Most midsize businesses rely on Microsoft applications to support their business. Windows servers, Microsoft SQL database applications, Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SharePoint and Hyper-V are all prevalent in enterprises worldwide. But, when it comes to storage, each application has its own specific performance characteristics and demands.

Microsoft SQL databases are typically performance sensitive. When used for transaction processing, SQL has benefits from 8K block sizes and has a typical workload profile that is 100% random and split 70:30 between reads and writes. SQL Server logging however, typically uses a 64KB block size and is 100% sequential writes. Microsoft Exchange uses a 4K block size and is typically random reads and writes with a 70:30 ratio. SQL databases may only be a few gigabytes in size. Microsoft Exchange may consume terabytes of storage. SQL server is block-based uses SAN functionality, but Microsoft SharePoint data may be split across SAN functionality for the database and NAS functionality for files.

These varying requirements are one of the major causes of the expense of storage in many companies. Quite often, to optimize for each application, multiple different storage platforms are used, creating management headaches and poorly utilized storage stranded in silos.

Starboard Benefits from Microsoft Applications