Storage Solutions

The majority of industry experts estimates that storage requirements for computer networks double every 12 to 18 months. With that in mind, Information Technology (IT) departments are looking for cost-effective storage solutions that can offer performance, scalability, and above all, reliability.

Two topologies for network storage solutions have become dominant in recent years: Storage Area Networks (SAN) and Network Attached Storage (NAS).

The Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) defines a SAN as a "network whose primary function is the transfer of data between computer systems and storage elements, and amongst storage elements."

A SAN is a communications infrastructure, which provides physical connections, and a management layer to organize the connections, storage elements and computer systems so that data transfer is secure and robust. Usually, the term SAN is identified with block I/O services rather than file access services.

The SNIA defines NAS as "storage elements that connect to a network and provide file access services to computer systems." A NAS storage element can be described as consisting of an engine that implements where data is stored. NAS elements can be attached to any type of network, including SANs (where they become members of the SAN-attached storage class of storage). A NAS element provides file services to host computers, using file access protocols such as Network File System (NFS) or Common Internet File System (CIFS).