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Thin provisioning is a flexible storage allocation method that reallocates storage space as needed, improving network efficiency and performance. However, it requires a constant network connection and has a higher computational overhead. In a home network, it can optimize storage space by moving unused space to computers that require more. The downside is that during network crashes, access to additional storage space is lost.
Thin provisioning is a method of allocating a central storage reserve on an “on demand” basis. This provides computers and servers on the network with additional storage space as required, providing flexibility to the network. Thin provisioning avoids wasted network resources by constantly monitoring and reallocating the receiving computer for available storage space, providing a more flexible approach to local and wide area network storage solutions. The downside of thin provisioning is that it requires a constant network connection to work properly; when a computer is disconnected from the network, it can no longer receive access or changes to the amount of memory allocated.
When thin provisioning is turned on, each computer receives the amount of storage it needs. Considering this from the perspective of a home computer user can help you appreciate the benefits of thin provisioning. Each computer on a basic home network is autonomous from the others; the storage space available for one computer is not available for the others and vice versa. This can result in one computer having a significant amount of free space on a drive while another network computer’s hard drive may be nearly full.
In a thin provisioned environment, the “extra” storage of the less cluttered computer can be moved to the computer that requires slightly more drive space. By constantly reevaluating which computer on the network requires additional storage space, a thin provisioning system can maximize the efficiency of available hard drive space. This improves both the performance and economic efficiency of the network, since no additional funds need to be spent on disk space until the entire network is actually full.
However, thin provisioning has some downsides. First of all, keep in mind that the storage being swapped isn’t physically located within network computers; instead, it exists in a central location on the network within a completely separate computer. This proximity issue causes problems if the network crashes. During a crash, networked computers will no longer have access to additional storage space, with files saved on those drives remaining off-limits until the network comes back online.
Second, a network using provisioning techniques will have a higher computational overhead than a network using fixed storage techniques. One or more computers must take responsibility for monitoring storage and deciding where to allocate available blocks of storage. This results in extra stress on the system CPUs, which could cause the system to lag during periods of exceptionally high network activity.
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