ABSTRACT

This chapter focuses on capacity optimization and data footprint reduction, also known as data infrastructure and storage efficiency. There are several different capacity topic areas for data infrastructure, including storage space, input/output (I/O) networking and bandwidth services, server central processing unit cycles, and available memory. Capacity topics have been discussed in prior chapters with reference to server, I/O, networking, and storage components, as well as in upcoming about systems and solutions. The larger the data footprint impact, the more data storage capacity and performance bandwidth is needed. How the data is being managed, protected, and housed also increases the demand for capacity and associated software licenses. Having timely insight and awareness into how capacity resources are used is essential to making informed decisions, as well as implementing automated policy-driven management. Thin provisioning is a technique that provides a benefit of maximizing usable space capacity.