Storage beyond the server.
WHAT SHARED STORAGE IS
Storage accessible by several servers, rather than held in one.
WHAT THAT ENABLES
Moving workloads between servers Higher availability Central management and backup
WHAT APPROACHES EXIST
File-level access over a network Block-level access over a dedicated network Object storage, accessed programmatically
WHAT EACH SUITS
- File access: shared documents and general use
- Block access: databases and virtualisation
- Object storage: large volumes, backups, media
WHAT SHARED STORAGE INTRODUCES
A dependency. Its failure affects everything using it.
WHAT THAT REQUIRES
Redundancy within the storage system Redundant paths to it
WHAT TO MONITOR
Capacity Performance Component health
WHAT TO PLAN
Growth, since storage consumption only rises.
WHAT TO AVOID
Filling a storage system to capacity.
WHY
Performance degrades, and expansion becomes urgent rather than planned.
WHAT MOST SMALL DEPLOYMENTS NEED
Storage within the server, and good backups.
