Software Defined Storage – SNIA on Cloud Storage

What the “T” Means in SNIA Cloud Storage Technologies

August 15, 2018August 15, 2018 Alex McDonald Leave a comment

The SNIA Cloud Storage Initiative (CSI) has had a rebrand; we’ve added a T for Technologies into our name, and we’re now officially the Cloud Storage Technologies Initiative (CSTI).

That doesn’t seem like a significant change, but there’s a good reason. Our old name reflected the push to getting acceptance of cloud storage, and that specific cloud storage debate has been won, and big time. One relatively small cloud service provider is currently storing 400PB of clients’ data. Twitter alone consumes 300PB of data on Google’s cloud offering. Facebook, Amazon, AliBaba, Tencent – all have huge data storage numbers.

Enterprises of every size are storing data in the cloud. That’s why we added the word “technologies.” The expanded charter and new name reflect the need to support the evolving cloud business models and architectures such as OpenStack, software defined storage, Kubernetes and object storage. It includes data services, orchestration and management, understanding hyperscale requirements and the role standards play.

So what do we do? The CSTI is an active group that publishes articles and white papers, speaks at industry conferences and presents at highly-rated webcasts that have been viewed by thousands. You can learn more about the CSTI and check out the Infographic for highlights on cloud storage trends and CSTI activities.

If you’re interested in cloud storage technologies, I encourage you to consider joining our group. We have multiple membership options for established vendors, startups, educational institutions, even individuals. Learn more about CSTI membership here.

Need a Primer on Cloud Object Storage?

June 17, 2016June 17, 2016 Alex McDonald Leave a comment

There has been a lot of buzz around cloud object storage recently. But before you get deep into all that cloud object storage can do, it’s good to take a step back and make sure you understand the basics. That’s what the SNIA Cloud Storage Initiative is planning to do on July 14^th at our live Webcast “Cloud Object Storage 101.”

Many organizations, like large service providers, have already begun to leverage software-defined object storage to support new application development and DevOps projects. Meanwhile, legacy enterprise companies are in the early stages of exploring the benefits of object storage for their particular business and are searching for how they can use cloud object storage to modernize their IT strategies, store and protect data, while dramatically reducing the costs associated with legacy storage sprawl.

This Webcast will highlight the market trends towards the adoption of object storage, the definition and benefits of object storage, and the use cases that are best suited to leverage an underlying object storage infrastructure.

Join us on July 14^th to learn:

How to accelerate the transition from legacy storage to a cloud object architecture
Understand the benefits of object storage
Primary use cases
How an object storage can enable your private, public or hybrid cloud strategy without compromising security, privacy or data governance

I hope you’ll register today to join my colleague, Nancy Bennis, Director of Alliances at Cleversafe (an IBM company), and me for this tutorial on cloud object storage.

Open Source Software-Only Storage – Really.

May 24, 2016May 24, 2016 Mario Blandini Leave a comment

Virtually any storage solution is more parts software than hardware. Having said this, users don’t care as much about the percentage of hardware vs. software. They want their consumption experience to be easy and fast to start up, with a pay-as-you-grow model and with the ability to scale without limits. So, it should not be a shock that real IT organizations are using software-only on standard servers to deliver storage to their customers. What’s more, this type of storage can be powered by open source.

At the upcoming SNIA Data Storage Innovation Conference, we are looking forward to discussing software-defined storage (SDS) from a user experience perspective with examples of OpenStack Swift providing an engine for building SDS clusters with any mixed combination of standard server and HDD hardware in a way that is simple enough for any enterprise to dynamically scale.

Swift is a highly available, distributed, scalable object store available as open source. It is designed to handle non-relational (that is, not just simple row-column data) or unstructured data at large scale with high availability and durability. For example, it can be used to store files, videos, documents, analytics results, Web content, drawings, voice recordings, images, maps, musical scores, pictures, or multimedia. Organizations can use Swift to store large amounts of data efficiently, safely, and cheaply. It scales horizontally without any single point of failure. It offers a single multi-tenant storage system for all applications, the ability to use low-cost industry-standard servers and drives, and a rich ecosystem of tools and libraries. It can serve the needs of any service provider or enterprise working in a cloud environment, regardless of whether the installation is using other OpenStack components.

I know what you are thinking, storage is too critical, so it will never work this way. But the same was said >25 years go when using RAID was seen as too risky given solutions would acknowledge writes while the data was in cache prior to being written to disk. The same was also said >15 years ago when VMware was seen as not robust enough to run any manner of demanding or critical application. Replicas and Erasure Codes are analogous to RAID 1 and RAID 5 respectively, and the uniquely as possible distribution of data behind a single namespace abstracts standard hardware like server virtualization.

Interested in hearing more? Come check out my DSI session, “Swift Use Cases with SwiftStack,” where we look forward to sharing how this new type of storage can work, and to suspend your disbelief that this storage can be enterprise-grade.

