Data tiers
Separate hot data, shared files and archives, evaluating SSDs, NAS and capacity drives by role. Include random I/O, latency and concurrency alongside capacity.
Storage & backup design
Separate active data, shared capacity and backup copies; design backwards from recovery needs.
Architecture outline
Active data → Primary storage → Independent backup → Off-site / offline copy → Restore exercise
These planning and selection methods support discussion. Adapt the final configuration to workloads, site conditions and validation results.
Design steps & decisions
Usable capacity
Account for RAID or replicas, formatting, snapshots and headroom before forecasting growth. Summed drive labels are not usable capacity.
Recovery objectives
RPO defines tolerable data-loss time; RTO defines service recovery time. Use them to set backup frequency, off-site copies and restore bandwidth. RAID is not backup.
Restore exercises
Regularly restore files, databases or systems, checking permissions and application consistency. Record measured recovery time, failed-backup alerts and administrative isolation.
Prepare for a design discussion
Provide current equipment and versions, key applications and workloads, users or concurrency, data volume and growth, site power and networking, budget, timing and critical service windows.
Deliverables to agree
Requirements brief, configuration and BOM, compatibility records, test conditions and acceptance checklist. Agree the actual scope of installation, migration, maintenance and on-site services during project confirmation.
Continue selection & planning
LET’S PLAN YOUR CONFIGURATION
Discuss your requirements ↗