Data storage is the main part of every company’s general operation and functions. No matter, whether you work with the use of a computer regularly or utilize only for a certain aspect of the work.
You definitely will face data in the form of written documents, emails, databases, spreadsheets, audio and video files, graphics and even contracts. Every company and individual business requires data storage options and solutions to keep it safe.
If you are very much concerned about the safety of your data, then it is quite essential to have data storage options with robust solutions which will help you grow your business in every successful way.
In that regard, for sure, you will think about storage options and requirements in both capability and physical location for your business.
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Need of data storage options
Initially, it is important to store precious and confidential data in a safe place. Storing every duplicate data with the original in the same location will haunt you while accessing your hard drive.
In order to be away from this, it is important to prefer different data storage options which are crucial for your backup method. You find this in different forms with pros and cons that prove to be helpful to you.
When it comes about storing of data then there is no one size fits to all sort of solutions as the data storage devices are available as per the used gadget and device.
Fortunately, the easiest and diverse option to store data is the removable storage device in different shapes and sizes which can be easily plugged directly into the USB port without the need of a cord. They are cheapest and easily accessible to your device and data and can be carried anywhere to utilize in case of need.
Mainly, a storage area network is nothing but a dedicated and high speed network which interrelates and presents common pools of storage devices to many servers. If you use SAN, then your network is moved from the public user network and made into a high performance network which allows easy access to your data.
In case a host requires access to a storage device on this network, then it sends out a chunk based access demand for the storage device. Choose storage area networks for your connections and keep your data safe.
5 Best Options to prefer for every size business
Luckily, there are a set of requirements with good options like Storage area network, Network attached storage, Backup to Disk, Content addressable storage and online backup solutions. You can choose any of the data storage options for different tasks, departments, responsibilities and branches.
1- Storage Area Networks
A SAN is an important system with high speed that permits every server to access all the storage devices and works either with the use of SCSI commands in order to handle on to the margin.
It can be extended to the lesser locations for archival storage and backup for a disaster recovery. Nowadays, people are choosing SAN networks as it handles every problem effectively and efficiently when compared to other solutions. It expands easily to boost storage or capacities.
2- Network Attached Storage
This storage option is a better option if you wish to develop your business that requires robust, economical, and secure and scalable solutions. It is because, NAS solutions are simple to deploy, manage centrally and consolidate as they are well suited to every business which lacks information technology departments.
Mainly, NAS possess a variety of hard drives attached to the network directly and is less expensive when compared to SAN. A NAS has more than two hard drives in a single network fixed device for your easy use.
3- Backup to Disk
This is a traditional disk based B2D storage which maintains confidential business data in a safe way from third parties, providing the companies a complete charge over the digital possessions.
This B2D storage solution assists reliable, rapid and lucrative backup with storage. More interestingly, with the use of hard drive, B2D marks similar data on a disk size or otherwise mark to a tape drive. Many consider this option as this solution supports a variety of removable and rewritable media and zip finally.
4- Content Addressable Storage
The CAS option stores the important information which recovers depending upon the content but not the storage location. Most of the people consider it as best as its data accuracy is paramount and every time when a small part of data changes, it gets an exclusive identifier.
The Content Addressable storage network makes sure that its users are able to recover the exact data in the same way it is stored in their device or system.
5- Choose online data storage solutions with backup facility
Most of the companies wish to choose online data storage solutions as it providers its users an amazing backup facility or their confidential digital data. It is because, everyday, many electronic gadgets and devices get stolen though there are tracers, theft protectors or other advanced technologies.
This online data storage option is considered as safe and sensitive as it keeps the data safe and secure in any of the situation at any point of time though your gadget gets stolen.
Do you think the cloud is safer than a traditional data center?
Cloud computing is a synonymy for distributed computing over a network and ‘Yes it is safer than traditional datacenter’.
Cloud Data Center intends to run programs or applications on a lot of connected devices at the same time. It is achieving popularity because of excellent points: Infrastructure flexibility, faster deployment of data, cost control, improved productivity etc., but there are still questions in the mind of customers:
‘How deep is the security customization? Will my data be encrypted? What is the status of physical security of the servers/storage solid? What protection is provided if there is a security breach?’
