Storage area network
A Storage area network (SAN) is a computing solution for accessing and storing data. To the user, Storage Area Networks appear to be local to the operating system, but they are actually remote.
To understand the difference between a SAN and Network Attached Storage (NAS), the difference between the file system and storage must be made clear.
The file system is the interface that allows the user to access their data that is stored in physical storage (such as hard disks). From the point of view of the user, their data is saved as files. The file system takes care of storing the file data, which might actually be broken up into pieces and stored in different locations in storage.
On a personal computer, the file system and storage are on the same machine (Direct Attached Storage). In Network Attached Storage, the file system and storage are on a remote server. In a Storage Area Network, the file system is on the local machine, and the storage is on a remote machine.
Storage Area Network Media
The Fibre Channel SAN connects servers to storage via Fibre Channel switches.
Dual port 8 Gb FC host bus adapter card
Fibre Channel is a layered technology that starts at the physical layer and progresses through the protocols to the upper-level protocols like SCSI and SBCCS.
