Storage

Fibre Channel SAN zoning: Pros and cons of WWN zoning and port zoning

Learn the difference between World Wide Name zoning (WWN zoning) and port zoning, as well as the pros and cons of each on a Fibre Channel storage-area network (Fibre Channel SAN). Continue Reading

By

• Steve Pinder, GlassHouse Technologies

Evolving cloud storage market has users weighing their enterprise data storage options

This series takes an in-depth look at the evolving concepts of cloud storage and all of its subtypes, such as internal, external, private and public clouds. Continue Reading

By

• Beth Pariseau, Senior News Writer

Performance metrics: Evaluating your data storage efficiency

Learn how performance metrics can evaluate the efficiency of your enterprise data storage resources in terms of capacity utilization, performance and data protection. Continue Reading

By

• Greg Schulz, The Server and StorageIO Group

Data asset inventory key to disaster recovery planning and design

A disaster recovery plan should include a data asset inventory and business impact analysis, define the company's DR levels and explore DR site options (hot, warm or cold site). Continue Reading

By

• Cath Everett

Data backup software: Selection, implementation and optimization advice for Indian businesses

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By

• Anil Patrick

How to evaluate and purchase a SAN

The Royal Horticultural Society's network manager Martin Taylor guides users through the process of evaluating and purchasing a SAN. Continue Reading

By

• Martin Taylor

Hard disk drive specifications guide: What to look for when buying disk storage

Seek times, latency, data transfer rates, error correction codes and cache are important hard disk drive specifications. Learn the key features of hard disks drives so you can specify the right one for your data centre. Continue Reading

By

• Bilal Mehdi

RAID 10 vs. RAID 1: Mirrored drives matter

While RAID 10 and RAID 1 are both mirroring technologies that utilise half the available drives for data, a crucial difference is the number of drives they can use in a RAID group. Continue Reading

By

• Steve Pinder, GlassHouse Technologies

A guide to storage virtualization

Few technologies are more confusing than storage virtualization. Without a guide to explain the different storage virtualization solutions, storage administrators who want to deploy this technology will be lost. Continue Reading

RAID 10: How many disk drives should you use?

The minimum number of drives required for RAID 10 is four. RAID 10 should not be confused with RAID 0+1, which involves creating two RAID 0 stripe sets and then mirroring them. Continue Reading

By

• Steve Pinder, GlassHouse Technologies

Managing enterprise data storage more efficiently: Part 1

Storage managers must learn to improve storage efficiency though smarter spending, while taking steps to reduce operating expenditures during budget crunches. Continue Reading

By

• Beth Pariseau, Senior News Writer

Which RAID level has the best price-to-performance comparison?

Configuring disk in RAID arrays brings a variety of benefits, most notably data protection and I/O performance. But which RAID level wins in terms of price vs. performance? Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

BlueArc challenges NetApp in the enterprise with Mercury 50, Mercury 100 network-attached storage (N

With NetApp distracted by Data Domain and late delivering Ontap with clustered NAS capabilities, BlueArc targets the enterprise NAS market with Mercury 50, Mercury 100 NAS systems. Continue Reading

By

• Beth Pariseau, Senior News Writer

Green storage best practices control costs, increase energy efficiency

Green storage best practices control power and cooling costs, and increase energy efficiency in your data center. Tiered storage, consolidating storage arrays, solid-state drives (SSDs) and MAID can help. Continue Reading

By

• James Damoulakis, GlassHouse Technologies

What is a LUN and why do we need storage LUNs?

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By

• Allaster Finke

RAID 5 configuration: How to calculate disk space for data storage and parity storage

Find out how to calculate the disk space available for data storage and how much disk space is utilised for parity storage in a RAID 5 configuration. Continue Reading

By

• Allaster Finke

NAS Backup: What are my options?

