A Storage Area Network (SAN) Is A High-Speed Special-Purpose Network That Interconnects

Storage Area Network (SAN)
Storage Area Network (SAN) 


What is a Storage Area Network?

A storage area network (SAN) is a high-speed special-purpose network that interconnects and presents shared pools of block-level storage to servers. Storage systems coupled with server host systems and interconnected via a SAN fabric provide access to consolidated data storage.

SAN fundamentals

A basic Storage Area Network (SAN) consists of storage devices, a switching fabric or switches, and server hosts or clients. Fibre Channel is a popular networking technology used by SANs, though IP/iSCSI SANs are also common. Switches provide connectivity between servers and storage, allowing servers direct access to storage. Benefits include centralized data management and sharing of storage across servers.


Storage and switching components
Common SAN storage components include disk arrays, tape libraries and virtual tape libraries. Disk arrays centralize hard drives into a pool of block-level storage accessible by servers. Tape systems provide backup and recovery functionality. Switching fabrics provide high-speed, low-latency connectivity. Fibre Channel switches allow servers simultaneous access to shared storage through direct point-to-point or switched connections. IP/iSCSI switches network storage over Ethernet and TCP/IP.

Topologies and zoning
SANs use fabric switching to enable different connectivity topologies between servers and storage. A fabric allows multiple paths between devices, increasing throughput and reliability. Zoning limits connectivity through logical isolation, restricting access to authorized devices for security and performance. Popular topologies include:

- Point-to-point: Dedicated connections between two devices like a server and array. Simple but lacks scalability.

- Arbitrated loop: Connects devices in a logical loop or ring topology. Limited to 126 devices and a single communication path.

- Switched fabric: Scalable mesh topology allowing servers multi-path access to any storage device. Provides redundancy and dynamic configuration. Most common in enterprise SANs.

Provisioning and management
Robust provisioning and management tools are crucial for maintaining high-performance SAN availability. Key management functions include:

- Zoning configuration and change management. Creation of logical isolation domains.

- Performance and capacity monitoring. Analyze utilization rates, I/O loads and latency metrics.

- Troubleshooting tools. Rapidly identify faulty components or congestion points.

- Storage virtualization. Pool heterogeneous storage for VMware, Hyper-V and AWS.

- Software-defined storage. Programmatically provision storage through APIs without manual configuration.

- Reporting and analytics. Gather usage data for capacity planning and chargebacks across multitenant SAN environments.

- Backup and replication. Integrate data protection tools across consolidated block storage infrastructure.

- Multi-protocol support. Manage both Fibre Channel and IP/iSCSI environments from a single management portal.

Performance and scalability benefits
When properly designed and tuned, Storage Area Network (SAN)  deliver high throughput and low latency access to consolidated storage. SAN benefits compared to traditional direct-attached storage include:

- Increased performance and IOPS by offloading storage operations and data movement to dedicated fabrics.

- Higher scalability through separation of compute and storage resources. Easily expand capacity without service interruption.

- Centralized management of block storage infrastructure through virtualization and pooling of Disks. Eases provisioning.

- Improved availability using multipathing, application transparency, and redundant components like switches and host bus adapters.

- Hardware independence as servers connect to shared storage without regard for specific vendor technologies. Exchange equipment more easily.

- Sharing and consolidation of storage among server hosts located anywhere on the SAN fabric. Optimize utilization rates.

- Application mobility and non-disruptive data migration as storage can be moved without impacting servers.

- Built-in data services and replication capabilities for high-availability, load balancing and disaster recovery configurations.

In summary, Storage Area Network (SAN)  abstract block-level storage from servers to deliver highly available, consolidated and virtualized storage infrastructure across an organization's IT environment. Their performance, scalability and centralized manageability make SANs well-suited for mission-critical applications and databases in enterprise data centers.

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