Storage administration

Terms related to data storage management, including definitions about enterprise storage and words and phrases about storage infrastructure, storage capacity and hierarchical storage management (HSM).
  • 3-2-1 backup strategy explained: Is it effective? - The 3-2-1 backup strategy is a time-tested data protection and recovery methodology for ensuring that data is protected adequately and up-to-date backup copies of the data are available when needed.
  • 3D XPoint - 3D XPoint is memory storage technology that was jointly developed by Intel and Micron Technology.
  • bad block - A bad block is an area of storage media that is no longer reliable for storing and retrieving data because it has been physically damaged or corrupted.
  • block storage - Block storage is an approach to data storage in which each volume acts as an individual hard drive that is configured by the administrator.
  • brontobyte - A brontobyte is an unofficial measure of memory or data storage that is equal to 10 to the 27th power of bytes.
  • cache server - A cache server is a dedicated network server or service acting as a server that saves webpages or other internet content locally.
  • capacity management - Capacity management is the broad term describing a variety of IT monitoring, administration and planning actions that ensure that a computing infrastructure has adequate resources to handle current data processing requirements, as well as the capacity to accommodate future loads.
  • cloud archive - A cloud archive is storage as a service for long-term data retention.
  • cloud encryption - Cloud encryption is a service cloud storage providers offer whereby a customer's data is transformed using encryption algorithms from plaintext into ciphertext and stored in the cloud.
  • cloud NAS (cloud network attached storage) - Cloud NAS (network attached storage) is remote storage that is accessed over the internet as if it is local.
  • cloud SLA (cloud service-level agreement) - A cloud SLA (cloud service-level agreement) is an agreement between a cloud service provider and a customer that ensures a minimum level of service is maintained.
  • cloud storage - Cloud storage is a service model in which data is transmitted and stored on remote storage systems, where it is maintained, managed, backed up and made available to users over a network (typically the internet).
  • cloud storage API - A cloud storage API is an application programming interface that connects a locally based application to a cloud-based storage system so that a user can send data to it and access and work with data stored in it.
  • cloud storage provider - A cloud storage provider, sometimes referred to as a managed service provider, is a company that offers organizations and individuals the ability to place and retain data in an off-site storage system.
  • cloud storage service - A cloud storage service is a business that maintains and manages its customers' data and makes that data accessible over a network, usually the internet.
  • cluster quorum disk - A cluster quorum disk is the storage medium on which the configuration database is stored for a cluster computing network.
  • clustered network-attached storage (NAS) system - A clustered network-attached storage (NAS) system is a scale-out storage platform made up of multiple NAS nodes networked together into a single cluster.
  • cold storage - Cold storage is a computer system or mode of operation designed for the retention of inactive data.
  • compact disc (CD) - A compact disc is a portable storage medium that can record, store and play back audio, video and other data in digital form.
  • computational storage - Computational storage is an IT architecture in which data is processed at the storage device level to reduce the amount of data that must move between the storage plane and the compute plane.
  • computer room air conditioning (CRAC) unit - A computer room air conditioning (CRAC) unit is a device that monitors and maintains the temperature, air distribution and humidity in a data center, network or server room.
  • copy data management (CDM) - Copy data management (CDM) is an approach to reducing storage consumption that involves eliminating the unnecessary duplication of production data.
  • data at rest - Data at rest is a term that is sometimes used to refer to all data in computer storage while excluding data that is traversing a network or temporarily residing in computer memory to be read or updated.
  • data breach - A data breach is a cyber attack in which sensitive, confidential or otherwise protected data has been accessed or disclosed in an unauthorized fashion.
  • data center as a service (DCaaS) - Data center as a service (DCaaS) is the provision of off-site physical data center facilities and infrastructure to clients.
  • data classification - Data classification is the process of organizing data into categories that make it easy to retrieve, sort and store for future use.
  • data deduplication hardware - Data deduplication hardware is disk storage that eliminates redundant copies of data and retains one instance to be stored.
  • Data Dynamics StorageX - Data Dynamics StorageX is a software suite that specializes in data migration and Microsoft Distributed File System management.
  • data lake - A data lake is a storage repository that holds a vast amount of raw data in its native format until it is needed for analytics applications.
  • data protection management (DPM) - Data protection management (DPM) is the administration, monitoring and management of backup processes to ensure backup tasks run on schedule and data is securely backed up and recoverable.
  • data reduction - Data reduction lowers the amount of capacity required to store data.
  • data retention policy - In business settings, data retention is a concept that encompasses all processes for storing and preserving data, as well as the specific time periods and policies businesses enforce that determine how and for how long data should be retained.
  • defragmentation - Defragmentation is the process of locating the noncontiguous fragments of data into which a computer file may be divided as it is stored on a hard disk, and rearranging the fragments and restoring them into fewer fragments or into the whole file.
  • DIMM (dual in-line memory module) - DIMM, or dual in-line memory module, is a type of computer memory that is natively 64 bits, enabling fast data transfer.
