A Storage Area Network or SAN is a network that is specifically designed and dedicated to the task of transporting data for storage and retrieval. While SAN storage may be common, there are still some new businesses that are looking for some Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about SAN before they begin their SAN journey. So, in this blog, we will answer some of the FAQs of SAN storage.
SAN storage is defined as block I/O services provider. It is basically used in order to meet the demands of the storage system. Businesses apply SAN to increase the system’s efficiency and capacity expansion.
The purpose of SAN storage is to transmit data between storage systems and client servers. The fabric of SAN storage contains a bunch of physical connections starting from the storage systems to all the way to the client. These connections go to the storage management devices, the servers and even the network devices in order to make sure that everything is connected.
SAN storage systems consist of storage components, devices, software applications, computer equipment and network devices.
SAN storage is useful in a way that it can easily attach to various storage devices. These storage devices include: CD towers, disk-array subsystems, magnetic tape drivers and libraries. Furthermore, SAN storage also provides data I/O services via network switches through proper network connections in place.
SAN storage has two main protocols. Fibre Channel (FC) SAN and iSCSI (Internet Small Computer Systems Interface) SAN.
iSCSI SAN is a SAN protocol that is high performance and less costly than FC SAN, which is why it is mostly used by smaller businesses and small organizations.
FC SAN is a very high-performance SAN protocol that delivers exceptionally high speeds and is mainly used by large enterprises that what the best possible performance. It is relatively more costly than iSCSI SAN but it also offers more performance as well.
- SAN storage increases storage space usability and cost efficiency
- SAN storage offers high-performance storage sharing
- SAN storage increases the network bandwidth and also the reliability of data I/O
- Since SAN storage is completely separated from the regular network system, it has the ability to expand the storage capacity effortlessly.
- SAN storage greatly reduces the storage management cost since it simplifies the system fabric and device management.
SAN storage systems are extremely use full network storage solutions that offers high-performance and reliable storage, amongst many other things. With both SAN storage protocols (FC SAN and iSCSI SAN), SAN solutions are available for every business price point and use case that offer many useful advantages.