Secure infrastructure with open sourceSoftware-defined storage runningLinux efficiently in the cloud

eBOOK

www.Storage-Insider.de A Publication of

Cloud Storage

Powered by

2 Storage-Insider.de | Cloud Storage

3 Data Volumes are Becoming a Problem Data Storage in the Cloud

6 A Space for Trillions of Objects Object Storage: Not Just for Cloud Providers

9 Standardization in the Cloud with the Open Source Stack

Big Data and More in Your Own Cloud

11 Enterprise Storage Based on the Ceph Object Storage

Software-Defined Storage with Linux

13 Innovative Storage Concepts Use Open Source and the Cloud

SUSE Enterprise storage

Table of Contents

SUSE Linux GmbHMaxfeldstr. 5, 90409 NürnbergTelefon +49 911-74053-779E-Mail kontakt-de@suse.comWeb www.suse.com/de-de/

Vogel IT-Medien GmbHAugust-Wessels-Str. 27, 86156 AugsburgTelefon +49 (0) 821/2177-0E-Mail redaktion@storage-insider.deWeb www.Storage-Insider.deGeschäftsführer: Werner NieberleChefredakteur: Rainer Graefen, V.i.S.d.P., rainer.graefen@vogel-it.deZweite Auflage: Dezember 2015Titelbild: boscorelli - Fotolia.com

Haftung: Für den Fall, dass Beiträge oder Informa tionen

unzutreffend oder fehlerhaft sind, haftet der Verlag nur beim

Nachweis grober Fahrlässigkeit. Für Beiträge, die namentlich

gekennzeichnet sind, ist der jeweilige Autor verantwortlich.

Copyright: Vogel IT-Medien GmbH. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Nachdruck, digitale Verwendung jeder Art, Vervielfältigung nur

mit schriftlicher Genehmigung der Redaktion.

Nachdruck und elektronische Nutzung: Wenn Sie Beiträge

dieses eBooks für eigene Veröffent li chun gen wie Sonderdru-

cke, Websites, sonstige elektroni sche Medien oder Kunden-

zeitschriften nutzen möchten, erhalten Sie Informationen so-

wie die erforderlichen Rechte über www.mycontentfactory.de,

Tel. +49 (0) 931/418-2786.

Powered by:

3 Storage-Insider.de | Cloud Storage

One of the most famous mass data creators is CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) in Geneva, Switzerland. To date, the LHC project (Large Hadron Collider) alone has accumulated 100 petabytes of data, and another two-to-three petabytes are added each month. Nuclear does not divulge its secrets easily: they are hidden in this mound of data, which is still frequently combed through using a range of methods and so needs to remain intact.

IDC has long been claiming that if you wanted to store all of the data

produced every year around the world, you would need five times as

much storage capacity than can currently be produced. The cloud will

not eliminate this deficiency, and the problem is completely unsolvable

if we look at the IT budgets of data producers. The excess of data is

becoming an analysis problem.

Videos and Sensor Data

Data from the growing consumption of videos is also becoming a problem. Videos are becoming the new means of communication and a compliance tool. According to a Cisco study, an estimated 79 percent of Internet traffic will be made up of videos in 2018. The effect on the national data networks will be the same as the growing number of cars on freeways—unavoidable congestion. Video files are large, even when compressed, and they are difficult to de-duplicate. Add to this entirely new challenges that are imminent: storing and processing measurement and sensor data from the realm of the Internet of Things (IoT). The Internet of Things, with its billions of sensors, will make a lot of local data public, and therefore valuable: for example, aircraft turbine data or the curb with the “Parking space occupied” sensor. Everything in the world that is measured can be parsed, compared and then used for global control purposes. This data a small, constant trickle of sensor data, so a new data format is required. Saving this data as a block, file or object would be a pure waste of space.Furthermore, the sensor data generated in a company needs to be examined to

Data Volumes Are Becoming an Analysis Problem

Data Storage in the Cloud

The Large Hadron Collider at CERN, the nuclear research center in Geneva, delivers two-to-three petabytes of new data each month. (Image: Interoute Germany)

4 Storage-Insider.de | Cloud Storage

determine whether it is relevant for security or not.

