Wise use of SAN Storage technology

Filed in archive Technology on July 10, 2007

In the old days, the data produced by customers was hardly ever more than what you could put inside a generic unix server, and in cases where it wasn't enough we could make use of disk cabinets for storage. Today, all is different. Storage has become something we can't do without, and we need it to be flexible and fast.



There is nothing wrong with that. As a result, diskspace has dropped in price considerably, making tons of diskspace accessible for everyone. It has become so stable and secure that some even use it for purposes I would never recommend.



I have seen a solution you could call ultra virtual because of it's structure. On solaris systems, virtual systems were built (containers). These systems are built on SAN diskspace, not internal diskspace, not even for the operating system. Imagine running virtual servers built on diskspace that isn't even physically in the hardware you built the solution on. I would never recommed, neither use this. Why ? Well, instead of having only one single point of failure, you now have several :

• First is the os. It could fail.


• Second is the SAN diskspace. The connection could physically break (especially when the SAN hardware is in a different location)


• Third is also SAN diskspace : the hardware could fail.


• Fourth is the actual hardware (host server) everything is built upon. It could break, killing possibly more than one virtual server

I don't think I can come up with a customer or a company that is willing to take these risks. And I wonder why this solution has been invented by anyone. Call me oldfashioned.

A good read about Solaris containers is here.

Care to comment ? Am I dead wrong ? Tell me in the comments.