Storage Area Network SAN Tutorial

Storage Area Network or SAN has been around for a few years, and has matured to include a variety of technological approaches to answer the increasing storage requirements of small businesses and enterprise alike. Drawing from our professional Storage Area Network team experience, were pleased to introduce an easy Storage Area Network tutorial featuring the three main Storage Area Network solutions categories along with their respective benefits and drawbacks. These categories include ATA over Ethernet Storage Area Network, Fiber Channel Storage Area Network, and iSCSI Storage Area Network.

Top 6 reasons to install a Storage Area Network?
1. Centrally managed physical disks
2. Better use of network bandwidth
3. More efficient, pooled storage
4. Increased accessibility
5. Increased scalability
6. Shared filesystems in clustered environments

What are the technology options?

Fiber Channel Storage Area Network
Pros
1. Industry tested, admin approved
2. Consistent transfer rates
3. Compatible with block level backup protocols
4. Support for serverless backup devices via extended SCSI command set

Cons
1. Most expensive hardware


iSCSI Storage Area Network
Pros
1. Increased access control
2. Can use standard Ethernet fabric
3. Support for serverless backup devices via extended SCSI command set

Cons
1. Requires expensive TOE host bus adapters
2. Uses TCP
3. Expensive in general


ATA over Ethernet Storage Area Network
Pros
1. Least expensive
2. No TCP overhead
3. Uses standard Ethernet adapters and switches

Cons
1. Only one manufacturer
2. Very new technology
3. Limited control


ActivSupport delivers consulting and outsourcing services across Microsoft, Linux, and Macintosh networks to small businesses and enterprises alike all over the U.S. For a free consultation about your project, call ActivSupport at 1-877-ACTIVNET (1-877-228-4863) or use our online contact form.