Humans and machines are both Let’s take a look at what should be top-of-mind for you as you consider

nsider how
generating copious amounts of
data every second that could fill
up a good portion of the dark
matter in the universe. IDC fore-
casts that by 2025 there will be 10
times the amount of data that we
have today, which means that our
data journey is just beginning, and
we could create higher business
value with strategic management
of data. Most of the data being
produced falls into 2 camps: struc-
tured or unstructured data. And
unstructured data is a difficult
animal to tackle.
to move forward with managing unstructured data in the simplest and most
sensible way for your business.
LOOK AT YOUR DATA BREAKDOWN
Structured data—such as that found in databases—is highly organized, and the
patterns in it make it easy to manage and search. On the other hand, unstruc-
tured data is raw and unorganized: think spreadsheets, documents, emails, PDFs,
text files, photos, videos, and data from social media. Organizations that place
priority on how to tackle unstructured data will be set apart from organizations
that collect all data and fill up storage infrastructure. Not all data is important to
drive increased business value. If IT teams adopt business drivers from the onset,
they will not only optimize storage resources, they will be able to identify data
which is not valuable to business and discard it. This will also free up IT teams to
look for appropriate technologies versus constantly putting out storage fires.
Unstructured data is growing exponentially; in fact, 80% of corporate enterprise
data is unstructured. This means that you are going to be generating and manag-
ing terabytes or even petabytes of unstructured data, which is stored as either
file or object. So it’s imperative to look for a solution that is easy to deploy,
manage, and scale file and object storage.

WHAT IS FILE STORAGE? WHAT IS OBJECT STORAGE?

File storage stores data in a hierarchical
fashion within folders and files found on
NAS (Network Attached Storage) systems
via SMB or NFS protocols. SAN (Storage Area
Network) devices store data in fixed sized
blocks via iSCSI or Fibre Channel protocols.
Object storage is designed for unstructured
data that is highly scalable and resilient for the
world of cloud computing. Unstructured data
is not a fixed format and consists of varying
size files. It’s storage that’s accessible over the
network via simple S3-compatible HTTP REST
API calls.

©2018 Nutanix, Inc. All Rights Reserved


PRO TIP:
Spend time upfront researching
how enterprise data is broken down
—structured or unstructured. It will
save your organization time and
money in the long run.
CONSIDERATIONS TO EVALUATE STORAGE SOLUTIONS:
1. Scale: Capacity and performance are the two key parameters to evaluate scale for your
storage solution. The ease to scale capacity and performance are also equally important.
2. Performance: Latency and throughput are the key parameters to evaluate performance for
your storage solution. This would include sequential file or object access as well as random
file access including small files.
3. Administrator Requirements: Number of users that can be supported including simultaneous
access, number of files/objects, and backup and DR are some of the parameters that the
administrator cares about while evaluating a storage solution.
Block, File, and Object Storage Spectrum
Traditionally, primary data is stored as blocks and files within the datacenter.
Storage is organized in the way its accessed. If it’s accessed at ‘raw’ block level,
then it’s call block storage. Block storage can either be directly attached or be
shared over the networking. The latter is called a SAN (Storage Attached Net-
work) device. SAN devices use iSCSI and Fibre Channel protocols. If it’s at the
individual file level the popular protocols used are NFS or SMB (formerly known
as CIFS). Files are typically stored on NAS (Network Attached Storage) devices.
These types of storage are naturally found close to compute resources. However,
as data continues to grow— specifically the kind that is not ready to be migrated
to cold storage and doesn’t need to be stored with compute—there should be
options for storing that data efficiently, securely, and cost effectively.
Figure 1: Generic Block, File, and Object Storage Spectrum
Object storage is designed for unstructured data that is highly scalable and
resilient for the world of cloud computing. Unstructured data is not a fixed
format and consists of varying size files. It’s storage that’s accessible over the
network via simple S3-compatible HTTP REST API calls. S3 (Simple Storage
Service) was developed by Amazon Web Services, which has become the
de-facto standard for many of the leading object storage providers today.
The reason why? They were first to market, and a well documented interface.
©2018 Nutanix, Inc. All Rights Reserved
 Figure 2:
Structured vs unstructured
vs semi-structured data

QUESTIONS TO ASK
YOURSELF AS YOU 1 Are you constantly being asked to allocate storage for your end users
or application owners?
ASSESS YOUR DATA
Various stakeholders in an
IT organization care (for 2 Have you considered more cost-effective solutions for your unstructured
data than hosting it on your primary NAS/SAN tier?
their own reasons) about
what’s happening with data. Have you considered reducing your datacenter footprint by
There are some key questions 3 consolidating your file, block, and object storage? (And are
you worried about losing some of the benefits by doing so?)
virtualization admins, storage
admins, infrastructure ops
leaders, and DevOps 4 Have you considered how object storage solutions can help
with active archives?
engineers will want to con-
sider as you think through
how to manage your data 5 How easy is it to scale your environment if you wanted to
start small?
efficiently and effectively.

