Difference between SAN and NAS

[Fauzan_1]

What is the difference between SAN and NAS?

[Uwe Zessin · Accepted solution]

SAN = Storage Area Network

The client (usually a server) sees a block-oriented disk that is access (usually) via serial SCSI protocol over an Fibre Channel or iSCSI infrastructure. The file system being used on the disk is defined by the client.

NAS = Network Attached Storage

which I simply describe as "file sharing" over a LAN infrastructure using CIFS or NFS protocols. The client works with folders and files, not a list of blocks. The client does not know/care what file system is behind the "NAS server".

There are more protocols which can be sorted into one of the categories, but I don't think there is one definite definition on this world.

I calls the the "ask 3 people and get 4 answers (opinions)" effect.

[Fauzan_1]

Thank you very much for sharing!