Server Consolidation; Local And Remote Site Replication For Business Continuity - Aberdeen AberNAS 120 Manual

Microsoft® Windows Storage Server 2003 White Paper

Server Consolidation

As companies add more and more servers to meet demands for increased storage capacity,
equipment, licensing, maintenance (power, space, servicing) and management costs all escalate.
Adding a Windows Storage Server 2003 based device to the network allows businesses to
consolidate multiple file servers into a single more powerful NAS device. Given the broad file
serving capabilities of Windows Storage Server 2003, even file servers running on different
platforms (such as Unix or Novell) can be consolidated onto a NAS device, greatly simplifying
management across systems. Related equipment, such as backup devices, can also be
consolidated. System management is much simpler with fewer devices requiring space, servicing
(such as applying patches or maintaining versioning), and backup and restore services. For every
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NAS device replacing multiple existing servers , the associated licensing costs are eliminated.
Figure 5. Consolidation of several multi-platform servers onto a single Windows Storage Server 2003
NAS device. This scenario enables the consolidation of tape drives into a single tape array.

Local and Remote Site Replication for Business Continuity

NAS servers using Windows Storage Server 2003 software technologies enable businesses to
build fault tolerant solutions designed to keep data highly available.
NAS devices on a LAN can use the replication technologies to replicate data between one NAS
device and another. In the event of network failure or the outage of a NAS device, a second NAS
device can assume the identity of a nonfunctioning filer and continue serving files to clients
without interruption of services. When the nonfunctioning NAS device returns, it takes back its
identity, resynchronizes its data with the active NAS device, and resumes file serving.
This process of replication and failover also works on a wide area network (WAN). Replication
and synchronization occurs over the WAN between NAS devices. Should one branch site
succumb to disaster or be shut down for a planned outage, clients accessing that NAS device are
redirected to a second NAS device at a different branch.
NAS devices are also useful to remote sites for a different reason. Branch offices often do not
have the IT staffing expertise to effectively deploy general-purpose servers. Because they are so
simple to deploy and maintain, NAS file servers are the perfect plug and play solution for these
remote sites.
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The number of servers that can be consolidated on a NAS device depends how powerful the server capabilities are,
and how many clients are served. Microsoft tests have demonstrated that up to 25 Widows NT servers can be
consolidated into a single NAS device.