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By

• Brian Sakovitch, Symantec

LUN storage and its role in SAN management

Explore logical unit number (LUN) storage and its role in SAN management. Learn how to create a LUN, how to share a LUN, and find out about LUN provisioning and LUN masking. Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Make IT change management part of your disaster recovery plan

All the disaster recovery technology in the world won't help without the right culture and process, writes Burton analyst Richard Jones. Continue Reading

By

• Richard Jones

Incremental vs. differential backup: A comparison

In this Storage Basics on incremental vs differential backup, we explore the benefits and drawbacks of each of these backup strategies Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Sectors - NetApp says EMC Centera loses data, gets slapped by blogosphere

NetApp has tried to smear EMC, starting a blogosphere brawl which embroiled Symantec but may have left egg on its face. Continue Reading

By

• Simon Sharwood

Thin provisioning FAQ

Tony Lock, programme director at analyst group Freeform Dynamics, answers common questions on thin provisioning. Continue Reading

How to evaluate and purchase a SAN

The Royal Horticultural Society's network manager Martin Taylor guides users through the process of evaluating and purchasing a SAN. Continue Reading

By

• Martin Taylor

Podcast: Data deduplication on primary storage

What should a storage administrator know before using data deduplication on primary storage? Eric Burgener, senior analyst and consultant at the Taneja Group, discusses the impact data deduplication on primary storage will have and the things to consider before using it. Continue Reading

Clariion array update blurs line between EMC platforms

A bigger, faster Clariion with advanced features, which first appeared in the Symmetrix line, has industry observers wondering about the increasing overlap between EMC systems. Continue Reading

By

• Beth Pariseau, Senior News Writer

Pivot3 consolidates physical servers onto storage arrays

Pivot3's IP SAN offers Serverless Computing, which eliminates the need for application servers by running them as guests on its storage arrays. Continue Reading

By

• Dave Raffo

NAS virtualization explained

NAS virtualization can refer to the ability to virtualise multiple NAS heads into a single virtualised file system or the ability to spawn multiple virtual file servers within a physical file server. Either way, performing NAS virtualisation via a virtualised file system gives a storage administrator greater flexibility in responding to the needs of the enterprise. Continue Reading

NetApp dedupes data on rivals' primary storage

NetApp extends its free data deduplication to its V-Series gateways, making it possible for its customers to dedupe their primary storage. But users say what's missing is a GUI and data dedupe for VTLs. Continue Reading

By

• Beth Pariseau, Senior News Writer

3PAR shrinks virtual desktop storage

3PAR's software package allows users of its high-end disk arrays to store a single "golden image" of virtual desktops and hold that image in cache for better boot performance. Continue Reading

By

• Beth Pariseau, Senior News Writer

Friction grows between storage vendors, VMware

As the booming server virtualisation market spawns new competitors to VMware, how virtual machines connect with storage is becoming a matter of contention among vendors. Continue Reading

By

• Beth Pariseau, Senior News Writer

iSCSI SANs getting enterprise boost by shared storage, virtual servers

Enterprises are increasingly considering iSCSI SANs for departmental applications, server workloads that aren't bandwidth-intensive, and virtual servers. In fact, the connection between shared storage and virtualised servers is changing the iSCSI SAN game. Continue Reading

Optimising iSCSI SANs with the right Ethernet switch

iSCI SANS are now within the reach of many small businesses. Here's how to make sure the SAN works best, by optimising the supporting network. Continue Reading

By

• Jerome Wendt

SNW Roundup: Sun adds data deduplication to VTL

Sun comes out with VTL Prime, a virtual tape library with FalconStor's data deduplication; Attune gets into file archiving; and SGI, Fujitsu and Dot Hill launch storage systems. Continue Reading

By

• Dave Raffo

Isilon reveals turnaround plan

Clustered storage vendor vows to continue to spend on product development, sales and marketing, despite losing nearly $27 million (£13.5m) in its first year as public company. Continue Reading

By

• Dave Raffo

EMC gives Centera a software refresh

EMC has tweaked the software for its Centera archiving system with an emphasis on handling more pieces of data rather than sheer bulk of information stored. Continue Reading

By

• Dave Raffo

NetApp says flagging economy could boost its sales

The current economic downturn may actually help boost NetApp's appeal to storage users, according to company officials at its US Analyst Day Continue Reading

By

• Beth Pariseau, Senior News Writer

Hot Spots: A new level of backup reporting

A bumper crop of backup reporting tools can provide invaluable insight into backup operations for you and the boss. Continue Reading

By

• Lauren Whitehouse

Data Domain makes remote office data deduplication push

Data Domain launches its smallest data deduplication appliance specifically built to reduce and back up data at remote offices. Continue Reading

