Small Business Information Technology - How Network Attached Storage (NAS) Fits in Small Business

Introduction

Many small businesses today are working harder than ever to find new ways to reduce costs and streamline their operations. At the same time, these businesses are also generating more data throughout their organization than ever before. Data that must be protected while being more widely available. In the past businesses had only a few megabytes of storage on servers and desktop PCs to worry about. If they were diligent, they backed everything up daily onto tape drives.

Today, businesses are under growing pressure to insure that the data they produce is protected and available on demand. Large corporations use large scale data storage networks and clustered storage farms to manage and keep their data safe. But those solutions are far too costly and complicated for the average small business.

What can a small organization do that is looking for a reliable, flexible, cost-effective, storage solution? This article will look at the benefits to small business of integrating Network Attached Storage (NAS) solutions into their network infrastructure.

Network Attached Storage (NAS) Defined

Network Attached Storage (NAS) was introduced by Novell as a file-sharing system in 1983. Sun Microsystems created the UNIX based Network File System (NFS) protocol in 1984 which allowed network servers to share storage with networked client systems. The first dedicated NAS system was built by 3Com in 1985.

Today, a Network Attached Storage (NAS) system is basically a stripped down server that is designed from the inside out for high performance file-based data storage on your network. NAS systems come with all the major components of a server: a CPU, a motherboard, RAM, etc. And just like a server, a NAS unit is only as reliable as its components, software, and configuration. NAS units come in a variety of types and sizes from simple standalone units for the networked home PC and entertainment center, up to high capacity rack mounted units suitable for larger corporate data centers.

NAS systems can be connected to networks in a variety of ways: Ethernet, Fiber, iSCSI, Wi-Fi, and even using USB2. Generally though, NAS would be attached to your businesses network using Ethernet. Because the performance of NAS is tied to your network, it is essential that your infrastructure is working as efficiently as possible.

NAS Functionality

NAS functionality is targeted for heavy duty file-level, file-sharing. The most common NAS protocols and file systems in use include, though are not limited to Network File System (NFS), Common Internet File System / Server Message Block (CIFS / SMB), Multi Protocol File System (MPFS), VMware's Virtual Machine File System (VMFS).

NAS can be setup to handle just about any client accessible files using whatever file-sharing system there is. Microsoft, UNIX, and Linux file systems for example are thoroughly supported. On the application side Oracle, Apache, MySQL, and more are covered.

The performance of a NAS device depends on a number of factors including the configuration of the hardware, the operating systems efficiency, the speed of the network connection, the amount of traffic on the network, and the number of clients accessing files on unit. Make no mistake, NAS performance is not going to be on par with Direct Attached Storage (DAS). However, when properly sized, and configured, NAS is a solid performer providing very good overall value.

Deciding which NAS solution is right for you depends on where, and how, you plan to use it.

What to look for in NAS

When you count data safety as your most critical issue, your NAS system choice at a minimum should have the following: redundant power supplies, redundant disk controllers, and have good RAID 5 support. Additionally, you should look for a NAS system where the operating system used is well supported and specifically tuned for the type of data storage and file serving you intend to use it for. Look for mixed file system support, multiple data paths, secure shared access to files, and simplified management of all these functions.

Because your NAS is going to be a popular resource on your network is would be a good idea to keep it on a Gigabit Ethernet connection. There are NAS units available that support wireless 802.11a/b connections but they are very limited due to the available bandwidth on these types of networks so use them with very small, low demand, groups.

Storage on a mid-range NAS unit, targeted towards small & medium sized businesses, will typically use multiple disks arranged into logical, redundant storage containers or Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disk (RAID) arrays. There are a number of different types of RAID systems available and some are geared towards performance of over safety. For example, while RAID 0 yields superior performance it offers no redundancy. If one of the disks fails, the entire array may be corrupt beyond recovery.

If data safety is important to you, a better choice would be to use the popular and well supported RAID 5. The drives in this type of configuration use a standardized redundancy system that allows a certain number of failed drives to be safely replaced. Once the replacement drive is in place RAID should rebuilt the data onto the new drive without losing any of your data. And while this is a slow process, especially if the system stays in production, it is a relatively safe process.

When sizing the capacity of a NAS unit, start with a rough measure by estimating the maximum amount of storage you think you'll need and then double that figure.

NAS for Servers

Your servers can benefit from using NAS units in a number ways. First, NAS can increase your data serving performance. Servers gain performance from using NAS to remove the heavy I/O responsibility of file serving. This frees up the servers processor to do more for your applications.

NAS is also a solid solution for further increasing performance of virtual servers as NAS units can be configured to work with virtually any file system and can provide file serving resources across virtual platforms.

NAS can also provide for load balancing of high activity file server access like database, email, and web servers. Your web server or email content is stored on one or more NAS systems. The server load balancing system uses an algorithm to distribute file requests evenly across the system. The NAS will efficiently process all server and user requests from one central repository.

NAS for Workgroups

One of the issues I still run into from time to time is data stored for whatever reason on local hard drives. The main issue with this is that it rarely, if ever, gets backed up. When the PC hardware eventually fails or an application fault corrupts some data, it often takes all of this work with it. And data recovery services are still painfully expensive.

NAS and workgroups are made for each other. Configuring your various client systems to use NAS is a simple and fast way to consolidate valuable data and add a layer of protection for your data. Using NAS to consolidate data encourages and simplifies file sharing and collaboration. Another key benefit is that the data can be stored in a secure central location in your organization where it is easier to manage. NAS is also immune to many common client and server hardware failures. If a client system isn't working the user moves to one that is and accesses their work from there. The same principle applies to servers.

And because NAS is flexible enough to work with many popular file systems like those used by Apple, Microsoft, Sun, and Linux, NAS is very cost-effective.

NAS for Backup

NAS is ideally suited as a backup solution. In comparison, NAS is superior in many ways to legacy tape systems. Performance of disk-to-disk backup and restoration is far greater with NAS than tape. And remember, when a tape or the tape drive goes bad it's never good news. Replacing a tape in a series can be a daunting task and finding out a tape is bad several months down the road can catastrophic. NAS is a faster and more secure solution to your data backup needs.

Use NAS for temporary parking or staging of data that is out of the current production cycle. Once the data is ready for archiving it can be sent, via encrypted network transfer, to an online, off-site, data storage service. You can also backup servers to NAS using disk-to-disk or as a Virtual Tape Library (VLT). Or you can backup to a mirrored NAS unit (RAID1) with an attached tape drive for long-term archiving later.

As I mentioned a moment ago, using NAS with parked / staged data, ready to send to an encrypted online data storage service, preferably one that is outside of your geographic area, is a far better solution to local backup. In terms of disaster recovery and business continuity, it is a solution that can have your business back up and running again quickly.

One side note, if you decide to continue using tapes, be sure you have a way to get the tapes far enough away from the effects of any potential local disaster. (Can you tell I live earthquake country?) Either FedEx them to an out of state branch office or data storage facility. Because if your building gets damaged in a quake, or flood, or whatever, and your tapes are in your building, well, you get the idea.

Summary

Safely storing your companies data is critical in today's productivity driven market. Having the information your company needs, when and where it needs it, can make the difference between making and keeping or losing customers. Small businesses can use the versatility, reliability of NAS systems as a cost-effective part of their network infrastructure in many ways. NAS is a tool that can help keep your business lean and agile while providing scalable solutions for the future.