The Three Storage Elements

Storage capacity has always been segmented into a hierarchy referred to as “tiers” in contemporary usage. This hierarchy has not changed throughout the history of storage. To store all data in a single storage tier would be either too expensive or far too slow. Therefore,

the shorter the latency time of a storage medium, the closer it is coupled to the processor. (We will look at costs later.) At the top of the hierarchy are the two or three cache levels in the processor itself, followed by the dynamic main memory with several terabytes of capacity. More recently, non-volatile NAND flash memory is has been displacing the hard disks from the server. Whether the slower Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) and Serial AT Attachment (SATA) hard disks will also fall victim to displacement is a matter of the price.High-capacity hard disks with six or more terabytes, which are marketed by Seagate, WD and HGST as an active archive medium, have a chance of surviving, while the IBM tape developers in Rüschlikon (Switzerland) claim that they are capable of packing 200 terabytes of data onto a single tape cartridge. At first glance, nothing

seems to have changed—solid state memory, hard disk and tape. However, technical advances in each storage class are providing a lot of material for debate and ensuring an animated repositioning at each hierarchy level. It is difficult to estimate at present to what extent pressure on IT budgets can hamper the existing force of technical innovation.

A Conceivable Concept: The Active Cloud

While consistent data migration by HSM (Hierarchical Storage Management) has been practiced since the early days for mainframes, for x86 systems industry-standard memory is arranged over various tiers. From a marketing perspective, an approximate temperature scale is, generally, deemed helpful, and hybrid storage, specifically, is considered the best possible answer with regard to the costs, speed and capacity for the differing frequencies of use of data blocks. Frequently accessed data is “hot,” and therefore belongs in the flash memory; data accessed less frequently is “warm” and may be moved to hard disks during ongoing operation; and the large amount of remaining data is “cold,” and no one really knows where the sensible place is to hold this vast array of data.Experienced IT professionals like referring to tape robots, which require little power and offer the best price level for terabyte storage. Unfortunately, many users believe that tape is slow. The preferred option is, therefore, scaled-out storage with deduplication and compression onto hard disks. This data cemetery referred to as an “active archive.” This is where, as a last resort, the cloud comes in: as the ideal storage location for noncritical data. After all, the cloud can accommodate large amounts of data, and you can access it from anywhere, or so says someone with

Data Storage in the Cloud

Traditional data classification, the „hotter“ the data, the faster the memory must be. (Image: SAP)

5 Storage-Insider.de | Cloud Storage

this naive opinion. In fact, the cloud houses the same storage media as on-premise or the storage media in the private cloud is forgotten. Another forgotten aspect is that even transferring data at the speed of light is really quite slow as soon as there are only a few hundred kilometers between the sender and recipient.

The Big Picture

The storage tier structure outlined above achieves its ultimate embodiment in the cloud. The hybrid memory, with its limited storage capacity from flash and disk, is becoming a hybrid storage model with tape as the last stage. This model must, however, include factors such as Internet security, the geographical region of data and storage service level agreements (SLAs). In spite of potentially reducing the complexity of the technical aspect, the tasks for storage architects are not necessarily becoming easier.Looking at the whole picture from the data side (not just from the view of the technology required and the stacks necessary for automated movement) instantly raises the question: what data does not belong in public storage domains managed by third parties? However, companies are now correcting the mistakes of the past with a vengeance; no one dominates content-based data classification. There is too little metadata, and virtually all of this data has no relation to the content of the documents. Therefore, a vast amount of data will have to be moved, via third-party infrastructures, until the data is in suitable structures.

