Leveraging AI to Optimize Management
Pure Storage has deployed flash arrays for a long time. And they have been doing a lot more than just pushing them out the door. For a while, most FlashArray products have sent telemetry and health data back to Pure Storage, so it knows how its arrays perform, their capacities and even their limited vulnerabilities.
The company took all of that data and used it to optimize the management of their storage arrays, with an artificial intelligence that can constantly look for telltale signs of any future problems. To access all of that information, customers merely have to log on to the Pure1 platform, which securely displays performance metrics on every Pure Storage product users have in their networks.
The interface is extremely graphical and easy to use. It can be accessed through any web browser using the secure HTTPS protocol, and both the data and the transmissions are encrypted.
It’s possible to manage an entire storage network right from the console, but Pure1 also provides helpful insights about the way organizations handle storage, including tips about how to optimize operations. It lets users know if capacity is filling up and estimates when an expansion may be necessary. It also can show, for example, if some assets are being overused while others are mostly idle. Using the interface, users can reconfigure operations as needed to ensure maximum performance and reliability across the board.
Monitoring a single FlashArray or an entire storage network from a smartphone or tablet is quite a concept compared to the command line interfaces of yesteryear that had to be inputted locally in the dark, freezing caves of data centers and server rooms. Pure1 represents another example of why PureStorage is driving storage technology into the light of modern times, not just with the hardware itself, but also in the intelligent way that storage can now be safely managed from anywhere.