Storage resource management (SRM) is the software used to manage storage networks and devices in order to optimize the efficiency and capacity of storage hardware. SRM usually allocates storage capacity based on company policies. It can manage assets, storage configuration, data and media migration, events, availability and quotas. Storage resource management can also automate data backup, data recovery and performance analysis. Some SRM products identify storage usage, availability and performance by application, business unit or user, enabling IT consumption tracking and chargeback.
Using SRM, a storage administrator can forecast future storage needs and understand where to use tiered storage, storage pools and thin provisioning. Tiered storage holds data on various types of media based on performance, availability and recovery requirements. For example, frequently accessed mission-critical data may be stored locally on high-quality media for faster availability and less downtime, while archived data may be stored off site on low-cost media. Storage pools are capacity aggregated from disparate physical storage resources. Pools can be configured in varying sizes using a combination of physical space from throughout the storage network. Thin provisioning is an on-demand method of allocating available storage space among multiple users, based on the minimum space required by each user at any given time.
SRM may be offered as a proprietary stand-alone product or as part of an integrated software suite. For example, SUSE Enterprise Storage includes storage resource management capabilities with built-in fault tolerance. If a node goes down, it automatically redistributes the storage. If a node is added, it incorporates the new node into the storage system and distributes data to it. Based on open source Ceph technology, SUSE Enterprise Storage uses policies to define the type of storage for different kinds of data and how to distribute it.