The Cost of Data Logistics is Becoming a Problem

We are beginning to realize that storage processes not only need to be automated, they must also be relevant to the business and have the option of linking the storage

location and data movement with parameters such as the data source, data type, user and other organizational and procedural business information.Customers are gradually realizing that public storage clouds are only economically viable if they do not want to download data stored in the cloud on a regular basis. Otherwise, the costs for moving the data back and forth add up very quickly.

It’s Better to Think Twice When Choosing a Cloud Provider

Alongside the disadvantage of the high costs associated with regularly downloading data from the cloud archive, the download process itself is a lengthy matter. As long as a customer is not prepared to invest in a direct (and dedicated) network connection, the network performance is dependent on the overall speed of WAN networks and/or whether they have to be shared with other users.An example will help to illustrate this point. Moving one petabyte of data does not take hours or days but weeks. Even a differential backup could take an excessive amount of time. Companies are slowly beginning to understand this issue. Since the supply of new data to the data volumes will, without a doubt, continue to accelerate, companies are faced with the question of which data should be migrated to the relatively dwindling memory. Walter Schadhauser

Data Storage in the Cloud

6 Storage-Insider.de | Cloud Storage

Thanks to its huge storage capacity, object storage is also suitable as a basis for storing and analyzing data referred to now as “big data.” Standardized interfaces between applications, a private cloud and cloud providers are available. The market is still hesitant in its response to the new storage format. Over the last few years, the new generation of object storage has become increasingly important. This generation is considered to be the answer to the inadequacies of traditional RAID (redundant array of independent disks) systems; rather it is designed for managing and securing large volumes of data (particularly in the cloud). Yet start-ups in the area of object storage still have a hard time gaining a foothold in the market.

Object versus File

Here are just a few reasons why. Object storage—as an architecture—is a key

Object-based storage is becoming increasingly common,

especially in the area of highly dynamic memory infrastructures

with unpredictable data growth. The technology behind the latest

generation of object storage is impressive.

element for storing large amounts of data over a long period of time with a high level of integrity and availability and without the costs of additional upgrades. Object storage is a good solution for static content, for example. However, legacy systems and data applications do not communicate with object storage. For the time being, the Amazon S3 interface has established itself as the industry standard for archive systems. With the storage options currently in use, a gateway manages the object data via ticket or URL; however, the objects created by S3 cannot be retrieved and interpreted natively. Since object storage is only economically viable from higher capacities upward, it does not make economic sense for small- and medium-sized businesses to test object storage as a standalone device. This is why start-up companies in the field of object storage still have difficulty selling sufficient numbers of products. Object technology is essential over the long term—as part of online archives and the distribution of content and workflow solutions and, increasingly, as part of convergent solutions for traditional storage providers.

What Can Object Storage Do Better?

Hand in hand with so much praise comes the question “What can object storage do better?” For instance, object storage does not slow down when it has to manage a

A Space for Trillions of Objects

Object Storage: Not Just for Cloud Providers

The strengths of object storage really come to the fore for huge data volumes. (Image: Dell)

7 Storage-Insider.de | Cloud Storage

trillion objects. A file system is not capable of mounting such a large amount of data within reasonable time frames. In addition, an archive system that works with objects offers many more opportunities for ensuring data integrity. One example is Amplidata, which is now owned by HGST. The hard disk manufacturer, which is owned by WD, has been given a lot of freedom by the parent company and recently expanded its product range to include

an archive system called Active Archive SA7000, which can store 4.7 petabytes of data. Currently, the system comes with 8 TB Helioseal hard disks, but it can also be prepared to use the 10 TB Helioseal hard disk. Third-party hard disks are not supported because self-testing programs, call-home maintenance software, the burning of hard disks and complete racks and preformatting should ensure turnkey use for users. The interaction between all components is extremely important. Like other manufacturers, HGST has also increased disk capacity by 25 percent thanks to Shingled Magnetic Recording (SMR). The result is that the tracks are now pushed even closer together, and extreme care must be taken to ensure

that the inherent vibrations, feared in the past, do not reach the individual storage media.

