What is Unified Storage?
Unified storage (sometimes termed network unified storage or NUS) is a storage system that makes it possible to run and manage files and applications from a single device. To this end, a unified storage system consolidates file-based and block-based access in a single storage platform and supports Fibre Channel SAN, IP-based SAN (iSCSI), and NAS (network attached storage).
How is it implemented in practice?
Unified storage is often implemented in a NAS platform that is modified to add block-mode support.
Benefits:
· Simultaneously enables storage of file data and handles the block-based I/O (input/output) of enterprise applications.
· Reduced hardware requirements – Instead of separate storage platforms, like NAS for file-based storage and a RAID disk array for block-based storage, unified storage combines both modes in a single device.
· Easy to administer since there is only a single device to be deployed.
· Lower Capital expenditures for the enterprise.
· Simpler to manage.
· Advanced features like storage snapshots and replication.
· Unified storage systems generally cost the same and enjoy the same level of reliability as dedicated file or block storage systems
