Storage Networking Fundamentals: An Introduction to Storage Devices, Subsystems, Applications, Management, and Filing Systems

Availability Requirements for Network Storage

Many aspects of computing have changed since the massive buildup of the commercial Internet in the last decade. One of the most significant and painful changes has been the necessity for round-the-clock operations and the push for five-nines (or 99.999%) reliability. Most technology people would agree that living in a wired world is a great thing, but it does have its disadvantages—such as living with a pager as a required appendage for round-the-clock administrative actions and emergency troubleshooting.

In a short period of time, American society has gone online en masse to the point where we take data access for granted. Furthermore, it's amazing how intolerant our society has become regarding ...