Last week we published experts from Chapter 7, the final chapter in Rethinking Enterprise Storage: A Hybrid Cloud Model. This week we provide a few final thoughts and a glossary of terms for hybrid cloud storage. Over the past several weeks on this blog, we published excerpts from each chapter of this book via a series of posts. We think this is valuable information for all IT professionals, from executives responsible for determining IT strategies to administrators who manage systems and storage. We would love to hear from you and we encourage your comments, questions and suggestions.
We also want to remind you that the Microsoft StorSimple 8000 series provides to customers innovative and game-changing hybrid cloud storage architecture and it is quickly becoming a standard for many global corporations who are deploying hybrid cloud storage. You can learn more about the StorSimple 8000 series here: www.microsoft.com/storsimple
Here are the chapters we have excerpted in this blog series:
Chapter 1 Rethinking enterprise storage
Chapter 2 Leapfrogging backup with cloud snapshots
Chapter 3 Accelerating and broadening disaster recovery protection
Chapter 4 Taming the capacity monster
Chapter 5 Archiving data with the hybrid cloud
Chapter 6 Putting all the pieces together
Chapter 7 Imagining the possibilities with hybrid cloud storage
That’s a Wrap! Summary and glossary of terms for hybrid cloud storage
We hope you found the information in this blog series both educational and informative and so, without further ado, here is a glossary of terms for hybrid cloud storage found in Rethinking Enterprise Storage – A Hybrid Cloud Model
Active data Data that is expected to be accessed again relatively soon or periodically
Archiving A storage process that preserves data for an extended period of time
At-rest An IT resource that has a stable state and is not being copied
Backup target A storage device or system that backup software writes data to when performing backups
Backup A data protection method that was developed to work with tape and usually combines periodic full copies of data with incremental copies of new data
Best practices IT management informed by advanced knowledge and experience
Big Data Vernacular term for data analytics, associated with, but not restricted to, Hadoop technology and methods
BLOB Binary large object, often a file
Block storage A storage environment characterized by devices and protocols that are designed to consume storage based on the granular element, blocks
Bucket A storage container provided by a cloud storage service
CDP (continuous data protection) A method of data protection that makes copies of all changes made to data
CiS (Cloud-integrated Storage) An on-premises storage system that stores data for on-premises systems and incorporates cloud storage services as a resource for storing on-premises data
Cloud computing Scalable computing services provided on a short- or long-term basis by a large number of systems
Cloud snapshot A data protection method that stores point-in-time copies of data for on-premises systems in cloud storage
Cloud storage-as-a-tier Scale-across storage, CiS that works with cloud storage to provide a single, scalable storage system
Cloud storage Scalable, object-based storage capacity provided as systems that can be accessed for long-term or shot-term projects.
