NMCA-E12 :

CLIENT SERVER
COMPUTING

Unit 4:
Data Storage & CSC
Services and Support

UNIT -4 SYLLABUS
Data Storage: magnetic disk, magnetic tape,
CD-ROM, WORM, Optical disk, mirrored disk,
fault tolerance, RAID, RAID-Disk network
interface cards. Network protection devices,
Power Protection Devices, UPS, Surge protectors.
Client Server Systems Development: Services
and Support, System administration,
Availability, Reliability, Serviceability, Software
Distribution, Performance,
Network management, Help Disk, Remote
Systems Management Security, LAN and
Network Management issues.

DATA STORAGE:

Permanent storage requirements are very

application-specific. The issues of quantity of disk
storage, performance and reliability must be
considered.
Magnetic

Disk
Magnetic Tape
CD-ROM
WORM
Optical disk
Erasable optical
Mirrored Disk
RAID, RAID-Disk

 Magnetic

Disk
Disk storage devices should use the SCSI-2 standard controller
interface. This provides the best performance in a standardsbased environment. Many vendors provide high-capacity, highperformance, and highly reliable disk devices for this controller.
Magnetic

Tape
Although most permanently stored data uses disk, tape is a very
popular form of low-cost magnetic storage and is used primarily
for backup purposes. The standard backup tape device today is
digital audio tape (DAT). Tape is a sequential medium and does
not adequately support direct (random) access to information.
CD-ROM

Compact disk-read only memory (CD-ROM) optical drives are

used for storage of information that is distributed for read-only
use. A single CDROM can hold up to 800MB of information. CDROM also is more reliable for shipping and distribution than
magnetic disks or tapes.

WORM

Write once, read many (WORM) optical drives are

used to store information that is to be written to
disk just once but read many times. This type of
storage is frequently used to archive data that
should not be modified. The WORM technology
guarantees that the image cannot be tampered
with.

OPTICAL DISK

Optical disk storage technology provides the

advantage of high-volume, economical storage with
somewhat slower access times than traditional
magnetic disk storage.
Anoptical disc(OD) is a flat, usually circular disc
which encodes binary data (bits) in the form ofpits
(binary value of 0 or off, due to lack of reflection
when read) and lands (binary value of 1 or on, due to
a reflection when read) on a special material (often
aluminium[1]) on one of its flat surfaces.

An optical disc is designed to support one of three

recording types: read-only (e.g.:CDandCD-ROM),
recordable (write-once, e.g.CD-R), or re-recordable
(rewritable, e.g.CD-RW).

ERASABLE OPTICAL
Anerasable optical diskis the one which can
be erased and then loaded with new data content
all over again.
These generally come with a RW label.
These are based on a technology popularly known
as Magnetic Optical which involves the
application of heat on a precise point on the disk
surface and magnetizing it using a laser.

MIRRORED DISK
When applications require high reliability, it may
be appropriate to use a configuration that supports
mirrored disks.
With this configuration, data is automatically
written to two disks. This enables the application to
continue if a failure occurs on one disk.
System files and data files should be considered for
mirroring. Even though system files are usually
read-only, the number of users affected by
unavailability of the files may justify this
redundancy.
In addition, performance can improve since dual
reads can be handled in parallel.

RAID, RAID-DISK
RAID(Redundant array of independent disks) is
a datastorage virtualizationtechnology that
combines multipledisk drivecomponents into a
logical unit for the purposes of data redundancy
or performance improvement.
Very high performance and high availability can
be achieved through a redundant array of
independent drives (RAID).
These enable data files to be spread across
several physical drives.
Data also can be mirrored as part of this
configuration.