Long-Term Durability

Now that users have had a brief time to familiarize themselves with the word” terabyte,” we have to take in the inevitable continuing data growth in petabytes. Previously, no one was interested in the SATA hard disk error probability, which

was very small at 10 to the power of minus14; it is, therefore, quite likely today that even modern SAS hard disks with an error rate of 10 to the power of minus 15 will certainly generate multiple errors at storage capacities over one petabyte. In these dimensions, RAID configurations with levels 5 or 6 are no longer technically feasible solutions. The Amplidata core in the HGST machine was therefore equipped with all the technical sophistication to ensure that data loss is virtually impossible. The manufacturer HGST quotes a data durability of

99.9999999999999 percent (15x9) for the SA7000. This cannot be achieved with a traditional RAID configuration. The erasure code required to achieve this may have been invented 40 years ago, but it has not been possible to realize it until today. Three basic functions are required to achieve this reliability:1. BitSpread2. GeoSpread3. BitDynamics

BitSpread distributes the object across eighteen hard disks, five of which are reserved for Error Correction Code (ECC) data. Unlike with RAID-6, it takes more than two hard disks to fail before the data cannot be restored. Thanks to

Object Storage: Not Just for Cloud Providers

The “Active Archive System” from HGST can save up to 4.7 petabytes of data. (Image: HGST)

8 Storage-Insider.de | Cloud Storage

BitSpread, you can restore date even if five hard disks fail, which means that 72 percent of the disk capacity is available. GeoSpread works on similar principles. It distributes the objects to the various locations automatically. GeoSpread uses the 18/6 Erasure Code; this means that six of the eighteen hard disks are intended for correction data. GeoSpread is appropriate if you have at least three archive systems,

and it enables distribution across 6/2 hard disks. If the data at a location were to be completely destroyed by a disaster, all data from the remaining two systems could be restored with no loss. One huge benefit offered by GeoSpread is that all 588 Active Archive disks are involved in recovering an object. The object does not have to be regenerated at the old location; the object management function ensures that the correct object components are supplied to the S3 application or gateway. In comparison, a RAID system would need approximately three weeks to rebuild an 8 TB disk.The BitDynamics function is to overlook. The function operates from all existing systems and ensures that all objects are distributed across 18 hard disks.

Cost

Cloud providers like to quote prices of a few cents per gigabyte. The cost block is incurred each month. Users should note that providers have different provision times and costs for the availability of data. In the lowest price range, Glacier from Amazon provides the data only after four hours. Triple the costs and the access time decreases to just a few seconds.

For its Active Archive, HGST promises access times of 100 milliseconds for 90 percent of the data set. To get these times, customers have to pay an unparalleled 18 cents per gigabyte. If you also factor in data transfer costs that are constantly incurred for the provision of cloud storage, it is clear why the hard disk manufacturer feels its product is also a cost-effective option for the private cloud. A factor that must also be considered is that the storage industry and analysts from IDC are working on the assumption that there will soon be

insufficient storage media for the growing amount of data.Professional users who want to move big data analyses to historical data must consider further system parameters. At present, an S3 gateway can access the SA7000 only at approximately 600 MB per second; an application tailored to the Amazon S3 interface could access the same data set approximately six times faster. Walter Schadhauser

Object Storage: Not Just for Cloud Providers

The success story of RAID has reached its ending. So many new ideas, such as the erasure code, ensure virtually 100 percent data availability. (Image: HGST)

9 Storage-Insider.de | Cloud Storage

You can use OpenStack to build your own cloud solutions efficiently. Anyone using the solution productively can access either the open source variant or advanced environments with more functions, which also offer support. This is where SUSE stands out, for example, with OpenStack Cloud 5. SUSE OpenStack Cloud 5 builds on OpenStack 2014.2 “Juno” from autumn 2014 and expands the environment with new features and better network connectivity. Furthermore, you can integrate external servers and services

The OpenStack cloud project was originally developed by Rackspace

and NASA and is licensed under the Apache License. Nowadays, all

well-known IT companies from the fields of computing, storage and

networking participate in the OpenStack community.

much more efficiently than in previous versions.

