Cloud Storage Architecture for Virtual Server

By CIOReview | Tuesday, June 13, 2017

406

645

126

An organization can incorporate a virtual server connection by implementing cloud storage architecture for achieving greater flexibility with a low upfront cost. While convergence can be defined as a combination of pre-designed infrastructure integrated with a virtual server technology of any kind, the public cloud assists in extending the same concept, offering more scalability. Citing the flexibility of a cloud storage architecture, the organization can decide on the type and configuration of virtual servers required to solve a given business problem. Once decided, organizations can seamlessly gain access to that virtual server via a network connection to the cloud provider. While cloud storage architecture conceals the ability to view, customize, or build the infrastructure, it addresses the concerns of service providers by delivering a pre-defined architecture.

Cloud providers can present a list of choices for the infrastructure and the amount of RAM or disk space associated with it similar to converged systems vendors. However, it does not offer a choice to select which vendors' components go into the offering or where it specifically resides within the remote and distributed data center. Convergence of cloud solutions with virtual servers can radically simplify the process of choosing infrastructure and building the technology, but cloud storage architecture can further assist organizations by allowing organizations to do the following:

Use Trial and Error to Find the Right Approach

While building storage architecture, organizations with incoherently outlined specifications usually find it difficult to identify software requirements, whereas, with a well-defined problem and experience in developing similar systems, organizations can adopt a step-wise refinement. With a traditional or converged infrastructure, organizations own the infrastructure equipment for three to five years. They may be able to repurpose that equipment for another offering (if compatible), but it's a risky proposition and the hardware that was bought for that infrastructure may end up getting wasted. Cloud-based storage architecture allows organizations to build their own infrastructure and if it does not meet the organization’s requirements, the infrastructure should be noted down as a negative feedback and the next alternative must be tried out until the perfect solution is identified that meets the organizational goals.

Scale Up and Down to Meet Demand Spikes

Software architects have discovered and implemented several concepts and best practices to build highly scalable applications. Many business situations like a sudden retail demand around any festival, the variability from daytime business hours to night time slowdown, or processing for a month-end close creates an enormous IT demand to handle variability. While dealing with traditional or converged products, organizations have a need to procure a scalable infrastructure to be able to run as many virtual servers depending on the business needs. Organizations can use cloud architecture to meet demand needs for seasonal businesses, to handle the application apart from the data storage, such as setting up the application layer in a public environment (for example a Software-as-a-Service) while storing sensitive information in a private one, or spikes and financial closings.

Rapid Setup of the Environment

Time taken for setting up the environment in an organization determines the solution’s success. The main goal of this setup is to harness better data flow and to better manage and analyze data. Implementing converged systems can drastically decrease the groundwork of buying equipment from different suppliers and the effort of putting it all together as per the organization’s needs. Another option is to deploy a pre-validated, factory-tested configuration which usually gets set up within weeks. But ultimately, organizations are still ordering, standing up, and deploying products depending on infrastructural demand. Especially in the case of storage types that are frequently used, most of the cloud providers have systems ready and waiting and hence they can measure turnaround time in minutes or hours, rather than days or weeks.