Now these questions are raised only due to the Security Concerns on Cloud Computing. And these security questions of customers are answered by Cloud Computing by using the best-practice of multi-layered security and some other excellent ways to secure data mentioned below:
1. Firewall: It sits at ‘Access Point’ of the network and performs rudimentary check to control data and services access.
2. Access to resources is located within their clouds and they are given rights to manage only those resources. Therefore, the cloud customers are provided with Management Portal that is encrypted to manage their resources. SSL Encryption is the best tool used for this task.
3. In Cloud Datacenter the customers are rendered with a transparent and secure backup mechanism which allows them to take back up on consistent basis and enable quick restoration at downtime.
4. Snapshot and cloning capabilities of Cloud Computing Technology has made this possible to backup and restore data, this has also provided a potential to use complete operating system and applications on other operating systems present on cloud.
5. In Cloud Computing the authentication of system users and administrators in such a way that so that a track could be of footsteps is recorded by knowing who is doing what within the system, when they did it and what exactly they did. In Cloud Computing any access to cloud resources either by the customers/system users/ administrators is logged for auditing purpose.
6. Data Encryption adds an extra layer of protection, even if the whole system is compromised. Encrypted Data when traverses the network, it is much more difficult for the attackers to do any harm with intercepted traffic.
Now when we discussed the same with QA Testing folks working on Cloud testing we got some mixed reaction. While one said that:
“Cloud computing technology has just gained visibility in the recent years and due to its short period in the market it is difficult to compare with Traditional Data Centers.
In this era, where everyone is running after the storage of their digital property on cloud. This not only saves the data against crashes but also aims at saving a lot of money that may be spent on the hardware/infrastructure.
But the question still remains, how safe is the data on the cloud. With no laws made to guide the security policies of the web, the data that is present on the cloud can be easily accessed by anyone. The various security issues can be:
1. Privacy-is your data being mined for various market researches and advertisements?
2. Reliability- being sure of the availability of data whenever needed;
3. Security- is your data encrypted? If yes, who all have the access to the encryption key?
4. Copyright- who owns the content that you upload, can anyone sell your content without your permission.
And if we go on making a list, we can jot down many such issues. The data being not secure on the cloud can be made clear with the recent revealing of PRISM national security surveillance program, run by the United States National Security Agency (NSA).
With the revelations made by Edward Snowden it has become evident that the NSA is spying on every user by directly accessing their data on cloud services and applications such as Google, Amazon, and Facebook etc. Similarly hackers can also access the data by hacking into the Cloud
Hence, it can be rightly said that, with the present structure of the laws, the traditional datacenter is much more secure in terms of safety than cloud”.
However, when we asked one of the QA testing manager working on Cloud testing had a different view point as he said:
“Yes, the cloud is safer than traditional datacenters, our common knowledge says that it is very important that the data which needs to remain secure should be kept in the data center. But the fact is that the data kept in the public cloud can be more secure. There are various factors which contribute to the cloud being safer.
In case of development lifecycles, cloud is more secure since the security practices are planned and built in. And development can be done from scratch with the best security.
For every organization, there are threats that an internal person who has access to the sensitive data can access it for wrong purpose, but in a large cloud operation this threat is very limited and thus because of stricter access controls the security is not compromised.
The cloud providers need to store a very high amount of data which requires a high level of expertise which is not available in-house and this high level of expertise ensures more security.
Apart from the security testing, the cloud provider makes sure that there is regular monitoring and auditing. This helps to spot an intrusion attempt immediately. Also, it helps to make sure that latest versions of software are being used.
Next comes the controlled environment since the hardware, software etc. are standard. The controlled environment is more secure. So, when new systems are implemented automation principles are used which leaves no chance for a security lapse. Thus the cloud is safer than traditional datacenter”.
Important things to know before purchasing data storage devices
There are different points to go through and consider before purchasing a data storage device, to make your purchase worthy and useful. They are:
- Understand about your needs and applications with technical requirements related to performance, capacity, energy consumptions and availability.
- To what operating systems and servers will you be attaching the device?
- Do you require block or a file supported access?
- Do you need copy, local and remote mirroring, snapshot, and Raid features?
- Are you interested to purchase or taking on lease the best storage options?
- What are your requirements and growth plans in data protection?
- For which applications you wish to use data storage options?
Consider all the above factors when purchasing a best data storage options to make your work easy and successful.