  • disk image - A disk image is a compressed file that contains a copy of the entire contents of a computer's hard drive or other storage media, such as optical discs or solid-state drives.
  • disk mirroring (RAID 1) - Disk mirroring, also known as RAID 1, is the replication of data across two or more disks.
  • diskpart (Disk Partition Utility) - Diskpart is a command line utility in Windows operating systems (OSs) that is used to manage disks, partitions, and volumes.
  • distributed file system (DFS) - A distributed file system (DFS) is a file system that enables clients to access file storage from multiple hosts through a computer network as if the user was accessing local storage.
  • DRBD (Distributed Replicated Block Device) - DRBD (Distributed Replicated Block Device) is a Linux-based software component that facilitates the replacement of shared storage systems by networked mirroring.
  • encryption key management - Encryption key management is the practice of generating, organizing, protecting, storing, backing up and distributing encryption keys.
  • enterprise storage - Enterprise storage is a centralized repository for business information that provides common data management, protection and sharing functions through connections to computer systems.
  • erasure coding (EC) - Erasure coding (EC) is a method of data protection in which data is broken into fragments, expanded and encoded with redundant data pieces, and stored across a set of different locations or storage media.
  • exbibyte (EiB) - An exbibyte (EiB) is a unit that measures data capacity.
  • Fibre Channel (FC) port types - A Fibre Channel port is a hardware pathway into and out of a node that performs data communications over an FC link.
  • file system - In computing, a file system -- sometimes written filesystem -- is a logical and physical system for organizing, managing and accessing the files and directories on a device's solid-state drive (SSD), hard-disk drive (HDD) or other media.
  • flash memory card - A flash memory card -- sometimes called a storage card -- is a small storage device that uses non-volatile semiconductor memory to store data on portable or remote computing devices.
  • floating gate transistor (FGT) - A floating gate transistor (FGT) is a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology capable of holding an electrical charge in a memory device that is used to store data.
  • gibibyte (GiB) - A gibibyte (GiB) is a unit of measure of capacity in computing.
  • gigabit (Gb) - In data communications, a gigabit (Gb) is 1 billion bits, or 1,000,000,000 (that is, 10^9) bits.
  • gigabyte (GB) - A gigabyte (GB) -- pronounced with two hard Gs -- is a unit of data storage capacity that is roughly equivalent to 1 billion bytes.
  • green networking - Green networking is the practice of selecting energy-efficient networking technologies and products and minimizing resource use whenever possible.
  • Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS) - The Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS) is the primary data storage system Hadoop applications use.
  • hardware RAID (hardware redundant array of independent disk) - Hardware RAID is a form of RAID (redundant array of independent disks) where processing is done on the motherboard or a separate RAID card.
  • HDD form factor (hard disk drive form factor) - HDD form factor (hard disk drive form factor) is the size or geometry of a data storage device equipped with one or more magnetic-coated spinning platters and one or more moving actuator arms with magnetic heads to read and write information.
  • hierarchy - Generally speaking, hierarchy refers to an organizational structure in which items are ranked in a specific manner, usually according to levels of importance.
  • historical data - Historical data, in a broad context, is data collected about past events and circumstances pertaining to a particular subject.
  • How many bytes for... - Data is often expressed in bytes, which are composed of eight binary digits.
  • hybrid cloud storage - Hybrid cloud storage is an approach to managing cloud storage that uses both local and off-site resources.
  • hyper-converged storage - Hyper-converged storage is a software-defined approach to storage management that combines storage, compute, virtualization and sometimes networking technologies in one physical unit that is managed as a single system.
  • interrupt vector - An interrupt vector is the memory location of an interrupt handler, which prioritizes interrupts and saves them in a queue if more than one interrupt is waiting to be handled.
  • IOPS (input/output operations per second) - IOPS (input/output operations per second) is the standard unit of measurement for the maximum number of reads/writes to noncontiguous storage locations.
  • IT chargeback system - An IT chargeback system is an accounting strategy that applies the costs of IT services, hardware or software to the business unit in which they are used.
  • IT operations management (ITOM) - IT operations management (ITOM) is a strategic approach to managing an organization's information technology needs.
  • ITIL V3 - ITIL V3 is the third version of the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL), a globally recognized collection of best practices for managing IT and for implementing IT service management (ITSM) practices.
  • kibi, mebi, gibi, tebi, pebi and exbi - Kibi, mebi, gibi, tebi, pebi and exbi are binary prefix multipliers that, in 1998, were approved as a standard by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).
  • Kilo, mega, giga, tera, peta, exa, zetta and all that - Kilo, mega, giga, tera, peta, exa and zetta are among the binary prefixes used to denote the quantity of something, such as a byte or bit in computing and telecommunications.
  • logical block addressing (LBA) - Logical block addressing (LBA) is a technique to specify the addresses of blocks of data on a storage device, such as a hard disk.
  • logical volume management (LVM) - Logical volume management (LVM) is a form of storage virtualization that offers system administrators a more flexible approach to managing disk storage space than traditional partitioning.
