4/26/2017 StorageareanetworkWikipedia

Storageareanetwork
FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Astorageareanetwork(SAN)[1]isanetworkwhichprovidesaccesstoconsolidated,blockleveldatastorage.
SANsareprimarilyusedtoenhancestoragedevices,suchasdiskarrays,tapelibraries,andopticaljukeboxes,
accessibletoserverssothatthedevicesappeartotheoperatingsystemaslocallyattacheddevices.ASAN
typicallyhasitsownnetworkofstoragedevicesthataregenerallynotaccessiblethroughthelocalareanetwork
(LAN)byotherdevices.ThecostandcomplexityofSANsdroppedintheearly2000stolevelsallowingwider
adoptionacrossbothenterpriseandsmalltomediumsizedbusinessenvironments.

ASANdoesnotprovidefileabstraction,onlyblockleveloperations.However,filesystemsbuiltontopofSANs
doprovidefilelevelaccess,andareknownasshareddiskfilesystems.

Contents
1 Storage
1.1 SANcomparedtoNAS
2 Benefits
3 Networktypes
4 SANinfrastructure
5 Inmediaandentertainment
6 Storagevirtualization
7 Qualityofservice
8 Seealso
9 References
10 Externallinks

Storage
Historically,datacentersfirstcreated"islands"ofSCSIdiskarraysasdirectattachedstorage(DAS),each
dedicatedtoanapplication,oftenvisibleasanumberof"virtualharddrives"addressedasLogicalUnitNumbers
(LUNs).[2]Essentially,aSANconsolidatessuchstorageislandstogetherusingahighspeednetwork.

Operatingsystemsmaintaintheirownfilesystemsontheirowndedicated,nonsharedLUNs,asthoughtheywere
localtothemselves.IfmultiplesystemsweresimplytoattempttoshareaLUN,thesewouldinterferewitheach
otherandquicklycorruptthedata.AnyplannedsharingofdataondifferentcomputerswithinaLUNrequires
software,suchasSANfilesystemsorclusteredcomputing.

Despitesuchissues,SANshelptoincreasestoragecapacityutilization,sincemultipleserversconsolidatetheir
privatestoragespaceontothediskarrays.CommonusesofaSANincludeprovisionoftransactionallyaccessed
datathatrequirehighspeedblocklevelaccesstotheharddrivessuchasemailservers,databases,andhighusage
fileservers.

SANcomparedtoNAS

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Networkattachedstorage(NAS)wasdesignedindependentlyofSANsystems.InbothaNASandSAN,the
variouscomputersinanetwork,suchasindividualusers'desktopcomputersanddedicatedserversrunning
applications("applicationservers"),canshareamorecentralizedcollectionofstoragedevicesviaanetwork
connectionsuchasalocalareanetwork(LAN).

ConcentratingthestorageononeormoreNASserversorinaSANinsteadofplacingstoragedevicesoneach
applicationserverallowsapplicationserverconfigurationstobeoptimizedforrunningtheirapplicationsinsteadof
alsostoringalltherelateddataandmovesthestoragemanagementtasktotheNASorSANsystem.BothNASand
SANhavethepotentialtoreducetheamountofexcessstoragethatmustbepurchasedandprovisionedasspare
space.InaDASonlyarchitecture,eachcomputermustbeprovisionedwithenoughexcessstoragetoensurethat
thecomputerdoesnotrunoutofspaceatanuntimelymoment.InaDASarchitecturethesparestorageonone
computercannotbeutilizedbyanother.WithaNASorSANarchitecture,wherestorageissharedacrosstheneeds
ofmultiplecomputers,onenormallyprovisionsapoolofsharedsparestoragethatwillservethepeakneedsofthe
connectedcomputers,whichtypicallyislessthanthetotalamountofsparestoragethatwouldbeneededif
individualstoragedeviceswerededicatedtoeachcomputer.

InaNASthestoragedevicesaredirectlyconnectedtoafileserverthatmakesthestorageavailableatafilelevel
totheothercomputers.InaSAN,thestorageismadeavailableatalower"blocklevel",leavingfilesystem
concernstothe"client"side.SANprotocolsincludeFibreChannel,iSCSI,ATAoverEthernet(AoE)and
HyperSCSI.OnewaytolooselyconceptualizethedifferencebetweenaNASandaSANisthatNASappearsto
theclientOS(operatingsystem)asafileserver(theclientcanmapnetworkdrivestosharesonthatserver)
whereasadiskavailablethroughaSANstillappearstotheclientOSasadisk,visibleindiskandvolume
managementutilities(alongwithclient'slocaldisks),andavailabletobeformattedwithafilesystemand
mounted.

