Storage Virtualization

Storage virtualization refers to the pooling of physical storage from multiple network storage devices into what seems to be a single storage device that is managed from a central console.

Storage virtualization aids the storage administrator to complete the tasks of backup, archiving, and recovery more conveniently and in less time by disguising the actual complexity of a storage area network or SAN. The administrators can implement virtualization with software applications or by utilizing the hardware and software hybrid appliances.

In the perspective of a storage system, there are two kinds of virtualization that can occur, namely block virtualization and file virtualization