Storage (Data Storage System)
Data storage system (DSS) is a complex of hardware and software that is designed for storage and operational processing of information, usually of large volume. Information is files, including media, structured (DBMS) and unstructured data (big data), backups, archives. Hard disks, mainly SSDs (All Flash Array systems), as well as hybrid solutions combining SSDs and HDDs in one storage system are used as storage media.
SSDs differ from a user hard disk drive by their complex architecture, the ability to unite storages into a data transmission network, separate software for storage system management, advanced backup, compression and virtualization technologies.
Storage systems differ by several parameters, the choice of which determines the use of storage systems.
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Data storage tiers
Block storage
. Storage is used like a regular disk that can be formatted, OS can be installed on it, logical disks can be created. Data is stored in blocks rather than files, which speeds up I/O operations. More often used in SAN (Storage Attached Network) type networks. It is suitable for high-performance computing, DBMS, storage of large amounts of data, as a development environment (Dev/Test). The disadvantages are: a) complexity of configuration and maintenance, which require appropriate qualification; b) high cost.
File storage
. Data is stored in the form of files that are placed in directories. Such storage is used to store “cold” information that is not required for operational computing. NAS (Network Attached Storage) is usually built on file storage. Disadvantages: when accumulating large amounts of data, the folder hierarchy becomes more complex, and the speed of storage gradually decreases. It is not suitable for workloads that require high response speed.
Object storage
. A type of storage that is focused on handling large unstructured data up to petabytes in size. Information is stored not as files, but as “objects” with unique identifiers and metadata. Therefore, object storage is similar in structure to a database. It is used in analytics, big data, machine learning, for storing “heavy” media files and backups, development and operation of applications in the cloud, website hosting. It is inferior to block storage in tasks related to transactional loads.