By

• Dave Raffo

NAS product specifications

NAS is so easy to install and manage that NAS sprawl is a common problem. This is why NAS is often a prime candidate for consolidation initiatives. Learn how to purchase NAS appliances with an eye toward NAS storage consolidation. Continue Reading

VMware, LeftHand offer iSCSI SAN as virtual machine

Channel partners will bundle LeftHand's virtual SAN appliance with VMware licenses for an ESX infrastructure that can run on one piece of physical hardware. Continue Reading

By

• Beth Pariseau, Senior News Writer

HP exec: Storage blades may replace disk arrays in data center

An HP storage executive predicts that storage blades -- storage devices using the form factor and plug-and-play philosophy of blade servers - may replace disk arrays in the next 18 months Continue Reading

By

• Simon Sharwood, Editor, TechTarget ANZ

Learn all about LUNs

A LUN is the unique address for a SCSI device or a virtual hard disk partition in a RAID configuration. This handbook tells how to manage and partition LUNs. Continue Reading

WAN/WAFS and remote offices

This overview of WAFS and remote offices looks into the role of cache and file limitations, and WAN optimisation. Continue Reading

By

• Stephen J. Bigelow, Senior Technology Editor

Disk-based backup vs. tape

Get advice on choosing disk versus tape for small businesses. Continue Reading

By

• W. Curtis Preston

Archiving software purchase considerations

Archiving software must be able to support a wide range of file types, as well as quickly search through vast quantities of data. Continue Reading

Archiving software product specifications

Archive software provides many of the features we take for granted in modern archive systems, including index and search, data classification and migration, retention and deletion, litigation hold and even data reduction technologies, such as data deduplication. Continue Reading

Forestry firm picks Riverbed WAFS over Cisco

Cisco shop picks Riverbed after head-to-head performance testing between Riverbed's Steelhead appliance and Cisco's wide area application services card. Continue Reading

By

• Beth Pariseau, Senior News Writer

How to integrate iSCSI and Fibre Channel, and make it work

Learn about eight best practices for integrating iSCSI into a Fibre Channel SAN, as well as best deployment practices for iSCSI. Continue Reading

By

• Stephen J. Bigelow, Senior Technology Editor

LeftHand adds hardware to iSCSI SANs

LeftHand makes its iSCSI SAN software available on two prepackaged appliances; sources indicate the hardware comes from Dell. Continue Reading

By

• Beth Pariseau, Senior News Writer

NetApp releases $3K iSCSI SAN

NetApp is continuing a push down-market with the release of the S300, the latest SMB iSCSI SAN in its StoreVault line. Continue Reading

By

• Beth Pariseau, Senior News Writer

Virtual appliance lets users convert DAS to iSCSI SAN

NetApp is continuing a push down-market with the release of the S300, the latest SMB iSCSI SAN in its StoreVault line. Continue Reading

By

• Beth Pariseau, Senior News Writer

Download NAS Upgrades Buying Guide: Chapter 2 -- NAS management software

You asked for it, so here it is -- a printable version of our NAS Buying Guide. Continue Reading

Archiving vendors beef up integration

CA, Autonomy and Prostor look to differentiate products in a sea of archiving and e-discovery compliance players. Continue Reading

By

• SearchStorage.com Staff

Tape encryption purchases Part Two: LTO-4 considerations

This chapter covers specific considerations for LTO-4 tape drives. After that, you'll find a series of specifications to help compare vendor products. Continue Reading

By

• SearchStorage ANZ staff

Happy Birthday to TechTarget ANZ

It's our first birthday and we offer you the rather small present of a roundup of the most-read stories across our sites over the last month. Continue Reading

By

• Simon Sharwood

Storage Basics Part 3: Getting the most out of iSCSI

The Storage Basics series continues, with a look at how to get the most out of iSCSI. Continue Reading

By

• Stephen J. Bigelow, Senior Technology Editor

Storage Basics Part 2: What is iSCSI?