Exploring the Software Defined Data Center – A SNIA Cloud Webcast

February 3, 2016May 28, 2020 Glyn Bowden Leave a comment

SNIA Cloud is pleased to announce our next live Webcast, “Exploring the Software Defined Data Center.” A Software Defined Data Center (SDDC) is a compute facility in which all elements of the infrastructure – networking, storage, CPU and security – are virtualized and removed from proprietary hardware stacks. Deployment, provisioning and configuration as well as the operation, monitoring and automation of the entire environment is abstracted from hardware and implemented in software. If you ever have a software that you haven’t used before and want to test it before applying it then consider using misra.

The results of this software-defined approach include maximizing agility and minimizing cost, benefits that appeal to IT organizations of all sizes. In fact, understanding SDDC concepts can help IT professionals in any organization better apply these software defined concepts to storage, networking, compute and other infrastructure decisions.

If you’re interested in Software Defined Data Centers and how such a thing might be implemented – and why this concept is important to IT professionals who aren’t involved with building data centers – then please join us on March 15^th as Eric Slack, Sr. Analyst with Evaluator Group, will explain what “software defined” really means and why it’s important to all IT organizations. Eric will be joined by Alex McDonald, Chair for SNIA’s Cloud Storage Initiative who will talk about how these concepts apply to the modern data center.

How a SDDC leverages this concept to make the private cloud feasible
How we can apply SDDC concepts to an existing data center
How to develop your own software defined data center environment

As always, this Webcast will be live. Eric, Alex and I will be on hand to answer your questions. We hope you’ll join us on March 15^th.

Come See SNIA at the Software-Defined Infrastructure Summit

November 24, 2015November 24, 2015 Alex McDonald Leave a comment

Demand for software-defined infrastructure (SDI) is on the rise, and with good reason. SDI helps data centers meet the challenges of cloud computing, big data/analytics, mobility and social media, in an agile and cost-effective way. I’m pleased to announce that SNIA will be an active participant at next week’s Software-Defined Infrastructure Summit in Santa Clara, CA, December 1-3.

My colleagues and I at the SNIA Cloud Storage Initiative have organized a “Working with OpenStack” Seminar that kicks off the Summit on Tuesday, December 1.

I will keynote an OpenStack fireside chat along with Chris DePuy, VP, at Dell’Oro Group. We’ll be discussing the SNIA Cloud Data Management Interface (CDMI) and its interface with OpenStack, OpenStack implementations, how standards play, and the future of open source in the 21st century.

My keynote will be accompanied by additional SNIA talks in the Introduction to OpenStack session and the Application Management session:

Sam Fineberg, PhD, SNIA Cloud Storage Initiative member and Distinguished Technologist at Hewlett Packard Enterprise Storage, will provide an overview of the storage aspects of OpenStack including the core projects for block storage (Cinder) and object storage (Swift), and the new shared file service (Manila). He’ll cover some common configurations and use cases for these technologies, and discuss how they interact with the other parts of OpenStack.
Richelle Ahlvers, SNIA Open Source Task Force member and Principal Storage Management Architect at Avago Technologies, will discuss application integration in OpenStack and how SNIA-developed standards enable cross-vendor management interoperability and help open source projects interoperate with more industry solutions.

Tuesday’s Seminar day will include additional sessions from leaders in OpenStack, Ceph, and Software Defined Storage. SDI Summit days 2 and 3 will provide information on hardware, software, and data center technology and applications of software-defined infrastructure featuring keynotes from IBM, Intel, Red Hat, and VMware, all SNIA member companies. It’s a must attend event.

SNIA will also be exhibiting at the Summit. Please stop by booth #408 to learn how SNIA standards are used in open source projects including cloud data management, non-volatile memory, self-contained information retention, and storage management. We will also have information on SNIA programs such as membership, certification, conformance testing, and conferences.

SNIA members and colleagues can use the code SPGP to receive a $100 discount on any level of SDI Summit registration. I hope to see you in Santa Clara!

Hybrid Clouds Webcast Preview

March 10, 2015March 10, 2015 Glyn Bowden Leave a comment

On March 18^th, SNIA-CSI will be hosting a live Webcast “Hybrid Clouds: Bridging Private and Public Cloud Infrastructures.”

Every IT consumer is using (or is planning to use) cloud in one form or another. The emphasis on the design and implementation of cloud architectures is often made without consideration of where the cloud storage and compute should be located and the benefits, costs and risks of deciding where the applications will run. Will it be a public cloud? Or a private cloud in the data center or co-location site? Or a hybrid of the two?

This session will be an overview on developing & delivering a cloud architecture with a focus on getting the overall goals correctly specified and defined, understanding the issues that must be addressed, and then making the decision about whether the application is suitable for public, private or some hybrid mixture of the two before undertaking implementation. We’ll also focus on one of the most difficult aspects of the solution, the management of data and storage in the cloud, and present a case study of a successful commercial implementation.

Register now for this live event. I hope you’ll join Alex McDonald and me for what we hope will be an informative and interactive event.