October 24, 2005

Storage Servers

by Brian Turner

Storage Servers

Backing up server data is one of the less-celebrated duties of the network admin or webmaster. Nobody tells you:”Say, that was a great backup job you did last night!”

There’s nothing flashy or cutting-edge about backup duties. It’s just a job that has to be done. In fact, sometimes it isn’t done as often as it should be. When I began working at an ISP a few years ago, I noticed that data from five of their servers hadn’t been backed up for two months. Two of these servers housed their clients’ web sites.

What many people don’t realize is that storage servers are a fast-growing market in today’s IT economy. Here are some examples:

With the release ofStorage Server 2003. Microsoft has been using its time-tested strategy of undercutting prices in an attempt to grab a larger share of the storage
market. The software will be the OS for network-attached storage (NAS) systems.

Because of the speed of copying data from one drive to another, NAS servers are a more economic backup solution than conventional tape drives. Microsoft has formed an alliance with the EMC Corporation which has been a leading supplier of enterprise data storage systems and software. EMC’s Clariion backup server hardware currently supports Veritas, Legato and EMC’s own Data Manager applications.

Microsoft currently sees Network Appliances (NTAP) as its biggest rival. NTAP is a firm that manufactures and supports high-performance network data storage devices that provide file services for data-intensive network environments. According to Standard & Poor’s stock report, NTAP’s share price has nearly doubled in 2003, and the StockScouter rating service believes that the company will significantly outperform the market over the next six months.

According to an article in Computerworld: “The U.S. server market is poised to recover in 2003 after a three-year slump, thanks in part to a migration toward new eb-enabled platforms and architectures…

“Sales of x86-based servers running on processors from Intel Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc., as well as Windows and Linux operating systems, will fuel the growth, IDC said. The Linux server market is expected to experience strong growth in particular, bounding 34% over last year to $3.1 billion, while Windows server sales are set to grow 8% to $15 billion, IDC said. “Blade servers are also predicted to see increased sales.”

Portal Sites and Servers

Another form of shared information services is the use of portal servers and portal web sites. A portal site is a network management tool that enables company employees, B2B affiliates or customers to access and process data on an intranet or extranet. Executive “dashboard” interfaces can be created so that managers have remote administrator’s views of transactions and other business the company is doing.

Portal software can drill down through web pages or databases of information and automatically create hypertext links between words and phrases. After this information is gathered, the software can cache the data in memory, so that the same search does not have to be repeated. Some other helpful services that portals provide include the ability to search across multiple systems and sources, to allow teams to work together more effectively across time zones and offices. They also reduce redundant software expenses and associated administration costs.

Portal security is similar to other Internet security methods; i.e., authentication and SSL.

There is open source portal software available from the Slash site. This is the same software that powers the slashdot.org web site, and it can be downloaded for free. IT consultants with experience in installing open source software such as Apache web server or the Perl language can find gainful employment installing Slash, which can be difficult to configure. Slash resembles a web log in which articles are posted, and readers can respond interactively by posting their own comments and questions.

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