Choosing Data Storage Protocols

There are more than enough choices when it comes to storage protocols. There is SCSI, which grew into Fibre, out of that grew iSCSI, and NAS has moved from being a file sharing service to something that hosts databases and virtual machine images. This Information Week blog takes an in-depth look at storage protocols and how to choose one.

"There certainly are more than enough choices. We have SCSI, which grew into Fibre, out of that grew iSCSI in an effort to drive down the cost of storage. NAS (Network Attached Storage) has moved from just being a file sharing service to something that hosts databases and virtual machine images. FCoE (Fibre Channel over Ethernet) has come on the scene in an attempt to consolidate IP and fiber and now we have new protocols emerging like ATA over Ethernet. Also factor in that most drives are going to SAS (Serial Attached SCSI). It enough to drive a storage manager crazy.

"There does seem to be one common ground in all the protocols. Ethernet seems to eventually win out. While the transition from traditional fiber can be as slow and steady as you choose, eventually it seems that everyone will be running on some form of Ethernet. That however does not really consolidate the protocol choices, just the cables they run on and the cards they use."