OnedrawbacktoboththeNASandSANarchitectureisthattheconnectionbetweenthevariousCPUsandthe
storageunitsarenolongerdedicatedhighspeedbussestailoredtotheneedsofstorageaccess.InsteadtheCPUs
usetheLANtocommunicate,potentiallycreatingbandwidthaswellasperformancebottlenecks.Additionaldata
securityconsiderationsarealsorequiredforNASandSANsetups,asinformationisbeingtransmittedviaa
networkthatpotentiallyincludesdesignflaws,securityexploitsandothervulnerabilitiesthatmaynotexistina
DASsetup.

WhileitispossibletousetheNASorSANapproachtoeliminateallstorageatuserorapplicationcomputers,
typicallythosecomputersstillhavesomelocalDirectAttachedStoragefortheoperatingsystem,variousprogram
filesandrelatedtemporaryfilesusedforavarietyofpurposes,includingcachingcontentlocally.

Tounderstandtheirdifferences,acomparisonofSAN,DASandNASarchitecturesmaybehelpful.[3]

Benefits
Sharingstorageusuallysimplifiesstorageadministrationandaddsflexibilitysincecablesandstoragedevicesdo
nothavetobephysicallymovedtoshiftstoragefromoneservertoanother.

OtherbenefitsincludetheabilitytoallowserverstobootfromtheSANitself.Thisallowsforaquickandeasy
replacementoffaultyserverssincetheSANcanbereconfiguredsothatareplacementservercanusetheLUNof
thefaultyserver.

SANsalsotendtoenablemoreeffectivedisasterrecoveryprocesses.ASANcouldspanadistantlocation
containingasecondarystoragearray.Thisenablesstoragereplicationeitherimplementedbydiskarraycontrollers,
byserversoftware,orbyspecializedSANdevices.SinceIPWANsareoftentheleastcostlymethodoflong

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distancetransport,theFibreChanneloverIP(FCIP)andiSCSIprotocolshavebeendevelopedtoallowSAN
extensionoverIPnetworks.ThetraditionalphysicalSCSIlayercouldsupportonlyafewmetersofdistancenot
nearlyenoughtoensurebusinesscontinuanceinadisaster.

TheeconomicconsolidationofdiskarrayshasacceleratedtheadvancementofseveralfeaturesincludingI/O
caching,snapshotting,andvolumecloning(BusinessContinuanceVolumesorBCVs).

Networktypes
MoststoragenetworksusetheSCSIprotocolforcommunicationbetweenserversanddiskdrivedevices.A
mappinglayertootherprotocolsisusedtoformanetwork:

ATAoverEthernet(AoE),mappingofATAoverEthernet
FibreChannelProtocol(FCP),themostprominentone,isamappingofSCSIoverFibreChannel
FibreChanneloverEthernet(FCoE)
ESCONoverFibreChannel(FICON),usedbymainframecomputers
HyperSCSI,mappingofSCSIoverEthernet
iFCP[4]orSANoIP[5]mappingofFCPoverIP
iSCSI,mappingofSCSIoverTCP/IP
iSCSIExtensionsforRDMA(iSER),mappingofiSCSIoverInfiniBand

StoragenetworksmayalsobebuiltusingSASandSATAtechnologies.SASevolvedfromSCSIdirectattached
storage.SATAevolvedfromIDEdirectattachedstorage.SASandSATAdevicescanbenetworkedusingSAS
Expanders.

ExamplesofstackedprotocolsusingSCSI:

Applications
SCSILayer
FCP FCP
iSCSI
FCP FCIP iFCP
FCP
TCP
FCoE IP
FC Ethernet

SANinfrastructure
SANsoftenuseaFibreChannelfabrictopology,aninfrastructurespeciallydesignedtohandlestorage
communications.ItprovidesfasterandmorereliableaccessthanhigherlevelprotocolsusedinNAS.Afabricis
similarinconcepttoanetworksegmentinalocalareanetwork.AtypicalFibreChannelSANfabricismadeupof
anumberofFibreChannelswitches.

ManySANequipmentvendorsalsooffersomeformofFibreChannelrouting,andthesecanallowdatatocross
betweendifferentfabricswithoutmergingthem.Theseofferingsuseproprietaryprotocolelements,andthetop
levelarchitecturesbeingpromotedareradicallydifferent.Forexample,theymightmapFibreChanneltrafficover
IPoroverSONET/SDH.

