Virtual data storage is gaining popularity as an increasingly popular choice for companies who want to reduce their IT costs. These solutions can save considerable amount of money because they don’t require redundancy in hardware that is usually required in traditional storage architectures for enterprises to ensure disaster recovery.

Virtual data storage permits IT departments to pool physical storage devices, like SANs which appear to be an individual device or storage array. There are several methods to implement this technology that include network-based storage virtualization (which blends all of the storage devices of an FC or iSCSI SAN into a single pool, which is controlled by a central management console) and host-based http://www.virtualdataspace.biz/what-is-a-bolt-on-acquisition/ virtualization. Host-based virtualization is typically used in HCI systems and cloud storage.

Virtual storage must be compatible with the hardware infrastructure, but also with the servers, hypervisors, and networking components. It must also support data encryption, granular access and authentication controls, as well as robust backup and disaster recovery capabilities.

Virtual storage must also be able to address issues with latency and performance. This includes ensuring that critical applications can run without compromising the performance or causing latency to data retrieval. This requires evaluating storage controller capabilities, network bandwidth and capacity for disk I/O as much as deploying caching mechanisms. It also involves implementing advanced storage functions such as tiering and replicating at the virtualization level.