Day two of our storage basics special explains iSCSI. Continue Reading

By

• Stephen Bigelow, Contributor

Archive integration woes dog healthcare providers

Healthcare providers are getting up to speed with networked storage, but say integration of new storage systems with medical applications is still rocky. Continue Reading

By

• Beth Pariseau, Senior News Writer

New iSCSI SAN/NAS box touts better performance

Agami's new low-end iSCSI SAN/NAS box is pricier than other scaled-down offerings, but has a few more high-end features Continue Reading

By

• Beth Pariseau, Senior News Writer

Users make iSCSI SANs with USB keys

Users say that Open-E's iSCSI SAN software, which is delivered on a USB stick, is more affordable than prepackaged systems and has more support than free iSCSI target products. Continue Reading

By

• Beth Pariseau, Senior News Writer

Riverbed extends WAFS to laptops

Steelhead Mobile installs on workstations without an onsite appliance. Users say they'd like to see better integration between the mobile and data centre versions of the product. Continue Reading

By

• Beth Pariseau, Senior News Writer

LeftHand refreshes iSCSI SAN software

Version 7.0 of LeftHand's iSCSI SAN software contains dozens of new features, including support for four-way replication and brushed-up thin provisioning. Continue Reading

By

• Beth Pariseau, Senior News Writer

EMC upgrades hardware range, goes green - UPDATE

EMC has upgraded its five main hardware lines, introduced power-saving technology and hinted at enhancements to its data de-duplication tools. Continue Reading

By

• Simon Sharwood with Beth Pariseau

Sun reveals open appliances

EMC has upgraded its five main hardware lines, introduced power-saving technology and hinted at enhancements to its data de-duplication tools. Continue Reading

By

• Simon Sharwood with Beth Pariseau

Temp agency moves hundreds of terabytes to iSCSI SAN

Adecco replaces 120 TB of Fibre Channel storage with an iSCSI SAN from LeftHand, including storage for large production databases; Exanet adds search; NetApp unleashes Topio. Continue Reading

First in, best dressed?

Telephony company Link Communications Group bought storage from EqualLogic before the vendor had opened its doors in Australia. The company's Vice-President of Global Engineering explains why the organisation took this risky-looking move. Continue Reading

By

• Simon Sharwood

LUN management at the heart of SAN configuration

Disk drives are the foundation of modern data storage, but operating systems cannot use physical storage directly. The physical drive must be translated into a logical space that an operating system sees as a linear address space comprised of fixed-size blocks. Storage networks must also partition their physical disks into logical entities so that host servers can access storage area network (SAN) storage, and each logical portion is called a logical unit number (LUN). This article explains essential LUN concepts and the role of LUNs in SAN technology. Continue Reading

By

• Stephen J. Bigelow, Senior Technology Editor

ISCSI TCP/IP TOE card specifications

One means of improving iSCSI traffic performance is to include TOE (TCI/IP Offload Engine) capability on the Ethernet card itself. An iSCSI TOE allows the network adapter to process iSCSI traffic (often all Ethernet LAN traffic) locally -- relieving those burdensome processing tasks from the host server or other computers connected to the LAN. To implement this capability, iSCSI servers must be upgraded with Ethernet NICs that include a TOE chip onboard. Although the selection of iSCSI TOE cards is generally limited to just a few manufacturers, it's important to consider the available ports, host interface, and other card characteristics before making a purchase. The product snapshots in this segment highlight key specifications for a cross-section of popular iSCSI TOE cards. Continue Reading

ISCSI for beginners

iSCSI is an Internet Protocol (IP)-based storage networking standard for linking data storage facilities. Learns the basics in this fast guide. Continue Reading

By

• TechTarget Storage Editorial Staff

Capacity planning software specifications

Gauging storage needs over time is one of the biggest challenges faced by IT administrators, and a new generation of capacity planning tools is emerging to help forecast growth and utilization of storage resources, and even perform predictive modeling of the future storage environment based on historical data collected. The product snapshots in this chapter highlight key specifications for a cross-section of popular capacity planning software products. Continue Reading

Capacity planning tools require serious purchase consideration

Capacity costs money, and new disk acquisitions stand out as a notable part of every IT budget. The trick is to match new capacity with actual storage needs. Gauging storage needs over time is one of the biggest challenges faced by IT administrators, and a new generation of capacity planning tools is emerging to help forecast growth and utilization of storage resources. Consequently, the selection of a capacity planning tool must include a thorough consideration of your applications. It is also important to ensure that the tool is interoperable across all of your storage systems, while still meeting all of your analytical and reporting requirements. This chapter covers the specific considerations for dedicated capacity planning software. You'll find a series of specifications to help make on-the-spot product comparisons between vendors. Continue Reading

