Storage I/O

Definition - What does Storage I/O mean?

Storage I/O, in the context of IT, is the input/output process for data going between storage media and other parts of the hardware setup. This type of input/output and other similar processes are becoming a fundamental part of network and system administration because of the tremendous advances made in storage and data transfer technologies, where input/output can end up being a bottleneck.

Techopedia explains Storage I/O

The evaluation of storage I/O has led to a process of storage I/O control (SOIC) that aims to develop more strategized ways of handling storage I/O across a network. For example, in network virtualization, SOIC involves evaluating the performance of different virtual machines (VM) and their input/output processes. Sophisticated sets of SOIC tools can control input/output settings based on milliseconds or based on a percentage of peak throughput. Engineers can handle latency, for example, by allocating shares from a data store to each VM.

There are different ways to accomplish storage I/O strategy, but many IT professionals look at this aspect of efficient systems to keep evolving enterprise IT architectures beyond the simple traditional database/network model.