data storage serverData storage server is an embedded system that controls the storage management within a network. In smaller business a PC can be turned into a data storage server by installing data storage software. But for large volumes it is better to have an embedded system for better and efficient performance. Storage management is the biggest issue in industrial network. Here are the services that a data storage server can provide.

Backups

One of the most critical issues of data storage server is providing backups. Backups are necessary in case of media failure, user mistakes or disaster recovery. Backups are either cold or hot depending upon situations. During cold backups other system is down. But in business when 7/24 services are required one cannot shut down the system. In such cases hot backups are done. Allowing other services by data storage server as well as backup. Hot backups are complicated and critical. Therefore the date storage servers with a quite high performance are required. Moreover backups can be full or incremental. Full backups relatively take great deal of time.

Archives

Another issue for data storage server is archiving. The place from where data is to be accessed. The frequently accessed files must be stored in the fast memories. Less used files are stored in slow memories. Here the issues of costs come, as fast memories are expensive while slow are cheaper. This results in the hierarchal storage management (HSM). HSM allows the data to be stored according to the usage.

Data Availability

In large businesses the data is accessed and modified 24 hours a day. Here the data availability becomes a critical issue. In such a case data storage server must provide data as quickly as possible.

Data Base Management

Data storage server also backups and archives the database management systems. Then server devolves the DBMSs to data base administrators.

Client-Server Issues

Another issue that Server must cater for is client's feasibility. Client in the network not only interacts with other PCs but with all the servers. Carelessness or lack of restoring or backup protocols can destroy the data. This not only wastes user's time and gives him/her unease to work.

• In other issues related to transmission of data by Data storage server, are:
• Compress the data before transmission and remove the unnecessary information.
• Avoid transmitting one thing over and over again. Thus only transmit changed or modified data.
• Avoid redundancy that is do not store same information over and over again.

Conclusion

Backup an archiving are the main issues for a data storage server. But a data storage server must also cater for disk errors, lack of storage space and disk grooming or de-fragmentation. HSM is one hot technique when it comes to storage. Some softwares performs HSM such as HPSS (high performance storage system). On can add more disk space or other storage devices, upgrade operating system or upgrade grooming and backup software. Data storage server must use a network friendly protocol that can turn the server into a consistent and retrievable information resource. On the whole starting a huge business the selection of data storage server becomes an issue. Depending upon Cost, capacity and performance requirements a data storage server is selected.