage infrastructure must support.
Listen to
Lesson one right now.
Get the worksheet, follow along with
classLesson 2: Aligning your business with storage
tiers
The key to a successful tiered storage strategy is defining the
requirements of your business data. Before you can design your new
storage tiers you need to understand your application catalog and
how your business uses it. This requires looking beyond the
traditional IT metrics of RTO and RPO. Focusing on a broader set of
key business drivers will allow you to use your storage tiers to
offer the appropriate service levels to your business units while
reducing overall costs. Lesson two of Tiered Storage School helps
you align your business goals with your storage goals, by
classifying your data. This key step starts with a discovery
process to inventory your existing storage infrastructure and
catalog your application data sets. Real-world examples illustrate
the key concepts of application data groups, data classes and
service level metrics.
Listen to
Lesson two right now.
Get the worksheet, follow along with
class
Lesson 3: Designing a tiered storage
architecture
A properly defined storage architecture will give you the ability
to justify spending levels for your existing catalogue and future
provisioning. Once you have gathered your requirements and properly
classified your applications you are ready to design your storage
tiers. Lesson three of Tiered Storage School assists you in storage
tier design. This webcast covers tiered storage architecture, using
real-world examples to illustrate the addition of new storage tiers
and service level configurations. It also includes an example gap
analysis and action plan for tiered storage implementation.
Listen to
Lesson three right now.
Get the worksheet, follow along with
class
Lesson 4: Justifying your tiered storage strategy to
management
Now that you have designed a tiered storage strategy that matches
the needs of your business, how do you justify it to your senior
management? What steps should you take in the short term? How do
you move forward to your desired state? How do you justify short
term capital spending to reduce long term costs? Lesson four of
Tired Storage School will help you make your case to management. It
maps tiered storage impacts to the strategic agendas of the CEO,
CIO and CFO, focusing on business benefits such as improved service
levels, reduced risks and lower costs. Greg and Mike also provide
practical tips on preparing your case and timing your requests --
and tactical advice on how to move turn a crisis into an
opportunity.
Listen to
Lesson four right now.
Get the worksheet, follow along with
class
Want to see this school in person? Join Mike, Greg and nearly
600 storage users at the Fall Storage Decisions show. This show is FREE for
qualified attendees.
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