Section 2 : Storage Networking Technologies and Virtualization

Content Addressed Storage

Chapter 9

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Chapter Objectives
Upon completion of this chapter, you will be able to: o Describe CAS, fixed content and archives, traditional storage solutions for archive o Describe the features and benefits of a CAS based storage strategy

o List the physical and logical elements of CAS

o Describe the storage and retrieval process for CAS data objects o Describe the best suited operational environments for CAS solutions

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Lesson: CAS Overview

Upon completion of this lesson, you be able to: o Define fixed content

o Describe traditional archival solutions and its shortcoming

o Define Content Addressed Storage (CAS) o List benefits of CAS

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What are Fixed Content and Archives

Generate New Revenues Improve Service Levels Leverage Historical Value

Digital Assets Retained For Active Reference And Value

Electronic Documents Digital Records Rich Media

Contracts, claims, etc. E-mail and attachments Financial spread sheets CAD/CAM designs Presentations

Documents
Checks, securities trades Historical preservation

Medical
X-rays, MRIs, CTI

Photographs
Personal / professional

Video
News / media, movies Security surveillance

Surveys
Seismic, astronomic, geographic

Audio
Voicemail Radio

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Challenges of Storing Fixed Content

o Fixed content is growing at more than 90% annually
o Significant amount of newly created information falls into this category o New regulations require retention and data protection

o Often, long-term preservation is required (years-decades) o Simultaneous multi-user online access is preferable to offline storage o Need faster access to fixed content o Need for location independent data, enabling technology refresh and migration o Traditional storage methods are inadequate
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Traditional storage solutions for Archive

o Three categories of archival solution are:
o Online, nearline, and offline based on the means of access

o Traditional archival solution were offline

o Traditional archival process used optical disks and tapes as media for archival o An archive is often stored on a Write Once Read Many (WORM) device, such as a CD-ROM

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Shortcomings of Traditional Archiving Solutions

o Tape is slow, and standards are always changing o Optical is expensive, and requires vast amounts of media

o Recovering files from tape and optical is often time consuming

o Data on tape and optical is subject to media degradation o Both solution require sophisticated media management

CAS has emerged as an alternative to traditional

archiving solutions
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What is Content Addressed Storage (CAS)

o Object-oriented, location-independent approach to data storage o Repository for the Objects o Access mechanism to interface with repository o Globally unique identifiers provide access to objects

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Benefits of CAS
o Content authenticity o Content integrity

Additional Task Research on role of CAS in ILM Strategy

o Location independence
o Single-instance storage (SiS) o Retention enforcement o Record-level protection and disposition o Technology independence

o Fast record retrieval

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Lesson Summary
Key points covered in this lesson: o CAS Definition

o Challenges of Storing Fixed Content

o Shortcomings of Traditional Archiving Solutions o Benefits of CAS

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Lesson: CAS Architecture

Upon completion of this lesson, you will be able to: o Describe CAS architecture

o Describe Physical and logical elements of CAS

o Describe data storage and retrieval process in CAS environment o CAS examples

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Physical Elements of CAS

o Storage devices (CAS Based)
o Storage node o Access node

o Servers (to which storage devices get connected) o Client

IP

Access Nodes

Private LAN

Storage Nodes

CAS System

API

Server
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CAS Terminology
o Application Programming Interface (API)
API

o A set of function calls that enables communication between applications or between an application and an operating system

o BLOB (Binary Large Object)

o The actual data without the descriptive information (metadata) o The Distinct Bit Sequence (DBS) of user data represents the actual content of a file and is independent of the filename and physical location

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CAS Terminology (Cont)

o C-Clip
o A package containing the user's data and associated metadata o C-Clip ID (C-Clip handle or C-Clip reference) is the CA that the system returns to the client application

o Content Address (CA)

o An identifier that uniquely addresses the content of a file and not its location. Unlike location-based addresses, content addresses are inherently stable and, once calculated, they never change and always refer to the same content

o C-Clip Descriptor File (CDF)

o The additional XML file that the system creates when making a C-Clip. This file includes the content addresses for all referenced BLOBs and associated metadata

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How CAS Stores a Data Object

Client presents data to API to be archived

Client

Unique Content CAS System Address is calculated Application Server Object is sent to CAS System via CAS API over IP
API

C-Clip (Object) CDF

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How CAS Stores a Data Object

Client presents data to API to be archived

Client

Unique Content CAS System Address is calculated Application Server Object is sent to CAS System via Object CAS API over IP
API

Acknowledgement returned to application CAS System validates the Content Address and stores the object
Clip ID is retained and stored for future use
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How CAS Retrieves a Data Object

4
1

Object is needed by an application

CAS authenticates the request and delivers the object

Application Server

CAS System

Client
API

3 2

Application finds Content Address of object to be retrieved

C-Clip ID

Retrieval request is sent to the CAS System via CAS API over IP

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CAS Features
o Features available with most CAS systems are:
o Integrity checking o Data protection
o Local replication o Remote replication

o Load balancing o Scalability o Self-diagnosis and repair o Report generation and event notification o Fault tolerance
o Through the use of redundant components and data protection schemes

o Audit trails
o Documentation of management activities, access and disposition of data
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Example 1: CAS Healthcare Solution

Hospital

Patient Studies

Stored locally for Short-Term Use (60 Days)

API

Data Stored on CAS CAS System

Application Server

o Each X-ray image ranges from about 15MB to over 1GB

o Patient record is stored online for a period of 60-90 days

o Beyond 90 days patient records are archived
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Example 2: CAS Financial Solution

Bank

API

Application Server

CAS System

o Check image size is about 25KB o Check imaging service provider may process 5090 million check images per month o Checks are stored online for a period of 60 days o Beyond 60 days data is archived
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Lesson Summary
Key points covered in this lesson: o CAS architecture

o Physical and logical elements of CAS

o CAS storage and retrieval process o CAS solution examples

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Chapter Summary
Key points covered in this chapter: o Benefits of CAS based storage strategy

o Overview of physical and logical elements of CAS

o Storing and retrieving data from CAS o CAS application examples

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