Six categories of virtual storage exist:
- File-level
- Host-based
- Network-based
- Object-level
- Block-level
- Array-based
Illustration of Virtual Storage
In the field of information technology (IT), virtualization is a highly buzzword, and practically everything has been virtualized. Everything can be virtualized, including servers, storage area networks, memory, and storage. To put it simply, storage virtualization is the process of giving any server the appearance of physical storage in a logical format. A server or host won’t be able to distinguish between this logical storage and physical storage since it will appear to them as the same thing. Storage virtualization is the process of grouping several physical disks together and assigning virtual storage, also known as logical storage blocks, to a server for use. The most basic types of storage virtualization objects are RAID groups, LOGICAL VOLUME (LV), LUNs (LOGICAL UNIT NUMBER), etc. File-level virtualization offers user or application independence from the file storage location and facilitates the easy movement of files.
Kinds of Storage Virtualization
The process of combining physical storage from several storage servers into a single virtual storage server is known as storage virtualization. The management of the consolidated storage is then handled by a central console. Cloud computing offers various forms of storage virtualization, such as hypervisor virtualization, hardware-assisted virtualization, kernel-level virtualization, full virtualization, and para-virtualization. Hardware-Assisted Virtualization is similar to full para-virtualization, but it needs hardware maintenance. Installed between the operating system and the hardware is a segment known as a hypervisor. It enables the effective operation of several operating systems. In hardware virtualization, a different version of the Linux kernel functions. One host can run multiple servers thanks to the kernel level. The foundation of para-virtualization is a hypervisor, which handles software emulation and trapping. Globally, storage virtualization has aided numerous organizations in managing all of their data from a single console. Making use of the enormous range of cloud-based functionalities is another aspect of this. The way the technology functions is by creating a virtual image of actual storage hardware.