Exploiting Multi-Tier File Storage Effectively

In the past 12 months, a wave of solid state disk introductions has made storage administrator life more interesting. There is now literally a 10-15x cost differential in enterprise storage technologies, and a greater than 100x performance differential. It has become all the more critical to place the right files on the right storage media. This tutorial will survey the various technologies available for file placement and relocation for best effect in a multi-tier storage environment. It will compare HSM, multi-tier file systems, FAN switches and front ends, and manual file placement techniques in terms of efficacy and effort, and contrast them with block level storage tiering strategies. The tutorial should be of interest to storage administrators and others concerned with optimizing online data storage cost and quality of service.

Learning Objectives

Appreciate the cost and QoS value of a multi-tier online storage strategy
Understand the techniques available for managing files across storage tiers
Understand the difference between managing file locations and data block locations