It is almost time to go away for the holiday but before you begin your vacation, the CIO has asked that you attend a meeting of the IT steering council to discuss how the new distributed network storage systems would necessitate changes in the organization's current method of DAS storage.
You are to write a 4-5 page, APA formatted paper to include the following.
- Include an overview of what DAS storage is.
- What are the key advantages and disadvantages of using it?
- What are the new distributed network storage systems offered on the market today?
- How do the capabilities of the new methods compare to the organization's current method?
The CIO will be additionally impressed if you can demonstrate a return on investment (ROI) calculation that either persuades the IT steering committee to keep the current method or move to a new method.
Grading Criteria:
Your paper should show that DAS is:
- The direct storage array is a storage system that, as the name suggests, is directly attached to the server or workstation.
- The server or workstation that is processing the data is connected with a host bus adapter to the storage array.
- The storage array is a single enclosure of multiple hard disk drive devices that store the data and provide for expedient retrieval.
To standardize and facilitate the movement of the data are protocols. The most common protocols used for the direct storage array include Fiber Channel, SCSI, and SATA. The fiber channel protocol is a transport protocol that moves SCSI commands on a fiber network. SCSI (small computer simple interface) moves data from its source to an external device and is used most often for tape drive backups and connection to external hard drives. The SATA (serial advanced technology attachment) is used to connect host bus adapters to mass storage devices.
What is important to understand is that the speed and quality of the external storage device is in direct relation to the type of connection and protocol used between the server or workstation and the mass storage device.
Future technology could include NAS or SAN. A return on investment calculation should show the cost of acquisition, the cost of installation, and the financial benefit of adding the new method as a factor to the cost of implementing it.