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Minimizing the Impact of Storage on Your Network

Minimizing the Impact of Storage on Your Network. W. Curtis Preston President The Storage Group. Networked Storage vs. Network Administrators. Increased Traffic Network-based backups NFS & CIFS shares from NAS filers Management difficulties

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Minimizing the Impact of Storage on Your Network

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  1. Minimizing the Impact of Storage on Your Network W. Curtis Preston President The Storage Group

  2. Networked Storage vs. Network Administrators • Increased Traffic • Network-based backups • NFS & CIFS shares from NAS filers • Management difficulties • Proprietary networks being managed by non-network personnel • Proprietary networks being managed by network personnel

  3. Networked Storage vs. Network Administrators • Security implications • One server’s data can be accessed via other servers • New connections can be made remotely • Bad information and little security training

  4. Storage for Network Admins • Fibre Channel = Serial implementation of SCSI that can be networked via FC equipment • iSCSI = Serial implementation of SCSI that can be networked via IP/Ethernet equipment • SAN = Storage connected via Fibre Channel or iSCSI network (blocks) • NAS = Storage connected via IP and NFS or CIFS (file sharing)

  5. Storage for Network Admins • HBA =~ NIC • WWN =~ MAC Address • Zoning =~ VLANS • Soft zoning =~ Server w/o firewall • Hard zoning =~ Server behind firewall • WWN-based zoning = Zone members specified by WWN • Port-based zoning = Zone members specified by port

  6. Good news: LAN-free, Client-free and Server-free backup • LAN-free backups (blue) • Shared tape library • Backup traffic off the LAN • Client-free backups (red) • Shared disk array • Backs up one client’s data through another • Server-free backups (green) • Direct disk-to-tape data transfer

  7. Good news: Disk-to-Disk Backups • Really inexpensive disk arrays based on ATA/IDE • Addressable via Fibre Channel, SCSI, NFS, or CIFS • JBOD and RAID configurations (Use their RAID controller or a software volume manager) • As low as $3,000/TB for off-shelf units!

  8. What to do with them? • Connect array to backup servers via Fibre Channel & SANs, or GbE & NFS/CIFS • Back up to disk first using backup or replication software • If backups, Duplicate disk backups to tape • If replication, make second backup to tape • Except in disaster, restores come from disk

  9. Why would you do that? • Increase ease and integrity of backups, especially incremental backups • Can reduce backup traffic by reducing frequency of full backups • Can reduce backup traffic even more using synthetic full backups • Can also be used as target for HSM, again reducing network traffic

  10. Mixed News: What about iSCSI • What is iSCSI? • Ethernet NIC with iSCSI drivers (Hopefully TOE) • Standard Ethernet switch • SCSI over IP • iSCSI is here. • A number of disk vendors releasing products • There’s a lot of interest for middle-tier storage apps

  11. Mixed News: What about iSCSI? • Storage devices everywhere and anywhere?!?! • Should implement via dedicated LANs, just as with NAS • Must consider security implications of plain text blocks • Consider encryption

  12. Scary News: Storage Security • SCSI/FC not built for security • Little authentication • Storage people often not security conscious or security trained • Soft/hard zoning misunderstood

  13. Scary News: Storage Security • WWN used for auth., but WWN can be changed • Soft zoning allows non-members to communicate • Management interfaces open to backbone and use plain text protocols • NAS filers on backbone

  14. Security Questions for your Storage Administrator • Are we using port-based zoning? • Are we using hard zoning? • Are our NAS or iSCSI systems on a separate, firewalled, non-routable LAN? • Can I reach the storage device management interfaces from my desktop without going through a firewall?

  15. Summary • LAN/Client/Server-free backups can reduce traffic • Disk-to-disk backups can reduce traffic • iSCSI is coming, but should be on a separate LAN • Learn all you can about storage security and use it

  16. Resources

  17. Resources A free directory of all things Storage • Storage Mountain http://www.storagemountain.com

  18. Resources • The Storage Group specializes in assessing, designing and implementing storage systems. http://www.thestoragegroup.com • Send questions to: curtis@thestoragegroup.com

  19. Thank you!W. Curtis Preston

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