IMPORTANT GOALS OF
RAID

Reliability,

Availability,

Performance,
Capacity

RAID LEVELS

RAID 0 - Speed - Level 0 is disk striping only, which

interleaves data across multiple disks for better
performance. It does not provide safeguards against failure.
RAID 0 is widely used in gaming machines for higher
speed.
RAID 1 - Fault Tolerance- Uses disk mirroring, which
provides 100% duplication of data. Offers highest
reliability, but doubles storage cost. RAID 1 is widely used
in business applications.
RAID 2 - Speed- Bits (rather than bytes or groups of
bytes) are interleaved across multiple disks. The
Connection Machine used this technique, but this is a rare
method.
RAID 3 - Speed and Fault Tolerance -Data are striped
across three or more drives. Used to achieve the highest
data transfer, because all drives operate in parallel. Parity
bits are stored on separate, dedicated drives.

RAID 4 - Speed and Fault Tolerance -Similar to Level 3,

but manages disks independently rather than in unison.
Not often used.
RAID 5 - Speed and Fault Tolerance - Data are striped
across three or more drives for performance, and parity
bits are used for fault tolerance. The parity bits from two
drives are stored on a third drive and are interspersed
with user data. RAID 5 is widely used on servers to
provide speed and fault tolerance.
RAID 6 - Speed and Fault Tolerance - Highest reliability,
but not widely used. Similar to RAID 5, but performs two
different parity computations or the same computation on
overlapping subsets of the data.
RAID 10 - Speed and Fault Tolerance - A combination of
RAID 1 and RAID 0 combined. Raid 0 is used for
performance, and RAID 1 is used for fault tolerance.

FAULT TOLERANCE
Fault Tolerance is the ability of Computer to withstand
fatal failure without corrupting data or disrupting
services.
Fully Fault Tolerant machines have duplicated
significant hardware, including the processor, memory
system, disk storage, communication links, and backup
power supplies.
The Servers with mirrored disk subsystems, and builtin monitoring ability have some degree of fault
tolerance. These are called as high availability servers
The fully fault tolerant machine uses a dual redundant
hardware architecture with two complete processing
system in one enclosure without a single point of
failure.

NETWORK INTERFACE CARDS

Client and server processors are attached to the
LAN through NICs. These provide the physical
connectivity to the wire and the protocol support
to send/receive messages. The most popular
network protocols today are Token Ring,
Ethernet, and FDDI.
Token Ring - Token Ring NICs are particularly
desirable for LANs that are collocated with an
IBM mainframe. operate at 4 or 16 Mbps

Ethernet - Ethernet works well when

interactive-only or file transfer-only
communications are present on the LAN. When
mixing interactive and file transfer on the same
Ethernet system, performance is excellent when
LAN loading does not exceed 30 percent of the
capacity.
FDDI - NICs for FDDI are becoming available for
high processing environments. This throughput
is necessary when applications deal with large
images, large file transfers, or multimedia using
full-motion video.

CDDI - Copper Distributed Data Interchange

(CDDI) provides support for FDDI
communications over copper wire. The same 100Mbps throughput is supported over Type 1
cabling (STP), and standards are emerging to
provide support over Type 3 cabling (UTP) that is
carefully selected and installed. This technology
is now called Fast Ethernet. ATM is discussed in
Chapter 5 and will increasingly be the protocol of
choice for LAN/WAN internetworking.

POWER PROTECTION DEVICES

There are two types Power Protection Devices
UPS,

Surge

protectors.

UNINTERRUPTIBLE POWER SUPPLY (UPS)

An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) is a
device that allows your computer to keep running
for at least a short time when the primary power
source is lost. Prices for UPS have declined to the
point where they are widely used for LAN server
protection.
These units contain battery backups to enable at
least a graceful power-down sequence. All buffers
can be purged and files closed so that no
information is lost. Other units provide 15-90
minutes of power backup to handle most power
failure situations.

SURGE PROTECTORS
The electronics in computer systems are affected
by power fluctuations. Protection can be obtained
through the use of surge protection equipment.
Asurge protector(orsurge suppressor) is an
appliance designed to protectelectrical devicesin
the alternating current (AC) utility line
fromvoltage spikes called transients.
A
surge
protector
attempts
to
limit
thevoltagesupplied to an electric device by
either blocking or by shorting togroundany
unwanted voltages above a safe threshold.

