Title: Getting to Know What a Storage Area Network (SAN) is
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Currently the use of storage technology is widely used in several large companies and also medium to lower companies. This is because they really need large data storage to store the various company data they have. There are several storage technologies that are widely used, such as DAS, NAS and SAN. This time, we will discuss the meaning of storage area network (SAN).
Definition of SANs
Storage Area Network (SAN) is a future configuration solution for large amounts of data storage media (TeraBytes) in various online-based services on the internet and IntraNet.
SAN is a dedicated very high-speed network, consisting of servers and storage. Separate and different from an enterprise LAN/WAN, the primary purpose of a SAN is to handle large amounts of data traffic between servers and storage devices, without reducing the bandwidth available on the LAN/WAN. Usually connected via Fiber Channel, a very high-speed data communication technology, making SAN a platform-independent dedicated network that operates behind a server.
SAN also consists of a communication infrastructure that will provide physical connections and also management layers such as those that manage connections, as storage elements, and also computer systems so that it will produce a data transfer process that feels very safe and also reliable.
The function of SAN as explained above is to manage several servers at once with a very fast data transfer process, so users don’t have to worry about their data being damaged or lost when using this SAN.
When is a Storage Area Network (SAN) Needed?
Because the traditional way of connecting servers with their storage media cannot meet today’s need for fast access to very large amounts of data, this has changed the paradigm of the storage model dramatically. Legacy protocols are no longer suitable for handling large amounts of data. For example, SCSI technology uses parallel cables which ultimately greatly limit the speed, data travel distance and the amount of storage media that can be attached. To make matters worse, it would be impractical to use SCSI to store TeraByte amounts of data. Besides that, the traditional concept of the storage-server relationship refers to the notion that the owner of the storage media is the server. This causes limitations in data access. As the computing environment moves from a server-centric to a data-centric model, access to data resources becomes critical. SAN is an enabling technology that allows storage resources to be shared, while providing continuous, fast and easy data access services.
Why are SANs Important?
Computer memory and local storage resources may not provide sufficient storage, storage protection, multi-user access, or speed and performance for enterprise applications. Thus, most organizations use some form of SAN in addition to network attached storage (NAS) for increased efficiency and better data management.
Traditionally, only a limited number of storage devices could connect to a server, limiting network storage capacity. But SAN introduces networking flexibility allowing a single server, or many heterogeneous servers in multiple data centers, to share the same storage utility. SANs remove the traditional dedicated connection between network file servers and storage and the concept that servers effectively own and manage storage devices removes bandwidth bottlenecks. SAN eliminates single point of failure to improve storage reliability and availability.
SANs are also optimal for disaster recovery (DR) because a network may include multiple storage devices, including disks, magnetic tape, and optical storage. The storage utility may also be located far from the server it uses.
Advantages of Using SAN
Because SAN is a complex storage technology, there are several advantages that SAN will provide to its users.
- Availability : One copy of the data so it can be accessed by all hosts through different paths and all data is managed more efficiently.
- reliability : data transport infrastructure that can guarantee a very minimal error rate, and the ability to overcome failures.
- Scalability : Servers and storage media can be added independently of one another, with no restrictions having to use a proprietary system.
- performance : Fiber Channel (Standard enabling technology for SAN interconnectivity) has 100MBps bandwidth with low overhead, and SAN separates backup traffic from standard LAN/WAN traffic.
- manageability : The development of software and standards for both FC-AL (Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop) and Fiber Channel Fabric allows centralized management and proactive error detection and correction.
- Return On Information Management : Due to increased levels of redundancy and good management capabilities, as well as the ability to add servers and storage media independently.
SAN ultimately enables a lower cost of ownership while increasing Return On Information Management (ROIM) over traditional storage methods. What are the market drivers for SAN? The limitations of speed, range, and connectivity of SCSI technology have prompted the search for alternative solutions to traditional server-centric storage methods. The need for data sharing and backup-free LAN (which separates standard LAN/WAN traffic from backup traffic) has driven the start of the move towards SAN technology. This need, driven also by the desire to put all data online and can be accessed 24×7 with the needs of globalization and the increasing population of Internet users, has finally driven the development of the SAN market.
Key Drivers of the SAN Market
- Backup Capacity : The increasing need for data storage and the need for 100% accessibility of data by application devices has caused difficulties with SCSI backup via LAN.
- Capacity Growth : Both IDC and the Gartner Group estimate that annual data growth exceeds 88%. To give you an idea, a company with 750GB of data in 2000 would need 5TB in 2003.
- System Flexibility/Cost : SAN is a storage-centric network, which provides easy scalability, allowing servers and storage media to be added independently of one another. Other equipment, such as Disk Arrays and backup equipment can be added to the SAN without disturbing the server or network.
- Availability/Performance : The use of data transmission protocols for storage media, including SCSI, makes it possible to transfer large amounts of data with low overhead and latency.
