Storage Resource Management And De-Duplication

By Thomas Vernersson, Founder and CEO, Northern

Using storage resource management tools can help you reclaim on average, 30 to 40% of storage space on your file servers -- oftentimes more. An SRM solution that includes some form of user self-management can itself assist in the de-duplication process, as users now have the ability to independently organize and streamline their data. Hardware investments are thus preserved and extended, and administrative costs, which alone account for 80% of overall storage costs, are significantly reduced – freeing IT administrators and their staff to attend to other critical day-to-day tasks.

A storage resource management solution that includes core quota and reporting functionality, and automates a range of repetitive storage-related tasks, has become almost standard in today's high-performance enterprise networks – particularly as these networks integrate an ever-more complex array of storage technologies and devices, from SAN to NAS. The move toward limited storage self-service has to date been gradual, though the value proposition as stated above is clear and compelling. Its value is even more obvious when combined with a data de-duplication tool, which further reduces extraneous data while safeguarding important user data.

As discussed, de-duplication doesn't prevent data from being saved, it only removes what is already there, and by definition it doesn't nudge users toward more responsible storage usage. It is a good solution, but it only takes you so far as it is intrinsically reactive. And it's a silent solution as well, as users will never be aware of the company's storage policies nor that management has made streamlining data a business imperative. Giving users a degree of control offloads a good degree of responsibility onto the user population, reducing the weight that typically falls on IT's shoulders, while investing users in more responsible data management. Together, hardware and administrative costs are dramatically lowered, and overall performance and productivity is improved.