Operational Practice
Storage Recovery Program Improves Utilization and Cuts Costs
Cisco IT Operational Practice / Storage / Storage Utilization Management: This
Operational Practice describes Cisco IT’s storage utilization management implementation
within the Cisco network, a leading-edge enterprise environment that is one of the largest
and most complex in the world. Cisco customers can draw on Cisco IT's real-world
experience to help support similar storage management needs.
Overview
Cost- and resource-efficient storage utilization management is an issue for most organizations. Generally,
storage utilization management challenges occur in four main categories:
• Underutilization―Storage devices that have nothing stored on them are a waste of both physical
and financial resources.
• Difficulty of recovery and repurposing―The recovery and repurposing of available storage is
frequently overlooked and can be difficult.
• Poor storage forecasts―With the difficulty of repurposing and the sometimes rapid growth of
clients’ storage needs, it is common practice for database administrators (DBAs) and system
administrators to allocate a buffer for unforeseen eventualities. When DBAs feel they have little
visibility into their clients’ future storage requirements, the size of this buffer grows more.
• High cost of buying and maintaining storage―Both the cost of buying storage and the skilled
resources required to manage it are high. The cost of high-performance, protected storage
subsystems can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, with even greater costs for resources to ensure
that they all operate efficiently. Cisco® IT estimates that it costs about US$100,000 to replace 1
terabyte (TB) of supported, protected storage (or $100 per gigabyte [GB]).
Cisco Systems® instituted a Storage Recovery Program (SRP) focused on recovering and repurposing
wasted storage resources, with the goal of reducing both operational and capital expenses.
The SRP team realized approximately $6.7 mi