Managing Storage
Crystal Panek · 2019
This chapter describes how to manage storage. While you will need sufficient processing power and a sufficient amount of RAM, you will most likely need a large amount of storage. While simple servers have you install Windows Server on a local IDE (parallel and serial) or SCSI hard drive, more complex systems may use a form of RAID or an attached remote computer storage devices such as a storage array network (SAN) or network attached storage (NAS). Today's hard drives are either integrated drive electronics (IDE) or small computer system interface (SCSI), pronounced “skuzzy”, drives. Even if you use RAID, a NAS, or a SAN, it is most likely still using IDE or SCSI drives. IDE drives are designed as fast, low-cost drives. Traditional IDE drives were based on the parallel AT attachment (ATA) standard that used a parallel 40-pin/80-conductor connector. Today's IDE drives follow the serial ATA standard (SATA), which uses a connector that is attached with only four wires and a smaller power connector. Although the serial ATA uses less wires/connectors, it provides faster throughput than parallel ATA IDE drives. Traditionally, hard drives are half-electronic/half-mechanical devices that store magnetic fields on rotating platters. Today, some hard drives, known as solid-state drives, are electronic devices with no mechanical components. While most personal computers utilize local storage only, consisting of internal hard drives, servers may connect to external storage through a network-attached storage (NAS) or storage area network (SAN).