6 Do you have an flexible architecture which enables new

storage services through simple software enhancements?

7 How do you access storage space today from your

scripts or programs?

8 Can you access your storage interface through simple

HTTP “PUT” and “GET” requests?

9 How do you keep data accessible to different development/IT ops

teams across the globe?

10 Are programs erroring out due to files/objects not found?

While you may have other questions to answer that pertain more specifically
to your own datacenter’s needs, this list gives you a good starting place to
contemplate your next move in data storage and accessibility.

©2018 Nutanix, Inc. All Rights Reserved

 BUILD & DEPLOY FABRICS—NOT SILOS
When it comes to building and deploying the right storage infrastructure for data,
some key challenges companies face today are around complexity, storage silos,
and technology refresh cycles. Organizations have been in the habit of swapping
out one storage silo for another. File servers are replaced for newer and faster
models and solutions for object storage are bolted from a different vendor, how-
ever the true problem isn’t being addressed: Is the architecture the right one for
the future?

Enterprises typically get into a cycle of solving point problems and don't always
have time to look at technology updates holistically, which leads to over-purchasing
and under-utilization as they buy based on a three to five year cycle. Further-
more, datacenters end up with a variety of products and increased complexity
between vendor compatibility.

If you are lucky, the newer technology will reduce some of the datacenter
footprint, but not like hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) solutions.

HCI was designed to reduce traditional infrastructure stacks down to scalable

building blocks, with compute, storage, and networking built in. This reduces
complexity by removing compatibility issues between multiple vendors in the
infrastructure stack, and it also reduces datacenter footprint costs. Nutanix
pioneered the HCI space and has taken it to the next level by including storage
services through simple software enhancements as part of the Enterprise Cloud
Platform. Existing applications like Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) solutions
can leverage Nutanix FilesTM for user home directories or file shares. Backup
applications can leverage Nutanix BucketsTM for long-term archiving of
unstructured data without purchasing new equipment.

It's impossible to predict future organizational challenges, and deploying file or

PRO TIP: object solutions for unstructured data shouldn’t require IT specialists who would
Consider an architecture that
typically implement complex network protocols and administering LUNs (Logical
allows flexibility and choice to
deploy storage services in software
Unit Numbers). The next time storage requirements change, think about ease of
versus point solutions, and save building and deploying without complex traditional architecture challenges.
on datacenter footprint costs.

©2018 Nutanix, Inc. All Rights Reserved


PRO TIP:
Consider a solution that offers linear
increase in performance as you scale
out so that performance is predictable
and there is no guesswork as your
business needs grow.
PRO TIP:
If you need specialized skills with
a steep learning curve to manage
a storage solution, then think twice.
PRO TIP:
Think of proactive versus
reactive troubleshooting support
in your solution of choice.
SCALE-UP OR SCALE-OUT ON DEMAND
The forklift is meant to be used in construction -- not in the datacenter! Yet fork-
lift storage upgrades involving tedious effort and high costs to scale infrastruc-
ture have become all too common. Infrastructure should be invisible, easy to
scale-up or scale-out with linear increase in performance—and it should allow
you to pay as you grow. Built on a distributed systems architecture, and com-
pletely software defined, Nutanix lets you scale storage with a few clicks to billions
of objects and files. You can start small, and linearly scale storage, capacity, and
performance, thereby providing uniform and consistent performance at any
scale. A single namespace is exported no matter the number of files, simplifying
administrative tasks involved.
ONE-CLICK MANAGEMENT
A storage silo not only creates an infrastructure silo, but also involves complex
management tools that require specialized skills. Administrators have to learn
proprietary tools and concepts to manage legacy storage silos. Further, managing
storage performance and troubleshooting performance issues historically steals
away nights and weekends from already busy IT teams. Nutanix offers manage-
ment of all services including storage from Prism, our unified management plane.
There is a one-click performance optimizer that makes recommendations to
scale up, scale out or load balance, and once the administrator accepts those
recommendations, it implements them. This frees administrators from constant
performance monitoring and troubleshooting, so that they can focus on higher
business value tasks.
PROACTIVE DIAGNOSTICS
Most enterprise IT solutions force a reactive approach to system maintenance
and issue resolution. The process usually begins with creating a ticket with the
vendor, followed by issue recreation in the vendor environment, after which the
debug can finally begin. Instead, if a more proactive approach is adopted, where
the system could raise alerts before IT administrators were trapped into a critical
issue, or begin troubleshooting as soon as the issue arose, that would save time
and resources while achieving higher service levels.
Nutanix simplifies and streamlines this process through two important support
services: Pulse and Alerts. When enabled, Pulse captures purpose-driven diag-
nostic data every hour. Alerts are event driven and help in proactive support.
©2018 Nutanix, Inc. All Rights Reserved
 A LOOK AT
UNSTRUCTURED
DATA FOR
SELECT
INDUSTRIES

