Fundamentals of Storage

As we become increasingly dependent on electronically stored data for everything from simple MP3 files to massive electronic design automation files, engineers are being tasked with ensuring the reliable backup, storage and recovery of that data. In the Fundamentals of Storage, engineers and designers will be taken from the basics right through to an overview of current architectures and approaches to ensuring data integrity.

The course starts with the evolution of storage, from early disk drives to large storage clusters now being deployed and how they've become cheaper, faster and more reliable. From there it will look at the basic terms and components, including interconnects, host adapters and protocols, will analyze the advantages and drawbacks of current storage strategies such as RAID, SAN and NAS, and conclude with a look at how scale-out NAS can be applied for applications such as design and simulation.

Viewers need only have a basic understanding of computer hardware, software, operating systems and network interface cards.