Which task is performed in the first stage of a storage infrastructure assessment?

Power and cooling evaluation must occur in the first stage because physical environment constraints determine what storage hardware can feasibly be deployed. Without knowing available power capacity and cooling headroom, subsequent inventory and design activities cannot be properly scoped. This physical site survey stage establishes the environmental foundation for all later assessment phases.

Installing storage performance and management software is an implementation task that takes place after the assessment is complete, not during the initial assessment stage.

Taking inventory of systems, software, and employee skills occurs in a later discovery and analysis stage, after the physical environment constraints have already been established.

Formulating design recommendations is the final deliverable of a storage assessment, produced only after environmental evaluation, inventory, and analysis have been completed.