Replacing or Upgrading Your Storage Array - 15 Questions to Consider Before It's Far Too Late

|

By Molly Webster


Replacing or upgrading your existing storage array may be a daunting job, because the performance and availability of your company applications hang on what program you choose to make use of.

Be sure to choose a program or method upgrade that accommodates both short term and long term techniques for growth. Even though there is no best selection as trade-offs exist in all storage offerings, you'll find numerous questions you are able to ask yourself to help guide you within the decision-making procedure.

1. Why do we genuinely need to upgrade or modify this program? Be sure to evaluate all emotional components of the choice, like who is going to be affected and all associated risks. Dig into your root motivations to assist recognize prospective long-term solutions.

2. What new applications are coming on the web in the next 12-24 months? How will these applications affect my storage consumption?

3. What outstanding lease payments exist? How many are there? What is my buyout number?

4. If we replace this method, how much capacity will we should acquire? Accommodate for 12 months of growth and projects. Carefully examine the requirements to address the root issues and make sure that you have planned for long-term capacity.

5. What will the migration process appear like if we obtain a brand new method?

6. What other infrastructure projects are we able to tackle when we opt for an upgrade rather than a complete replacement?

7. If we opt to replace, just how much of a understanding curve will there be as my employees and I turn proficient using the new method?

8. What are my present RPO and RTO requirements for DR? Could those change in the next 24 months?

9. With what storage method or systems is my team most familiar? Why?

10. Just how much further capacity is necessary from this array over the next 12-24 months?

11. What will my DR requirements be over time? Are we even searching at DR?

12. What existing applications which are hosted on DAS or storage islands do I need to collapse into a centralized method? Does my existing method have enough of a workload buffer to deal with the job?

13. What tools do I will need on my storage array? Dedupe, Tiering, Auto-Caching, Snapshots, Replication, Thin Provisioning, etc? Why? Will this solve the root issue?

14. If replaced, what could I reuse this program for? DR, Remote Office, Backup to Disk, Archive?

15. What upgrades may possibly allow my existing array to uncover a valuable new use-even if I replace it? (Dedicated Oracle System, VMWare Backup Target, TSM Storage Pool, DEV, TEST, QA Farm, etc.)

Some of these storage questions were derived from best practices; others we uncovered through encounters. Hopefully they will help you gain some insight as you contemplate replacing or updating your storage array.




About the Author:



0 comments:

Post a Comment

 

©2009 Minh Vu's Blog | Template Blue by TNB