Cloud with SUSE Enterprise Storage and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12

One of the most important new functions is the collaboration between SUSE OpenStack Cloud 5 and SUSE Enterprise Storage and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12. Administrators can integrate SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 into OpenStack as cluster nodes. Servers with SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP3 are also supported. Additional benefits include support for Kernel-based Virtual Machines (KVM) and Xen. In addition, you can integrate the Ceph-based SUSE Enterprise Storage. In the SUSE OpenStack Cloud, this system offers the option of providing object and block storage. SUSE Enterprise Storage features are easy to install, thereby enabling companies to use OpenStack and to scale to a huge extent at the same time. Having this option significantly increases the benefit and offers far more possibilities than the pure open source environment.

Software-Defined Networking with OpenStack

When companies with OpenStack or other cloud environments want to build up big data solutions or larger storage environments, they can integrate with

Standardization in the Cloud with the Open Source Stack

Big Data and More in Your Own Cloud

The OpenStack cloud connects virtualization and central storage in companies. The solution can also be operated together with the major hypervisors. (Image: IT Brand)

10 Storage-Insider.de | Cloud Storage

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server and SUSE Enterprise Storage. Regardless of which distribution is used, the base system should be stable and scalable and provide good performance. Companies that want to build a private cloud can also use SUSE OpenStack Cloud 5 to connect other Linux solutions and create homogeneous, high-performance networks. Taking this approach means the environment is not limited to SUSE products. The benefit offered by the cloud environment is the ability to integrate other third-party network services and features by means of plug-ins.SUSE OpenStack Cloud 5 can, for instance, also provide and use distributed virtual routing at the same time. This technology is called “Distributed Virtual Routing” (DVR). This software-defined networking enables companies to run their own clouds more efficiently. Therefore, entire clusters or individual cluster nodes can route data based on rules found in network packages. This function boosts not only performance but also availability. Furthermore, it makes the solution highly scalable since new nodes can be added quickly and single points of failure eliminated. It also means that there is significantly less strain placed on company routers. With this in mind, SUSE has integrated the network virtualization software MidoNet into SUSE OpenStack Cloud 5. The openness means that SUSE is not the only option in this area: other plug-ins can also be integrated.

Integrating Additional Services

With OpenStack Cloud 5, companies can also integrate other additional services—and not just server functions. This means that standardized software-as-a-service models can be realized. Thanks to the integration of plug-ins in OpenStack, all necessary services can be accommodated directly in a shared installation and

configuration process. This process is also standardized and makes it easier to implement private clouds, connect to hybrid clouds and create big data infrastructures. The OpenStack Database Service plays an important role in this regard in particular, enabling the provision of relational and non-relational databases in the SUSE OpenStack Cloud 5.Using OpenStack Data Processing, you can create Hadoop clusters and therefore perform on-demand data analysis. OpenStack Data Processing also supports Apache Spark. Furthermore, SUSE works with MapR and can also integrate with this big data environment.Load-balancing-as-a-service can be set up between virtual machines using OpenStack networking. In both big data environments and traditional networks, this configuration offers the option of integrating different load-balancing solutions. This is where companies can integrate commercial products from third-party manufacturers and open source-based solutions. Firewall-as-a-service can also be provided with SUSE OpenStack Cloud 5.

In Summary

SUSE OpenStack Cloud 5 offers a host of interesting innovations and functions. Anyone who wants to test the solution can order a free 60-day trial version from SUSE. Through the combination of benefits offered by open source applications based on a broad developer and support community and the possibility of receiving professional support, SUSE OpenStack Cloud 5 represents an ideal environment for companies that want to use open source but do not have sufficient expertise. Thomas Joos

Big Data and More in Your Own Cloud

11 Storage-Insider.de | Cloud Storage

Without a doubt, software-defined storage will be one of the biggest trends of the coming years. This is true even if we just consider the enormous amount of data that companies and private users need to store. Space must be created for the data—space that is quickly and easily available but also cost-effective.Simply put, SUSE Enterprise Storage can convert traditional servers into high-availability block and object storage clusters. This is currently available as a pure software solution, but also through SUSE and its hardware partners and a turn-key solution. SUSE Enterprise Storage (SES) lowers the cost per gigabyte to below 0.1 cents per month.