Inmediaandentertainment
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Videoeditingsystemsrequireveryhighdatatransferratesandverylow
latency.SANsinmediaandentertainmentareoftenreferredtoasserverless
duetothenatureoftheconfigurationwhichplacesthevideoworkflow
(ingest,editing,playout)desktopclientsdirectlyontheSANratherthan
attachingtoservers.Controlofdataflowismanagedbyadistributedfile
systemsuchasStorNextbyQuantum.[6]

Pernodebandwidthusagecontrol,sometimesreferredtoasqualityof
service(QoS),isespeciallyimportantinvideoeditingasitensuresfairand
prioritizedbandwidthusageacrossthenetwork.
QlogicSANswitchwithopticalFibre
Channelconnectorsinstalled.
Storagevirtualization
Storagevirtualizationistheprocessofabstractinglogicalstoragefromphysicalstorage.Thephysicalstorage
resourcesareaggregatedintostoragepools,fromwhichthelogicalstorageiscreated.Itpresentstotheusera
logicalspacefordatastorageandtransparentlyhandlestheprocessofmappingittothephysicallocation,a
conceptcalledlocationtransparency.Thisisimplementedinmoderndiskarrays,oftenusingvendorproprietary
technology.However,thegoalofstoragevirtualizationistogroupmultiplediskarraysfromdifferentvendors,
scatteredoveranetwork,intoasinglestoragedevice.Thesinglestoragedevicecanthenbemanageduniformly.

Qualityofservice
SANStorageQoSenablesthedesiredstorageperformancetobecalculatedandmaintainedfornetworkcustomers
accessingthedevice.SomefactorsthataffectSANQoSare:

BandwidthTherateofdatathroughputavailableonthesystem.
LatencyThetimedelayforaread/writeoperationtoexecute.
QueuedepthThenumberofoutstandingoperationswaitingtoexecutetotheunderlyingdisks(traditional
orsolidstatedrives).

QoScanbeimpactedinaSANstoragesystembyunexpectedincreaseindatatraffic(usagespike)fromone
networkuserthatcancauseperformancetodecreaseforotherusersonthesamenetwork.Thiscanbeknownas
thenoisyneighboreffect.WhenQoSservicesareenabledinaSANstoragesystem,thenoisyneighboreffect
canbepreventedandnetworkstorageperformancecanbeaccuratelypredicted.

UsingSANstorageQoSisincontrasttousingdiskoverprovisioninginaSANenvironment.Overprovisioning
canbeusedtoprovideadditionalcapacitytocompensateforpeaknetworktrafficloads.However,wherenetwork
loadsarenotpredictable,overprovisioningcaneventuallycauseallbandwidthtobefullyconsumedandlatency
toincreasesignificantlyresultinginSANperformancedegradation.

Seealso
ATAoverEthernet(AoE)
Directattachedstorage(DAS)
Diskarray
FibreChannel
FibreChanneloverEthernet
FileAreaNetwork
HostBusAdapter(HBA)
iSCSI
iSCSIExtensionsforRDMA
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Listofnetworkedstoragehardwareplatforms
Listofstorageareanetworkmanagementsystems
Massivearrayofidledisks(MAID)
Networkattachedstorage(NAS)
Redundantarrayofindependentdisks(RAID)
SCSIRDMAProtocol(SRP)
StorageManagementInitiativeSpecification(SMIS)
Storagehypervisor
StorageResourceManagement(SRM)
Storagevirtualization
Systemareanetwork

References
1."StorageAreaNetworkbyNoorUlMushtaq".
2."NovelDoc:OES1DirectAttachedStorageSolutions".
3."StorageArchitectures:DAS,SAN,NAS,iSCSISAN".Marketingwebsite.EvaluatorGroup.Archivedfromthe
originalonSeptember17,2016.RetrievedNovember10,2016.
4."TechEncyclopedia:IPStorage".Retrieved20071209.
5."TechEncyclopedia:SANoIP".Retrieved20071209.
6."StorNextStorageManagerHighspeedfilesharing,DataManagementandDigitalArchivingSoftware".Quantum.com.
Retrieved20130708.

Externallinks
IntroductiontoStorageAreaNetworksExhaustiveIntroductionintoSAN,(https://www.redbooks.ibm.com/r
edbooks/pdfs/sg245470.pdf)IBMRedbook
SANvs.DAS:ACostAnalysisofStorageintheEnterprise(http://capitalhead.com/articles/sanvsdasacos
tanalysisofstorageintheenterprise.aspx)
SASandSATA,solidstatestoragelowerdatacenterpowerconsumption(http://searchstorage.techtarget.co.
uk/generic/0,295582,sid181_gci1516893,00.html)
SANNASVideos(https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLivYD7W2z2HMGGRIwRoRcqLL4HMpR1dI
e)
StorageAreaNetworkInfo(http://www.storageareanetworkinfo.blogspot.com.ar/)

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