HEALTHCARE
Files make up a good part of data storage in the healthcare industry outside
of databases used for electronic health and medical records, and the industry
has a particular set of needs when it comes to storage that can manage it all:

Imaging: IT teams require more scalable, high-performance storage for imaging

(PACS/VNA) due to the fact that images being generated and utilized now are
higher resolution and are available in a greater variety of sources. Speed is a
factor here as well; storage systems need to be faster to foster higher produc-
tivity for medical staff.

Backup/Archiving: As images and diagnostic data are stored for a very long
time, storage needs to be high capacity and low cost.

Security and compliance: Secure file storage is paramount, and requires

safeguards like advanced encryption to meet regulatory requirements
including HIPAA and its local equivalents.

FINANCIAL SERVICES
Financial Services is one of the biggest consumers of file storage due to the
sheer volume of files created, used, and shared. These files can be anywhere,
from home directories such as spreadsheets, text documents, and pdfs to
stand-alone Microsoft Access files. When thinking about data in this industry,
top-of-mind topics include:

VDI: Extensive use of virtual desktop infrastructure has pushed teams to

adopt network file storage in order to seamlessly scale for performance
on demand and foster departmental shares.

Backup/Archiving: In order to meet regulatory requirements, customer

interactions, internal communications, and financial news data is required
to be part of a comprehensive backup and archive strategy.

©2018 Nutanix, Inc. All Rights Reserved

 RETAIL AND MANUFACTURING
Unstructured data generated at the edge is typically raw and unfiltered,
making it inefficient to send all the data back to the datacenter for processing.
For optimal operations, edge data should be intelligently processed so only core,
relevant data is sent back to the datacenter for business intelligence analysis.
Retail consumer behavior data requires monumental amounts of storage
and the capability to process at the edge for a seamless user experience.

In manufacturing, plants generate equipment data that is useful for proactive

maintenance monitoring. These datasets are typically unstructured in nature.
Traditional applications like supply chain management and enterprise resource
planning generate a large number of reports and files that are in turn used by
teams for process improvements and optimization, collaboration, and more.

Certain data trends are applicable to both industries.

Imaging data: As organizations embrace IoT and AI, imaging data is growing
in use—everything from tracking number of people in line at a store to facial
recognition for access authentication to automating detection of faulty products.

Supply chain data: While supply chain data is prolific, it is more structured,
dealing with inventory, distribution, and transportation.

Unstructured data generated at the edge is typically raw and unfiltered, so

would it be inefficient to send all the data back to the datacenter for processing.
For optimal operations, edge data should be intelligently processed such that
only core relevant data is sent back to the datacenter for business intelligence
analysis.

HOW TO START MANAGING UNSTRUCTURED DATA MORE EFFECTIVELY

Regardless of industry, enterprises that move to Nutanix HCI solutions are
Learn more at Nutanix.com/Files amazed at how easy it is to deploy, manage, scale and support. Now organiza-
or Nutanix.com/OSS for tions can take advantage of extending the platform with simple and cost-
unstructured data solutions. effective solutions for unstrustructured data with Nutanix Files and Buckets.

T. 855.NUTANIX (855.688.2649) | F. 408.916.4039

info@nutanix.com | www.nutanix.com | @nutanix

Nutanix makes infrastructure invisible, elevating IT to focus on the applications and services that power their business.
The Nutanix enterprise cloud platform leverages web-scale engineering and consumer-grade design to natively converge
compute, virtualization and storage into a resilient, software-defined solution with rich machine intelligence. The result
is predictable performance, cloud-like infrastructure consumption, robust security, and seamless application mobility
for a broad range of enterprise applications. Learn more at www.nutanix.com or follow us on Twitter@nutanix.

©2018 Nutanix, Inc. All rights reserved. Nutanix is a trademark of Nutanix, Inc., registered in the United States
and other countries. All other brand names mentioned hereinare for identification purposes only and may be
the trademarks of their respective holder(s).