Clustered storage Scale-out storage, a tightly coupled group of storage systems that function as a single, scalable storage system
Data analytics Computing processes looking for patterns or correlating factors in large amounts of data
Data reduction Processes that reduce the amount of storage capacity consumed for a given amount of information
Data tiering A storage management process that determines the performance and storage requirements for data and locates it on a cost-effective storage resource
Data volatility An indication of the percentage of an application’s data that may be accessed in day-to-day operations
Dedupe (Deduplication) A process that identifies duplicate copies of data and eliminates them by linking to reference copies
Deterministic Precisely specified
Discovery The process for finding data that may be needed for legal or regulatory reasons
Dormant data Data that is accessed very rarely, if ever
Downtime The amount of time systems and data are not available for processing, usually associated with a disaster or failure, but also maintenance operations
DR Disaster recovery, the process of resuming operations following a disaster that causes the unexpected stoppage or failure of computing equipment and processes
Enterprise A business or government entity of substantial size
Fingerprint The granular data structure that is managed in the Microsoft hybrid cloud storage solution comprised of data and metadata
Geo-replication A cloud storage service that copies data from a cloud data center to a remote cloud data center
Hash A numerical value calculated from processing a data string that uniquely identifies the string
High availability A system design designed to continue operating after the loss or failure of system components or entire systems
Hybrid cloud boundary The distance, time, or technology barrier that separates an on-premises data center from a cloud data center
Hybrid cloud storage Data storage formed by the combination of on-premises storage and cloud storage services
Hybrid cloud A computing service that combines public compute services with private compute services
Hypervisor A software program that provides an operating environment for virtual machines
IaaS (infrastructure-as-a-service) A cloud service offering the use of virtual computer, storage, and network systems
Index A way of condensing or collating data electronically that facilitates searching
In-flight An IT resource that is being copied or transmitted from one location to another
IOPS The total sum of read and write operations per second; input/output operations per second
iSCSI (Internet Small Computer System Interface) An Ethernet protocol for exchanging storage commands and data between computer systems and storage systems
IT team Employees and contractors that plan, acquire, manage, and operate IT
IT Information technology, the profession and industry of developing, manufacturing, selling, implementing, and operating data processing and communications products and services
Local snapshot A point-in-time copy of data or pointers to data stored on a storage system’s own disk drives
Metadata Data that describes data or attributes of data, such as a hash value of its contents
Migration time The time that an application is offline while it and its data are being relocated from one data center to another
Monolithic storage Scale-up storage, a single system storage design that scales by adding components
Near CDP A method of data protection that makes copies of most changes made to data
NV-RAM (non-volatile random access memory) Fast memory storage that retains data even after the loss of power
On-premises A facility owned and operated by an organization such as a business or government Orchestration An intelligent installation process that manages multiple related technologies to create a solution
Portability The ability to relocate compute resources and processes from one location or set of resources to another
Primary site A data center where production operations run and where replication copies originate
Primary storage Storage where applications read and write data during normal processing
Private-cloud A computing service that is restricted to a specific set of users, often implemented at a corporate-owned facility
Public-cloud A multi-tenant computing service that is provided openly over the Internet
Recovery point The time in the past when the last data was captured prior to a disaster event
Recovery site A data center where DR operations are conducted
Recovery time The amount of time it takes to return a system to full functionality after a disaster event
Replication A data protection method that copies written data from one location to another
ROBO Remote office / branch office
SAN Storage area network
Scale-across A storage design that scales by adding resources from cloud storage
Scale-out A storage design that scales by adding additional systems to a group of systems
Scale-up A storage design that scales by adding components to a single system
Secondary site A data center where replicated data is copied to
Secondary storage Storage that is used for data protection or archiving
Snapshot A method of data protection that uses a system of pointers to make point-in-time copies of data
Spindown A process of stopping the rotation of disk drives for dormant data to reduce the power costs of storing it
SSD (solid state disk) Amassed memory technology that functions like a disk drive
Tape rotation The schedule that backup software creates for naming, using, and cycling tapes
Thin provisioning A method of allocating storage capacity from a common resource to individual storage volumes on a first-come, first-served basis.
Thin A storage process designed to minimize resource consumption
Virtual machine (VM) The functionality of a physical computer provided by software operating as a logical system image
Virtual storage A storage resource that is comprised of elements of other storage resources
Virtual tape The use of a disk storage system to replace tapes used for backup
Virtualization The process of using software to mimick the functionality of physical equipment
VM sprawl A phenomenon where the number of virtual machines in an organization scales beyond the ability of the IT team to manage
VM Virtual disk A virtual disk managed by a hypervisor for storing the data for a VM, typically stored as a file.
VSA (virtual storage appliance) The equivalent of a
VM, but for a storage system
VTL (virtual tape library) A storage system used to backup data to disk
Working set The data normally accessed in regular daily processing
To learn more about Microsoft Hybrid Cloud Storage visit www.microsoft.com/storsimple and be sure to download your copy of Rethinking Enterprise Storage: A Hybrid Cloud Mode