A SAN (Storage Area Network) is a network specifically dedicated to the task of transporting data for storage and retrieval. SAN architectures are alternatives to storing data on disks directly attached to servers or on Network Attached Storage (NAS) devices that are connected through general purpose networks. In order to meet the storage system’s demands, enterprises apply SAN to increase the system efficiency and capacity expansion. According to SNIA (Storage Networking Industry Association), SAN is: SAN’s purpose is to transmit data between storage systems or storage systems and client servers. Read More

A NAS, or Network-Attached Storage, device is a type of hardware that allows all users in a network to store files to the same storage device. A NAS device is often used by companies who have large amounts of data that need to be accessed by multiple users within the same network. NAS devices are also used by home users but they are more common in companies. NAS devices may include one hard drive for direct storage or multiple hard drives for RAID-5 storage in order to store redundant files Read More

Storage management refers to a collection of machines, software, analysts, procedures, structure, techniques, and goals that are used to store, organize, analyze, and backup data. Storage management can be implemented by any company and varies in the size of the company, the amount of data to be stored, and the techniques that are implemented. While many programs pass themselves off as storage management solutions, storage management encompasses the entire system a company uses to store, organize, analyze, evaluate, and process information.   How Storage Management Works Essentially, storage management is Read More

An HBA (Host Bus Adapter) is the interface card that connects a host to a SAN (Storage Area Network). It is an electronic circuit board and/or integrated circuit adapter that offers input/output (I/O) operations and physical connectivity among a server and a storage device. Presently, the phrase Host Bus Adapter (HBA) is frequently used for Fibre Channel interface cards. Fibre Channel HBAs are obtainable for all key open systems, computer architectures, and buses. Every HBA has a distinctive World Wide Name (WWN), which is analogous to an Ethernet MAC address Read More

FAIS (Fabric Application Interface Standard), is a project of the ANSI/INCITS T11.5 task group. The purpose of FAIS is to define a common Application Programming Interface (API) framework for implementing storage applications in a storage networking environment. FAIS was proposed in T11/03-305v2: Project Proposal For A New INCITS Standard Fabric Application Interface Standard (FAIS). A good overview of FAIS is A New Standard for Fabric Intelligence by Tom Clark. FAIS (Fabric Application Interface Standard) is presented here courtesy of The Enterprise Storage Management FAQ.

SAN zoning is a method of arranging Fibre Channel devices into logical groups over the physical configuration of the fabric. SAN zoning may be utilized to implement compartmentalization of data for security purposes. Each device in a SAN may be placed into multiple zones. Hard and Soft Zoning Hard zoning is zoning which is implemented in hardware. Soft zoning is zoning which is implemented in software. Hard zoning physically blocks access to a zone from any device outside of the zone. Soft zoning uses filtering implemented in fibre channel switches Read More

Fibre Channel is a set of standards for connecting storage devices in a fabric network. The Fibre Channel standard identifies a protocol and a collection of physical interfaces for managing computer peripheral components. This standard’s key purpose is managing large numbers of storage devices. Fibre Channel uses serial interfaces working at symbol rates from 133MB/s up to 4.25Gb/s. Optical as well as electrical signals are supported. Fibre Channel supports data transmission rates of 100MBps. It also allows 126 devices to be connected on a single network. The channels are full duplex, Read More

Network Attached Storage (NAS) is a term used to describe a complete storage system which is designed to be attached to a traditional data network. This differentiates Network Attached Storage devices from SAN's (Storage Area Networks). A SAN is a separate network to which storage devices are attached. In most cases, Network Attached Storage is less expensive to purchase and less complex to operate than a Storage Area Network. However, a SAN can provide better performance and a larger range of configuration options. Network Attached Storage Protocols NAS servers commonly Read More

System Administration concepts such as storage virtualization simply separate the logical storage from physical storage on a storage medium. This provides greater flexibility for systems administrators in managing storage for end users on the system. Storage virtualization is an essential part of keeping everything allocated correctly on the physical medium which is accessible by the end users. Address Space Remapping The physical location in which all of the data is stored does not usually stay in a localized area for large amounts of traffic. The purpose of virtualization is to give the users Read More

LUN (Logical Unit Number) Masking is an authorization process that makes a LUN available to some hosts and unavailable to other hosts. LUN Masking is implemented primarily at the HBA (Host Bus Adapter) level. LUN Masking implemented at this level is vulnerable to any attack that compromises the HBA. Some storage controllers also support LUN Masking. LUN Masking is important because Windows based servers attempt to write volume labels to all available LUN’s. This can render the LUN’s unusable by other operating systems and can result in data loss. LUN Read More