Some issues of the software-defined storage

Evolution of information technologies attracts the interest of data center owners, alongside the more functional storage equipment, to more efficient storing technologies, the software-defined storage (SDS) being among promising ones. Following the software-defined networking (SDN), the SDS has borrowed some essentials from the precursor, implementation of the control plane in a single programmable controller and simplification of the data plane hardware included. However, despite the growing interest to the SDS, some definite gaps remain in the SDS theoretical basics, beginning with the lack of a generally accepted adequate definition. As a result, a lot of questionable and incorrect assertions may be found in publications devoted to the SDS. Also, the publications do not demonstrate comprehension of the objective distinction between the SDS and SDN, which compel these related technologies to evolve in somewhat differing ways. In the article, an attempt is made to formulate a “universal” definition of the SDS, principal distinctions of the SDS from the SDN are exposed, and some development features of this promising technology are outlined.