A SAN is a dedicated network that is separate from LANs and WANs. It is generally used to connect all the storage resources connected to various servers. It consists of a collection of SAN Hardware and SAN software; the hardware typically has high inter-connection rates between the various storage devices and the software manages, monitors and configures the SAN. It used for efficient transporting data for storage and retrieval. SAN architectures are alternatives to storing data on disks directly attached to servers or storing data on Network Attached Storage (NAS) devices which are connected through general purpose networks.
Why should attend:
In order to meet the demands of the storage system, enterprises apply SAN to increase the system efficiency and capacity expansion. According to SNIA (Storage Networking Industry Association), SAN is:
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- The purpose of the SAN is transmitting data between storage systems and storage systems or storage systems and client servers. The SAN fabric contains physical connections from storage systems to client, and then storage management devices, servers, and network devices. However, SAN is usually defined as block I/O services provider.
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- The storage system contains storage components, devices, computer equipments, software applications, and network devices.
- SAN is able to attach with various kinds of storage devices, such as disk-array subsystems, CD towers, magnetic tape drivers and libraries, and provides data I/O services via hub or switches through network connections.