Software-defined storage is playing an increasingly important role in companies. Alternatively, in similar fashion, many businesses simply want only NAS systems with faster network connections. (Image: IT Brand)

Companies are having to provide ever-more data storage

options. What is important here is that the storage option

should be as cost effective as possible without compromising

on quality. SUSE Enterprise Storage represents an interesting

basis for such storage.

The benefit of the environment is also the high degree of availability through the replication of data. Ceph has been integrated in the Linux kernel since 2009. The open source storage cluster is now also very mature and stable. SUSE Enterprise Storage can restore data automatically and by itself if individual replicas have been destroyed and therefore no longer work.Thanks to the redundant structure, SUSE Enterprise Storage has a high degree of availability and is highly scalable.

Highly Available and Affordable Storage with SUSE

SUSE Enterprise Storage can be scaled to virtually infinite limits and can be installed on a number of servers, which means there is no single point of failure for data in this area. It is of no consequence for SUSE Enterprise Storage which component fails: the system continues to be available and can prevent data loss. The data is distributed automatically, thereby significantly reducing the amount of administrative work required. Another benefit offered by SUSE Enterprise Storage is integration into the open source cloud solution OpenStack. Since SUSE OpenStack Cloud 5 also allows external services, including Hadoop and Spark, to be connected companies can also develop

Enterprise Storage Based on the Ceph Object Storage

Software-Defined Storage with Linux

12 Storage-Insider.de | Cloud Storage

big data environments on this basis. The integrated features include cache tiering, thin provisioning, copy-on-write clones, at-rest data encryption, erasure coding and iSCSI support. New with version 2, the iSCSI support allows heterogeneous operating system access. This means that UNIX, Linux, and Windows environments can access block storage from the SUSE Enterprise Storage Cluster.

Easily Available High-Performance Storage

Thanks to the rather simple SUSE Enterprise Storage installation, companies can provide software-defined storage (SDS) quickly and easily in a network. During installation, storage, monitoring and management, nodes are automatically created and configured in the cluster. SUSE wants offers SUSE Enterprise Storage as an alternative to traditional proprietary hardware-centric storage. The system provides unified block storage and object storage, with its own Ceph files system coming in a future releaseb. As soon as the system is in use, it is easy to add further nodes and capacity. The system requirements are quite modest and essentially meet the prerequisites of traditional servers. SSD (solid-state drive), RAID1 systems and much more can be connected. Communication should take place via 10-GE-networks; dedicated network environments should be made available for the storage infrastructure. Since a monitoring feature is integrated, SUSE Enterprise Storage detects when hard disks or other storage systems malfunction. Admins are notified in the event of a malfunction and need to replace only the hardware. SUSE Enterprise Storage assumes all other tasks, using automated processes. The price for SUSE Enterprise Storage starts at US$10,000. Additional storage

nodes can be connected, with the licensing costing around US$2,300.

In Summary

Companies that want to make large data storage options available at a very compelling price point should take a look at SUSE Enterprise Storage. The system is self-repairing (thereby preventing data loss) and can very quickly and securely store large amounts of data. Through the automated replication and tiering of data, administrative costs are also kept to a reasonable level. The solution is also compatible with a range of commodity hardware. Thomas Joos

Software-Defined Storage with Linux

13 Storage-Insider.de | Cloud Storage

Although this may be bad news for manufacturers of proprietary storage solutions, it is good news for IT teams, who can use open source software-defined storage systems to benefit from extremely high scalability, reduced costs and nonproprietary management. In addition to ending manufacturer lock-in, open source also provides real portability of storage in the cloud, in particular.

