A storagearea network san is a dedicated highspeed network or subnetwork that interconnects and presents shared pools of storage devices to multiple servers. In this guide, learn about storage area network basics, including considerations in buying and implementing a san, san switch configuration, and deploying an fc san for virtual server environments. Emc symmetrix storage systems 115 enable hp storageworks msa1510i to communicate with esxi 115 hp storageworks eva storage systems 116. Virtual san is implemented directly in the esxi hypervisor. Ontap select supports all external storage arrays described in the vmware storagesan compatibility guide, including iscsi, fiber channel, and fiber channel. Sans are typically composed of hosts, switches, storage elements, and storage devices that are interconnected using a variety of technologies, topologies, and protocols. Short for storage area network, san is a highspeed network of storage devices that also connects those storage devices with servers. Storage area networking san standards use different methods of transmitting these scsi commands between the computing resources and the storage resources. You can now define storage requirements, such as performance and availability, in the form of storage capabilities during dynamic volume provisioning. Storage basics an introduction to the fundamentals.
A read is counted each time someone views a publication summary such as the title, abstract, and list of authors, clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the fulltext. Vmware esx server can be used in conjunction with a san storage area network, a specialized highspeed network that connects computer systems to high. Storage data store is separated from the processors and separated processing. San iscsi, virtual tape libraries, maid, disktodisktotape periodical backups. A san, or storage area network, is a dedicated network that is separate from lans. T his paper provides an overview of the iscsi protocol and concepts, as they pertain to the dell equallogic ps series of virtual storage arrays. Zoning in brocade san switch san switch tutorial part 3 duration. This course covers san management activities centered on connectrix bseries and mdsseries switches. San devices appear to servers as attached drives, eliminating traditional network bottlenecks. Vmware esx server can be used in conjunction with a san storage area network, a. Storage management sanattached storage allows the entire investment in storage to be managed in a uniform way. The nvme protocol is optimized for ssdbased storage, and it is really fast. A storage area network san or storage network is a computer network which provides access to consolidated, blocklevel data storage.
The hpe msa storage system provides a versatile entry level san solution for vsphere host clusters. A storage area network san is a specialized, highspeed network that provides blocklevel network access to storage. Updated information this vsphere storage is updated with each release of the product or when necessary. A nas is a single storage device that operates on data files, while a san is a local network of several devices. The differences between nas and san can be seen when comparing their cabling and how theyre connected to the system, as well as how other devices communicate with them.
Products sold prior to the november 1, 2015 separation of hewlettpackard company into hewlett packard enterprise company and hp inc. A storage area network san is a secure highspeed data transfer network that provides access to consolidated blocklevel storage. San vs nas difference between a storage area network and network attached storage submitted by sarath pillai on sat, 04192014 20. Storage testing is defined as a software testing type, which verifies whether the application under test, stores the relevant data in the appropriate directories and whether it has enough space to prevent unexpected termination due to insufficient disk space. Benefits of san decoupling servers and storage the servers can be upgraded while leaving storage in place. Within this document, the term storage area network san is used to describe a fibre channel network over which scsifcp scsi over fibre channel protocols run. Storage area network san architecture refers to the logical layout of a san infrastructure. If youre comfortable with the basics of storage networks, this guide looks at some of the details involved in components and architecture, connectivity and protocols and management issues. It provides blocklevel storage that can be accessed by the applications running on any networked servers. Conceptually, a san can be thought of as a separate network of storage devices physically removed from, but still connected to, the network. Hpe msa storage configuration and best practices for. Vsphere infrastructure vi admins will have the ability to specify custom virtual san storage capabilities during dynamic volume provisioning.
This article is written to explain the most common concepts in the it enterprise storage space, as in our days we hear the terms. The san may use fiber channel or ethernet iscsi to provide connectivity between hosts and storage. Using esx server together with a san provides extra storage for. It virtualizes the local physical storage resources of esxi hosts and turns them into pools of storage that can be divided and assigned to virtual machines and applications according to their quality of service requirements. Storage area network is explained by the storage industry network association snia and they defined it as a network whose main purpose is the exchange of information between computer systems and elements. Learn how to create a lun, how to share a lun, and find out about lun provisioning and lun masking. Equallogic iscsi san concepts for the experienced fibre. San switches are administered through their cli and gui management tools for configuration in single and multiswitch fabrics. Discover general storage concepts that apply to the ontap select environment before exploring the specific storage components.
This white paper offers a brief introduction to some basic san concepts. It differs from traditional, directly attached storage in that, in nas, the operating system and other software on the nas product are dedicated solely to data storage. Storage can be added at will and dynamically allocated. Fibre channel san concepts 38 ports in fibre channel san 39 fibre channel storage array types 39 using zoning with fibre channel sans 40 how virtual machines access data on a fibre channel san 40 4 configuring fibre channel storage 42. You can learn as how to conduct emc san configuration and operate for your organization storage systems. An san makes a network of storage devices accessible to multiple servers. Fundamental to the raid concept is striping, a method of dividing and.
Sans are primarily used to enhance accessibility of storage devices, such as disk arrays and tape libraries, to servers so that the devices appear to the operating system as locallyattached devices. Equallogic iscsi san concepts for the experienced fibre channel professional. Pdf storage area networks fundamentals researchgate. Nvme is a flavor of san, but the basic unit of storage is called a namespace instead of a lun. Vmware virtual san uses a softwaredefined approach that creates shared storage for virtual machines. This document describes how congestion spreading a. The san concept has en couraged exciting new hardware and software technology to focus on this storage management and capacity problem. Explore logical unit number lun storage and its role in san management. San vs nas difference between a storage area network and. Ip storage technologies, sans over ip, fibre channel over ip, internet fibrechannel protocol, internet scsi, storage over ip. Page 2 contents 3 in a nutshell 6 introducing the concepts 6 connectivity 8 media 9 io protocols 10 the storage networking acronyms 11 a tabular comparison. A communication infrastructure and this communication infrastructure. In either case, the storage is physically decoupled from the hosts.
Pdf this chapter identifies characteristics, architectural concepts, technologies. This edition applies to the products in the ibm storage area networks san portfolio. In very basic terms, a san can be anything from two servers on a network accessing a central pool of storage devices to several thousand servers accessing many millions of megabytes of storage. It describes san options supported with vmware infrastructure 3 and also describes. Clustered, faulttolerant, virtualization environments such as vmware vsphere rely heavily upon centrallymanaged, scalable, san resources. The san can be viewed as an extension to the storage bus concept, which enables storage devices and servers to be interconnected using similar elements. A san is a network designed to attach storage hardware and software to servers. Seminar pdf report on storage area network san with ppt. Storage area network san a storage area network san is a specialized, dedicated high speed network joining servers and storage, including disks, disk arrays, tapes, etc. The term san is now commonly extended to include iscsi based solutions which run over a lanwan infrastructure, not fibre. Introduction to storage area network san jie feng winter 2001. Storage area network san a storage area network san is a storage that can cater to multiple networks allowing you to consolidate vast amounts of data from different networks across dif ferent locations and yet maintain them in one consolidated, indexed and secured fashion. The connectrix family of switches are managed to provide connectivity between various hosts and emc storage arrays. San switch basic concepts san environment provides blockoriented io between the computer systems and the target disk systems.
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