SAN Characteristics


It is a network that has the following characteristics: 


1.Releases the bandwidth consumption. 
2.It is scalable, allowing increased capacity without interruption. 
3.Provides valuable information to remote disaster recovery. 
4.Provides centralized control. 
5.Transfer storage management tasks from application servers and speeds
 across the network allowing users to benefit from rapid access to data.

SAN Benefits

SAN is based on a fiber optic channel that combines high performance of the interface I/O and the distance of the network connectivity. Allows concurrent access to SAN disks or libraries two or more servers for high speed fiber optics.  Using this technology, hubs and switches enable high-speed server of storage, storage to storage and server to server.  SAN also has the potential to enable long cable, single mode fiber reaching distances up to 10 kilometers.  SAN/VIA (Virtual Interface Architecture) is ideal for clustering and mirroring applications.  The ability to connect existing SCSI devices to computers using SAN adapters SCSI to fiber, it also preserves the investment made in an existing storage. This will help the growth of the SAN infrastructure.  Performance: SAN allows concurrent access to the arrangements of discs or tapes for two or more servers via high speed fiber channel.  Availability: SAN owns a disaster tolerance and data can be redirected using about FC SAN 10 kilometers.  Scalability: Scalability is inherent to the SAN architecture, depending on the network and SAN management tools used.  Interoperability: As a LAN/WAN that can use a variety of technologies such as serial SCSI, ESCON, FICON, SSA, ATM, SONET, etc. This allows for easy mobility and support information. Migration and replication of file data between heterogeneous environments.  SAN responds better to the growing needs of increasing flows of information. It has a better response time in milliseconds that other infrastructure.

SAN Storage Architecture


Infrastructure scalable and flexible Storage


Today the companies hold more data and there is a tendency to growth of the information. Is this your case?
 If your company information is growing rapidly, customers are increasing, transactions are becoming heavier and you need speed.


 We recommend SAN. But what is SAN? 


SAN is a network that focuses on creating connectivity between storage nodes and servers.
It is a network that combines the best bus in mainframe and large profits in relation to high speed and completeness of the information distance. 
SAN is a dedicated high performance network that moves information between heterogeneous servers and storage servers and storage.
 Being a separate network to avoid any conflict between clients and servers.

SAN STORAGE


The storage infrastructure is where confidenntial and critical data ultimately resides.
therefore,the storage infrastructure has to be fast,capable of storaing large volumes(to prevent it being scattered over various storage devices),
easily accessible,manageble,and secure.




The various storage devices are:


1.JBODS
2.Disk storage systems
3.Disk arrays
4.Tape libraries
5.Optical storage libraries


SAN interfaces


storage is connected to SAN servers through SAN interfaces


the most common SAN interface is SCSI,High-Performance Parallel Interface(HIPPI),BUS,Fibre channel Arbitrated loop(FC-aL),Enterprise systen connection(ESCON),and Fibre Connetcion(FICON).



A channel is a point to point connection between two communicating entities.




ROUTERS


fIbre channel routers are commonly known as storage routers,
storage routers are responsible for transferring stoarge data between networks by using different transmission media and addressing schemes.


storage routers use Fibre Channel Protocol to route the data instead of TCP/IP.


Switches


Fibre channel switches are used to interconnect a large number of devices.
A switch allows on-demand connections because it transmitts the signal only to that port to which the destination device is connected.


Switches help considerably inreducong network traffic.


And also help in the effective utilization of bandwidth and increase the 
aggregate throughput.

What makes a SAN different?

In SAN We use network to create shared pool of storage devices.

What does SAN do?

• A SAN moves data among various storage devices.

• Allows sharing data between different servers .

• A SAN provides A fast connection medium for backing up,restoring,archiving,and retrieving the data.

How does a SAN look like?

Above diagram is the simple connection of SAN.

we can achieve this by connecting all the devices together with cables.

why we use san?


we use SAN  to store and protect data.
A SAN uses the SCSI(Small Computer storage Interconnect) and FC(Fibre Channel) protocols to move data over a network and store it directly to disk drives in block format.
In these days ,the high-speed network usually consists of fiber-optic cables and switches that use light waves to transmit data with a connection protocols known as Fiber-channel.


Well, What does a Protocol mean?


Protocol:A protocol is a set of rules used by the computer devices to define a common communication language.
IP(Internet protocol) based carporate networks,and even the Internet,are being used as the network part of a SAN.
Ip(Internet Protocol)Networks that are that are already in place can be used by other network connection protocols
such as iSCSI(inter-net Small computer storage Interconnect)to move and store the data.

 

Storage introduction

 Storage

If we aren't talking technically means,
Generally,
Storage means anywhere that you use to store items. It could be a small rented building, a box in your garage, or attic, or a piece of furniture.
Well, in the computer world it is,
A medium and methods used to store storage information which will be available for later use..
Now we will get into technical terms
what do you know about SAN??
San is a collection of computers and storage devices and connected over a high speed network ,
And dedicated to the task of storing and protecting the data..

Oops by this i hope you got some idea on storage technically..
Will post you soon many things about storage....!!