The rise of hyperconvergence and software-defined storage technologies makes virtual data storage a viable option for businesses looking to cut down on IT costs. In actual fact, since these solutions don’t require the hardware redundancies that are typically required in traditional storage architectures for disaster recovery, they’re able to reduce upfront costs and ongoing operating expenses by significantly.

Virtual data storage enables IT to pool physical data storage devices such as SANs into what appears to be a http://virtualdataspace.biz/box-vdr-main-features single device or virtual storage array. There are several ways to utilize the technology that includes host-based virtualization as well as network-based storage (which connects storage devices from an FC or iSCSI storage device into one pool controlled by a central management console). Host-based virtualization is most commonly found in HCI systems as well as cloud storage.

Virtual storage needs to be compatible not just with the hardware infrastructure, but also with servers, hypervisors and networking components. It must also provide encryption of data as well as granular access and authentication controls, as well as robust backup and disaster recovery capabilities.

Virtual storage should also be able to address concerns about performance and latency. This includes ensuring that critical applications can be run without compromising performance or adding latency to retrieval of data. This involves evaluating storage controllers, network bandwidth, and disk I/O capacities as well as using cache mechanisms. It also involves implementing advanced storage functions such as tiering or replication at the virtualization level.