SERVICES AND SUPPORT

System Administration
Availability
Reliability
Serviceability
Software Distribution
Performance
Network Management
Help Desk
Remote System Management
Security (Security threats)

SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION
Software should be loaded by trained staff and
tested to ensure that it is installed according to
standards and works as expected.
System Administrator is an individual responsible
for maintaining amulti-usercomputer system,
including alocal-area network (LAN). Typical
duties include:

Adding

andconfiguringnewworkstations
Setting up user accounts
Installing system-wide software
Performing procedures to prevent the spread
ofviruses
Allocatingmass storagespace

AVAILABILITY
Availability means system uptimeor the capability
of the system to be available for processing
information and doing its expected work whenever
called on.
Back out procedures are defined and tested to
ensure that if a failure occurs after implementation
of the change, the data center can fall back to its
previous status.
Technological features such as separate electrical
power sources, backup diesel generator and battery
power sources, redundant processors, and magnetic
disk devices all are used to ensure that failure of a
single component will not take down the data center.

RELIABILITY
Reliability requires applications to be protected
from overwriting each other and requires shared
memory to be accessed only by authorized tasks.
Softwares must automatically handle multiple
user contention, provide full recovery after
failure of in-flight updates, and provide utility
functions to recover a damaged magnetic disk.

SERVICEABILITY
Transient errors are noted so that preventive
maintenance can correct problems before they
affect availability.
Products based on standard protocols such as the
Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)
provide the necessary feedback of event alerts to
support the remote systems management
function.

SOFTWARE DISTRIBUTION
shares executable software from a single library.
Software maintenance and enhancement are
accomplished by changes to a single location.
An additional complexity is incurred when
several different hardware platforms are used.
Testing should also be done on each platform
before changes are distributed.

PERFORMANCE

The trained technical support personnel and

operations staff monitors performance on an
ongoing basis using sophisticated monitoring
tools and analysis tools.

Network Management
All provide a level of remote monitoring that can
track response time and network loading.

HELP DESK
A help desk is a set of systems and procedures
used by technical and applications staff to
provide support to end-users in areas ranging
from basic how to do and problem determination
to advanced troubleshooting and diagnosis.
support may be provided using remote PCs,
voice-only assistance over the telephone, or inperson assistance via an on-site help request.

REMOTE SYSTEM MANAGEMENT

LAN administrators should be able to connect
remotely to and then manage the workstation of
any user who has a problem.
Each of these products provides an accurate
record of performance and traffic loading at the
point of analysis.
Security
Users should find security to be invisible when
they are authorized for a function and
impenetrable when they are unauthorized.
Every user of a client/server application should
be assigned a personal ID and password.

LAN AND NETWORK

MANAGEMENT ISSUES
Lack of global network administration software
Integration different technologies from different vendors
The tools to build multivendor, multiprotocol networks are
missing
Lack of knowledge of new technologies to manage LAN systems.
Lack of management tools is an impediment to enterprise-wide
applications.
Lack of security on LANs is another roadblock.
Many companies do not have the diagnostic devices or the
expertise to effectively manage network hardware.
Very few maintain historical records for ongoing comparative
analysis.
Learning to operate such diagnostic tools is relatively easy;
understanding what the results mean is not so simple.

SERVICES THAT MIS DEPARTMENTS

Network maintenance
Network integration
Capacity planning
Equipment maintenance
Help desks
Security administration
Network cabling and installation
Network application administration
Server backup
Network application development
PC data backup

LICENSING
Three charging algorithms are used today:
Single Use - Single use requires that every
workstation acquire its own license.
LAN Use - LAN use typically allows up to a
maximum number of simultaneous users for a
fixed fee.
Site License - Site licenses allow unlimited usage
by an organization, either at a single site or
across an entire organization. Because
organizations have increasing standardization of
software products, more site-licensing
agreements are being signed.