CDP platform purchase considerations

Busy IT organizations are employing continuous data protection (CDP) technologies to guard data on the fly, essentially eliminating the backup window and allowing granular file and system restoration -- sometimes down to the individual disk write operation. Several CDP appliances are available, but many are implemented in software, and all require careful consideration before purchase. This article focuses on the specific purchase considerations for CDP products. Continue Reading

NAS appliance purchase considerations

NAS appliances are frequently touted for bringing convenience and simplicity to network storage. Appliances include their own dedicated disks for storage and RAID, and most NAS appliances can be upgraded with more or larger disks for additional storage space. However, NAS appliances do pose some disadvantages. Consequently, the choice of NAS appliance requires careful evaluation. Now that you've reviewed the essential issues involved in any NAS product, this guide focuses on specific considerations for dedicated NAS appliances. You'll also find a series of specifications to help make on-the-spot product comparisons between vendors. Continue Reading

NAS gateway purchase considerations

NAS gateways overcome the inherent limitations of scale and flexibility by utilizing externally connected storage as external standalone disk arrays. NAS storage capacity is typically expanded by simply adding more disks to the appliance, but this only allows users to scale up to the capacity limit of the appliance. It's also common for a NAS gateway to share storage through a storage area network (SAN), allowing users to consolidate their NAS data on SAN storage and realize the benefits of high performance and redundancy. Now that you've reviewed the essential issues involved in any NAS product, this Buying Guide focuses on specific considerations for NAS gateway products. Continue Reading

NAS gateway specifications

A NAS gateway offers file-based accesses to external storage on a disk array -- or a SAN, where users can take advantage of superior performance and reliability while maintaining a level of simplicity. Since storage is moved off of the NAS device, interoperability and connectivity are crucial issues, and virtualization is increasingly important for superior scaling and utilization of the storage resources. The product snapshots in this chapter highlight key specifications for a cross section of major NAS gateway products. Continue Reading

NAS management software specifications

Network attached storage (NAS) appliances and gateways must be configured and managed using NAS management software that allows administrators to allocate space, manage RAID and storage behaviors, perform routine maintenance, and other tasks. Management software ideally provides interoperability with a variety of NAS devices from different vendors and can automate many of the routine management tasks that would otherwise demand manual attention. The product snapshots in this chapter highlight key specifications for a cross section of major NAS management software products. Continue Reading

Gartner: Existing business continuity plans will fail in a pandemic

Existing business continuity plans will not protect a company during an avian flu pandemic, says a Gartner analyst. Business continuity plans assume a geographically specific disaster, while a pandemic will strike everywhere nearly simultaneously. Continue Reading

By

• Shamus McGillicuddy, Enterprise Management Associates

Virtualisation buying guide [Day Two: Virtualisation software examined]

Deploying software on a server or dedicated appliance is often easier for smaller organisations, but the actual product choice demands careful consideration. Now that you've reviewed the essential issues involved in any virtualisation product, this guide focuses on specific considerations for key virtualisation software products. You'll also find a series of specifications to help make on-the-spot product comparisons between vendors, like DataCore Software Corp., EMC Corp., FalconStor Software Inc. and IBM. Continue Reading

By

• TechTarget Storage Editorial Staff

Commentary: We've never met a "thought follower"

A couple of days back, a vendor tried to convince us that their new security consultancy services should be of interest to you, our readers. Continue Reading

By

• Simon Sharwood

Capacity planning: Reclaim orphaned storage

This tip takes a look at how to maximize your storage capacity utilization by finding orphaned data and storage that can in turn be re-allocated for another productive use. Continue Reading

By

• Greg Shulz

ISCSI gains strength from servers

More powerful servers are helping ease some performance concerns for users considering IP SANs, but others say they still want to see more improvement. Continue Reading

Universities lean on each other for better disaster recovery

As another school year begins, colleges and universities are opening their doors to each other in order to get enterprise-level disaster recovery plans working. Continue Reading