  • LTO-7 (Linear Tape-Open 7) - LTO-7 is a tape format from the Linear Tape-Open (LTO) Consortium released in late 2015.
  • LTO-8 (Linear Tape-Open 8) - LTO-8, or Linear Tape-Open 8, is a tape format from the Linear Tape-Open Consortium released in late 2017.
  • LTO-9 (Linear Tape-Open 9) - LTO-9 is a tape format from the Linear Tape-Open (LTO) Consortium.
  • LUN masking - LUN masking is an authorization mechanism used in storage area networks (SANs) to make LUNs available to some hosts but unavailable to other hosts.
  • M.2 SSD - An M.2 SSD is a small form factor solid-state drive (SSD) that internally mounted storage expansion cards use.
  • mebibyte (MiB) - A mebibyte (MiB) is a unit of measurement used in computer data storage.
  • memory management unit (MMU) - A memory management unit (MMU) is a computer hardware component that handles all memory and caching operations associated with the processor.
  • mount point - A mount point is a directory on a file system that is logically linked to another file system.
  • mSATA SSD (mSATA solid-state drive) - An mSATA SSD is a solid-state drive (SSD) that conforms to the mSATA interface specification developed by the Serial ATA (SATA) International Organization.
  • N_Port ID virtualization (NPIV) - N_Port ID virtualization (NPIV) is a Fibre Channel (FC) standard that makes it possible to create multiple virtual ports on a single physical node port (N_Port), with each virtual port appearing as a unique entity to the FC network.
  • NAS gateway - NAS gateway is a NAS (network-attached storage) system in which the storage media are externally attached, typically over a Fibre Channel interface.
  • NetApp Data Fabric - The products and services that compose NetApp’s Data Fabric are designed to provide customers with the agility they need to quickly and efficiently move data to and from the cloud.
  • NVMe over Fabrics (NVMe-oF) - NVMe over Fabrics, also known as NVMe-oF and non-volatile memory express over fabrics, is a protocol specification designed to connect hosts to storage across a network fabric using the NVMe network protocol.
  • NVRAM (non-volatile random access memory) - NVRAM (non-volatile random access memory) refers to computer memory that can hold data even when power to the memory chips has been turned off.
  • object storage - Object storage, also called object-based storage, is an approach to addressing and manipulating data storage as discrete units, called objects.
  • OpenStack Swift - OpenStack Swift, also known as OpenStack Object Storage, is an open source object storage system that is licensed under the Apache 2.
  • oversubscription - Oversubscription in a storage area network (SAN) is the practice of committing more network bandwidth to devices connected to that network than what is physically available.
  • paging - Paging is a function of memory management where a computer will store and retrieve data from a device’s secondary storage to the primary storage.
  • parallel file system - A parallel file system is a software component designed to store data across multiple networked servers.
  • persistent storage - Persistent storage is any data storage device that retains data after power to that device is shut off.
  • private cloud storage (internal cloud storage) - Private cloud storage, also called internal cloud storage, is a service delivery model for storage within a large enterprise.
  • problem list - A problem list is a document that states the most important health problems facing a patient such as nontransitive illnesses or diseases, injuries suffered by the patient, and anything else that has affected the patient or is currently ongoing with the patient.
  • program/erase cycle (P/E cycle) - A solid-state storage program/erase cycle (P/E cycle) is a sequence of events in which data is written to a solid-state NAND flash memory cell, such as the type found in a flash or thumb drive, and is subsequently erased and rewritten.
  • public cloud storage - Public cloud storage, also called online storage, is a service model that provides data storage on a pay-per-use basis.
  • Pure Storage - Pure Storage is a provider of enterprise data flash storage products designed to substitute for electromechanical disk arrays.
  • RAID 0 (disk striping) - RAID 0 (disk striping) is the process of dividing a body of data into blocks and spreading the data blocks across multiple storage devices, such as hard disks or solid-state drives (SSDs), in a redundant array of independent disks group.
  • RAID 10 (RAID 1+0) - RAID 10, also known as RAID 1+0, is a RAID configuration that combines disk mirroring and disk striping to protect data.
  • RAID 3 (redundant array of independent disks 3) - RAID 3 (redundant array of independent disks 3) is a RAID configuration that uses a parity disk to store the information generated by a RAID controller and uses striping to store the data.
  • RAID 4 (redundant array of independent disks) - RAID 4 (redundant array of independent disks) is a RAID configuration that uses a dedicated parity disk and block-level striping across multiple disks.
  • RAID 50 (RAID 5+0) - RAID 50, also known as RAID 5+0, combines distributed parity (RAID 5) with striping (RAID 0).
  • RAID 6 - RAID 6, also known as double-parity RAID, is one of several RAID schemes that work by placing data on multiple disks and enabling I/O operations to overlap in a balanced way, improving performance.
  • RAID controller - A RAID controller is a hardware device or software program used to manage hard disk drives or solid-state drives in a computer or storage array so they work as a logical unit.