A storage area network
A storage area network
A storage area network (SAN) is a dedicated network storage server that provides access to consolidated, block level data storage. SANs are primarily used to make storage devices, such as disk arrays, tape libraries, and optical jukeboxes, accessible to servers so that the devices appear like locally attached devices to the operating system. A SAN typically has its own network storage device that are generally not accessible through the local area network by other devices. The cost and complexity of SANs dropped in the early 2000s to levels allowing wider adoption across both enterprise and small to medium sized business environments.
A SAN does not provide file abstraction, only block-level operations. However, file systems built on top of SANs do provide file-level access, and are known as SAN file systems or shared disk file systems. The benefits of SAN network architecture are huge and will cause many sites to adopt this methodology of attaching storage and transferring data.
Network storage server SAN technology is part of the larger challenge of establishing a full storage networking management strategy. Careful consideration should be given to choosing a vendor or part net that is capable of implementing the full range of benefits if storage management. SAN will enable almost any application that moves data around the network to perform better.