What is SAN or Storage Area Network?

A SAN or Storage Area Network
is a network that is separate from WANs and LANs. It is used to link all the storage resources linked to different servers. It consist a collection of SAN Software and SAN Hardware; the hardware has high interconnection rates among the different storage devices and the software configures the SAN and manages monitors.

Storage Area Network or SAN is a high speed sub-network of shared storage devices. A storage device is a machine that has nothing but disks for saving data. A Storage Area Network's architecture acts in a way that makes every storage devices accessible to every server on a WAN or LAN. As other storage devices are placed to a Storage Area Network, they too will be available from any server in the bigger network. In this case, the server only acts as a way between the user and the stored file or data.


A Storage Area Network is a storage devices network that is linked to each other and to a server, in some arrangements a Storage Area Network is also linked to the network. It is foretell to become the storage data technology of selection in the coming years.

Storage Area Networks originated to conquer the problems with NAS or network attached storage devices, which like ordinary servers are tough to handle and hard to expand the capability on. Network Attached Storage devices also put in to the traffic on the network and endure from the delays made by the OS’s network stacks.

A Storage Area Network is made of a lot of fabric switches linked in a network. The most known form of Storage Area Network utilizes the “Fiber Channel fabric protocol”. On the other hand, ISCSI can be utilized with IP switches. The Storage Area Network enables the storage on the hard drive in the Disk collection controllers to be connected among the servers.

One of the major benefits of Storage Area Network is that it makes things easier for the network infrastructure and simplifies to manage. This it does by means of virtualization, consolidation, integration, and automation. Consolidation targets at centralizing the storage to enhance scalability, lessening infrastructure complexity, and raising efficiency. Virtualization aids to enhance availability and lessens costs as it gives a wide view of storage devices. Automation of habit tasks enables the administrators to concentrate on vital tasks. Automation also enhances responsiveness. Integration aids organizations furnish users with the wanted info in a more systematic manner.[www.articlesbase.com]

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