SANSTORAGE AREA NETWORK

Manuel Fernando Cano MontesAnalista de Servicios IT 2

SAN

• This part covers the basics of storage area networks, including what you need to know if you’re going to buy a SAN, build one yourself, or have someone build it for you.

In This Chapter

• Understanding storage area networks (SANs)• Determining whether a SAN is right for you• Looking at SAN layers and protocols• Figuring out which operating systems benefit from

SANs• Discovering which applications can use or require

SANs

Defining a SAN

• SAN (Storage Area Network) is a collection of computers and storage devices, connected over a high-speed optical network and dedicated to the task of storing and protecting data.

Defining a SAN (II)

• Using a network to create a shared pool of storage devices is what makes a SAN different.

• Various storage devices.• Sharing data between different servers.• Fast connection medium for backing up,

restoring, archiving, and retrieving data. • Can be connected over long distances, making

a SAN very useful to large companies.

Layers

Defining a SAN (III)

• Internet and its protocol. TCP/IP• Differences between fiber-optic computer networks

such as the Internet and a fiber-optic SAN. Protocol and Switches

• Fibre Channel was developed to move data really fast between computers and disk drives; TCP/IP was developed to move files over long distances between computers.

How a SAN Makes Computing Different

• Mainframes• LAN• Internet• How to share information?• LANs were connected to create the Internet.

Understanding the Benefits of a SAN

• Removes the distance limits of SCSI-connected disks• Greater performance• Increased disk utilization• Higher availability to storage by use of multiple

access paths• Deferred disk procurement• Reduced data center rack/floor space• Disaster-recovery capabilities• Online recovery

Understanding the Benefits of a SAN (II)

• Better staff utilization.• Reduction of management costs as a percentage of storage

costs• Improved overall availability.• Reduction of servers.• Improved network performance and fewer network upgrades.• Increased input/output (I/O) performance and bulk data

movement• Reduced/eliminated backup windows.• Protected critical data.• Nondisruptive scalability

Understanding the Benefits of a SAN (III)

• Easier development and testing of applications• Support for server clusters.• Storage on demand.

When is a SAN useful?

• More than 16 number of servers.• Database servers• File servers• Backup servers• Voice/video servers• Mail servers• High-performance application servers

Who should not use a SAN?

• Web servers.• All desktop PCs.• Servers needing less than 10GB of storage.• Servers that don’t need fast access to data.• Servers that have to share files.

Dissecting a SAN (The Four Ps)

• The parts: All the hardware you use to create a SAN; the switches,

• cables, disk arrays, and so forth• The protocols: The languages that the parts use to talk to

each other• The players: The folks who build the parts• The platforms: The computer applications that benefit from

using SAN