The software-based storage solution SUSE Enterprise Storage is based on the open source project Ceph. (Image: IT Brand)

Software-based storage solutions are set to experience rapid growth

in 2016. According to leading analysts, there are concrete reasons

for this growth: the ability to concentrate storage across varying

areas and applications is one of the current trends in virtualization

and will have the same implications for upgrade cycles and costs for

storage as it does for servers.

Ten years ago, data centers looked very different to how they look today. Dominated by expensive proprietary UNIX systems and applications, each of which had its own server and storage, the cost pressures placed on data centers became even greater. For each new application, new servers and racks had to be operated over increasing installation space and with even higher energy costs.Data centers changed dramatically with the advent of Linux: for the first time, customers could choose between different standard hardware when buying servers and were no longer tied to any one provider. Today, Linux is almost standard in data centers, and, in terms of the rapid change in IT, Linux is open to innovation and enables existing as well as future innovations to be used quickly.In parallel to the successful Linux revolution, we are currently experiencing the replacement of expensive, proprietary storage solutions in a wide range of areas by new, software-based open source and cloud concepts, which are also based on industry standard hardware and open source.

Innovative Storage Concepts Use Open Source and the Cloud

SUSE Enterprise Storage

14 Storage-Insider.de | Cloud Storage

New Storage Spaces in the Cloud

The cloud is opening up new storage spaces. Some IT managers may wonder why they should run their own expensive data centers, with all the patching, management or maintenance, when workloads can be processed cost-effectively via an external provider, allowing more time to be dedicated to projects that advance the company’s core business. It is not surprising that infrastructure is increasingly being relocated to the cloud and with it, data, and with data, storage. Running an in-house “private” cloud can also considerably relieve the strain. Whatever concept—public, private or hybrid cloud—a company selects, the decisive selection criteria should be to avoid proprietary interfaces and manufacturer lock-in by using industry-standard hardware and open source to prevent new dependencies. A number of cloud solutions based on the open source project OpenStack integrate cloud storage and enable simple scaling as well as flexible allocation of storage to applications. Companies should make sure that the open source storage projects Ceph and Swift are integrated. Block storage for permanent storage provisioning at virtual machine level as well as image and object storage are also part of the solution.

Open Source Software-Based Storage with Ceph

Software-defined storage separates the physical storage hardware (data level) from the data storage management logic of the “intelligence” (control level). This solution requires no manufacturer-specific hardware. In other words, standard hardware can be used. Compared to traditional storage arrays and appliances, cost savings of up to 50 percent can be achieved. A software-based storage solution such as SUSE Enterprise Storage

is based on the open source project Ceph, which is integrated in the SUSE OpenStack Cloud distribution as a standard solution for distributed storage. Ceph is highly scalable—from storage appliances extending through to cloud solutions—and is portable across various cloud providers.The basis of Ceph is Reliable Autonomic Distributed Object Store (RADOS), which provides applications with object, block and file system storage in a single, unified storage cluster. This makes Ceph flexible, highly reliable, easy to manage and highly scalable, so that thousands of client hosts or Kernel-based Virtual Machines (KVM) have access to multiple petabytes up to exabytes of data. All applications can use the same RADOS cluster via the object, block or file system interfaces, making the Ceph storage system a flexible foundation for all data storage requirements. In addition, Ceph is self-healing and self-managing.One thing is certain: generated data volume will increase massively over the next few years. According to IDC, between 2013 and 2020 it will rise by a factor of 10 from 4.4 trillion to 44 trillion gigabytes. That means that data volume doubles every two years (study by EMC Digital Universe, with data and analysis by IDC, April 2014). Customers are therefore looking for new concepts to solve the problem of how perform of storage intelligently, securely and cost-effectively in the face of big data and the digitization of the economy and society.Open source cloud and open source software-based storage solutions should always be included when making these considerations. Michael Miller, SUSE

SUSE Enterprise Storage