Storage systems

[fteoOpty64]

A bit old but check this:

http://bnrg.cs.berkeley.edu/~randy/Courses/CS294.S13/12.1.pdf

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Nice to see that a 2001 document is still as valid today as it ever was. The improvements are mostly in the electronics while the software parts are minuscule compared to the advances in micro-electronics. One feature I have not seen is "clustered storage systems" like the one in Dec/VAX VMS old days. I have wondered why MS did not want to license clustering technology from DEC as it would really eclipse Linux in an important area. There are so many "Could have been" in our history that might have advanced our technology a heck of a lot faster and better than it has.

[benmoran]

Nice to see that a 2001 document is still as valid today as it ever was. The improvements are mostly in the electronics while the software parts are minuscule compared to the advances in micro-electronics. One feature I have not seen is "clustered storage systems" like the one in Dec/VAX VMS old days. I have wondered why MS did not want to license clustering technology from DEC as it would really eclipse Linux in an important area. There are so many "Could have been" in our history that might have advanced our technology a heck of a lot faster and better than it has.

Read up on glusterfs and ceph.

[benmoran]

sorry, didn't mean to quote you, fteoOpty64.

[Slobodan]

Thanks. I have already searched PDFs and found a lot. But I can not find what types of computer data storage systems exist. So I need to know that. I mean, I don't know whether DAS, NAS, SAN,... are types of storage systems or types of storage networking or what.
Are there any other aplication of storage systems in industry other than servers?

[nanonyme]

But check wikipedia for history of file systems.

FWIW while I agree Wikipedia is good for getting an overall image on the subject, it's not an acceptable source of information to most universities for thesis. But yes, Wikipedia does typically link to some external sources that could be.

[fteoOpty64]

But I can not find what types of computer data storage systems exist. So I need to know that. I mean, I don't know whether DAS, NAS, SAN,... are types of storage systems or types of storage networking or what.
Are there any other aplication of storage systems in industry other than servers?

Well sometimes telling people to look up links and papers does not help much. My kids sometimes complain but if questions are more specific, then they can be answerable.

Storage systems are computer devices or systems that managed storage typically in spinning mechanical disc medium commonly available. Typically called a Hard disk-drive meaning they contain a rigid spindle of magnetic disc platters spinning at a constant speed with read/write heads actuated tp read and write data to the disk. DAS, NAS and SAN are types of storage systems for different purposes and are priced within their product segments.
A DAS or Direct Attach device is a passive storage without intelligence within the box. It is directly attached to the disk controller channel of a host computer, hence the name. It is also the cheapest storage of the lot and the number of disks supported depends on the host system hardware capabilities. A DAS is used by only one host computer!. Security is managed by the host computer and not the DAS.
A NAS or Network attached storage connects to a network typically Ethernet wired network that can be shared by many computers in the network or sub-networks this network belongs. NAS has intelligence meaning it has a processor, ram, controller, OS and disk in the system. It manages security access and the types of disk management on its own. This provides isolation from each host system in terms of reliability and flexibility and most importantly allow universal sharing of its stored files.
A SAN is like a NAS but connected by different high speed links such as Infiniband or other exotic interconnects. SAN are also more tightly integrated to the host computer and can scale better than NAS in sizes and locations.

Application of storage systems are mainly to house databases like Oracle databases used in banking and financial services sector. Cloud storage companies uses different types of storage system to store customer files in flat-file or hierarchical file format. The advent of "big data" allows special ways of handling flat files with indices or other has structures that allows for quick searches that database cannot do in a short time. The level of redundany and relication is also build into exotic big data storage that uses groups of hundreds of thousands of consumer level disk for their primary storage needs. All storage systems need some sort of backup and lately using Blue-ray optical disk is a cheap form of mass archiving.

Other than servers, sometime "appliance" is a term used to categorize storage systems that are simple "plug and play" black boxes. Video surveillance archiving is one method the storage system compresses video files with timestamps and continuity markers to enable selected playback used in law enforcement. Feed from several cameras can be simultaneously views across multiple screens to watch some scenarios at play.

[erendorn]

Maybe relevant for a high level painting of recent developments?

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/01/bitrot-and-atomic-cows-inside-next-gen-filesystems/

[Slobodan]

So, nobody can just tell me - Types of computer data storage systems are:

- This
- This
- This
- And that

I am not asking you to write anything form me, just to "list" them...


Is all of this considered a storage system:

- DAS (Direct Attached Storage)
- NAS (Network Attached Storage)
- SAN (Storage Area Network) - not sure abouth this one
- CAS (Content Adressed Storage)
- COS (Cloud Optimised Storage).

And are there more?

[TheBlackCat]

People are trying to help you, but if you can't be more specific about exactly what you want, you aren't going to get the answers you are looking for. You are using very vague terms that could mean one of probably a dozen things. The more specific you can be, the more likely you are to get what you want.

[nanonyme]

People are trying to help you, but if you can't be more specific about exactly what you want, you aren't going to get the answers you are looking for. You are using very vague terms that could mean one of probably a dozen things. The more specific you can be, the more likely you are to get what you want.

Well, the core issue is that he's trying to work with a vague term and get other people to explain what it means when he doesn't know enough of it to ask better questions. This isn't really the way to do academic research, seriously.