CompTIA DataSys+ (DS0-001)Database DeploymentEasy
A database administrator is planning the storage for a new data warehouse that will primarily store historical sensor data. The data will be written once and rarely updated, but will be queried frequently for analytical reports. Which storage type would be most cost-effective while providing adequate performance?
- AGeneral Purpose SSD
- BProvisioned IOPS SSD
- CMagnetic HDD
- DNVMe SSD
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: C. Magnetic HDD
For data warehouses storing historical data that is written once and rarely updated but queried frequently, magnetic HDDs offer a cost-effective solution. Their lower cost per gigabyte makes them suitable for large volumes of data where extreme I/O performance (like that of SSDs) isn't strictly necessary, especially if queries are optimized for sequential reads.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. General Purpose SSDs offer a good balance of cost and performance but are still more expensive per TB than HDDs, and the 'rarely updated' aspect reduces the need for their write performance.
- B. Provisioned IOPS SSDs are high-performance and expensive, overkill for data rarely updated but frequently queried, where cost-effectiveness is a factor.
- D. NVMe SSDs are the highest performance and most expensive, completely unnecessary for this use case and would significantly increase costs.
Database Storage Tiers
Different types of storage media (e.g., SSDs, HDDs) with varying performance, cost, and capacity characteristics, selected based on database workload requirements.
- SSDs (SATA, NVMe) offer high IOPS and low latency, ideal for transactional workloads.
- HDDs offer high capacity at a lower cost, suitable for archival or large-volume analytical data.
- Choosing the right tier balances performance needs with budgetary constraints.
Memory trick: Cost-performance-capacity triangle: balance wisely.