Analysis on the Reliability of Non-repairable and Repairable Network Storage Systems

The reliability analysis is of great significance for assessing the performance of network storage systems. This paper aims to analyze reliability of network storage system, either with or without maintenance requirement, using quantitative calculation and simulation evaluation.

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hen the devices were non-repairable, a FC-SAN network storage system was tested in three typical redundancy modes (i.e. simplicity, dual-FC switches, dual-server & dual-FC switches).Reliability calculation was performed with help of reliability block diagram and mathematical analytical method. For the repairable devices, Markov analysis and Monte Carlo stochastic simulation were introduced to assess the reliability of the network storage systems. In addition, simulations were carried out to measure a number of reliability indices of the network storage systems. These indices, including availability, mean time to first failure, and the mean up time, are used for analysis and comparison of simulation data. This analysis can provide useful guidance for designing future network storage systems.