Emerging Enterprise Storage Systems: Storage or System Area Networks (SANs)

In today’s distributed and highly sophisticated enterprise computing infrastructures, processing and storage capabilities are usually located across an expansive network with multiple platforms and protocols. These often lock out many users from accessing certain vital data, let alone knowing that the required data even exists! A storage or system area network (SAN) is a supra-high-speed microor picoarea (geographically speaking) network that is dedicated to moving data between storage devices and users. With their increased speed and Internet-based components, SANs offer a better storage solution to meet data storage needs across the enterprise. SAN systems deliver significant enhancements to system connectivity. This new connectivity architecture is based on mostly Fibre Channel (FC) fabrics. The fabric support is built on high-speed opticaland digital-switching technologies. The protocols used are either open or based on industry standards. The most advanced SANs use Fibre channel standards, and can transfer data at rates up to 100 Mbps over up to 10 kilometers (km). Fibre channel fabric technology will evolve rapidly over the next five years. The release of FC-based solutions using this technology will mirror the practices used today for qualifying new servers, clustering technologies, operating systems, drivers, and host bus adapters (HBAs). Application of this new connectivity architecture to disk storage solutions requires an understanding of new technology, vocabulary and acronyms, and system design concepts.