By

• Beth Pariseau, Senior News Writer

iSCSI network configuration, design and optimization

It's a must to consider more than just cabling when designing an iSCSI-based storage network. Learn to look at the bigger picture when configuring or optimizing an iSCSI-based storage network. Continue Reading

By

• Greg Schulz, The Server and StorageIO Group

Real life experiences: Lessons learned in disaster recovery planning

Debbie Schwartz shares the lessons she has learned in keeping disaster recovery implementations up-to-date with new and changing business needs. Continue Reading

By

• Debbie Schwartz

Disaster recovery report card: Measuring your company's disaster recovery profile

Disaster recovery planning is challenging because you don't know what you're planning for or how well your disaster recovery plan will hold up in the face of an emergency. Use this report card to measure your disaster recovery plan and identify areas that need improvement. Continue Reading

By

• Dennis C. Brewer

Testing iSCSI SAN performance with Iometer

Iometer, a performance test tool for tuning Windows environments, can also be used to tune performance in iSCSI SANs. The tool lets you simulate the SAN's performance by setting many of the parameters and running tests. Repeated runs with different parameters such as block sizes will let you tune your system. Continue Reading

By

• Rick Cook

NAS: How does a client access files?

NAS expert Randy Kerns offers advice to a reader who asked: "How does NAS appear to machines accessing files from it?" Continue Reading

By

• Randy Kerns, Evaluator Group

Remote backup: What are the alternatives to tape?

Archiving expert Bill Tolson offers advice to a reader looking for alternatives to shipping tape offsite, including a graphical representation of the remote replication backup process. Continue Reading

By

• Bill Tolson, Tolson Communications

CDP overview

Storage volumes are growing at an alarming pace, and tape-based backups are not always possible within an available backup window. Today's businesses are increasingly focused on tighter RTO and RPO. Faster restorations and more recent recovery points that minimize the threat of lost data. Disk storage technologies are systematically replacing tape, spawning specialized storage systems that bring better performance and reliability to the backup process. One emerging data protection technology that has attracted significant attention is CDP. Continue Reading

By

• Stephen J. Bigelow, Senior Technology Editor

NAS: Can you add capacity non-disruptively?

Storage expert Randy Kerns offers advice about adding capacity to a NAS system non-disruptively in this Q&A. Continue Reading

By

• Randy Kerns, Evaluator Group

Tape and disk encryption product roundup

With tape and disk encryption products becoming more popular, storage administrators have more options in how to protect sensitive information at rest in the data center and in flight across public networks. Continue Reading

ISCSI SANs: How to alleviate the congestion

Careful configuration of an iSCSI SAN will usually preclude most problems. But for slow network performance, adapter and switch settings can help speed things up. Continue Reading

By

• Rick Cook

Archiving unstructured data

Companies must find ways to automate and simplify the process of archiving files and e-mail messages. ECM software addresses this large pool of unstructured data. Continue Reading

By

• Jerome Wendt

Remote backup services get affordable

Remote backup services, traditionally reserved for major banks and cash-rich Fortune 500 companies, are now available to small and midsized businesses. Continue Reading

By

• Beth Pariseau, Senior News Writer

CDP: Super snapshots -- eventually

This tip details two different definitions of CDP, the offerings from vendors in each camp and how continuous data protection differs from snapshots. Continue Reading

By

• Rick Cook

How to use NAS gateways

What you will learn from this tip: NAS gateways are moving off the array and into the network. Here's how to manage them. Continue Reading

By

• Jerome Wendt

How to create a business continuity plan

In today's business environment, the only acceptable data loss is none at all. Find out how to create a business continuity plan that really works. Continue Reading

By

• Doug Owens, ScaleMatrix

Five ways to secure iSCSI

Storage expert Stephen Foskett outlines five specific ways to secure an iSCSI SAN. Continue Reading

By

• Stephen Foskett, Gestalt IT

Pros and cons of remote mirroring for DR

Remote mirroring takes place over MAN or WAN distances. It's usually between storage arrays or storage appliances, and can be synchronous or asynchronous. Continue Reading

By

• Marc Staimer, Dragon Slayer Consulting

Archive: Bits & Bytes column library

Bits & Bytes column library archive -- 2003 to 2004 Continue Reading

By

• TechTarget Storage Editorial Staff