While many of today’s network management tools get high marks among network operations center (NOC) workers, storage management and monitoring devices continue to be cumbersome and confusing. Because the task of streamlining storage configuration and management is more complex than it is for network management, Newman doesn’t foresee improvements any time soon.
Obstacles include multiple standards bodies, the large number of vendors, hardware and lack of documentation. So while the ability to control network systems from a single location is a given for even the largest networks, standardized storage operations remains a pipe dream — with the vendors in control and without economic incentive to change.
Most people I speak with at network operations centers (NOCs) rate today’s network management tools as very good or excellent. However, the same cannot be said for storage management tools. This is not entirely the fault of the vendors, given the complexity of storage management compared to networking. So why is storage management and monitoring so difficult compared to network management and monitoring?