san

[Shivkumar]

Dear Sirs;

Is earlier disk arrays has been replaced by SAN now-a-days ?

Thanks,
Shiv

[Thayanidhi · Accepted solution]

Hi,
Some thing similar, but not exactly.
You have advantage in SAN "storage consolidation"
You can have mix of OS and storage to each. Storage can be added to a server dynamically. also can be reallocate to some other server. Same storage can be allocated to multiple servers (for clusters).
Backup devices can be connected to SAN makes LAN free backups.. and many more.

Read below URL.
http://welcome.hp.com/country/us/en/prodserv/storage.html

Regds
TT

[Steven E. Protter]

Earlier disk arrays are being replaced often by SAN. The reason is that SAN disks are easier to share. You get better performance without clogging your network using a SAN versus a NAS device.

But it really depends on how much space you need and how much I/O you need to do. I would never do oracle on a NAS device.

SEP

[Mahesh Kumar Malik]

Hi Shiv

Earlier disk arrays were direct attached to a server while SAN utilises a dedicated network based storage which can be easily shared in hetrogenous environment of hardware and operating systems. Following link may be of help

http://h18006.www1.hp.com/storage/arraysystems.html

Regards
Mahesh

[Raj D.]

Hi Shiv ,

Disk arrays are directly connected to the server , with SCSI interface , and SAN storage is much more intelligent with high speed , with the Fibre Channel standards define high-performance but cost-effective interfaces to I/O devices, and connected via Fabric switch , with SAN topology and designs,

you can check this out..

http://compnetworking.about.com/cs/sanforbeginners/

Cheers ,
Raj.

[Marino Meloni_1]

nowadays, the disk arrays are quite similar as in the past, what is changed is that the SCSI commands and Data, are encapsulated in a new transport layer and delivered far away. But still SCSI command they are. The other difference is that the controllers are onboard of the disk arrays, and they do all the redundancy management themself. Host just manage the mount the LUN and use the Data.

[Michael MacGregor]

The SAN is the actual network that disk arrays reside on. This makes it possible to share the disk on many different (old and new) arrays to many hosts of different types (UNIX, Windows, etc...)

The Storage Area Network provides the transport of SCSI commands from the initiator (host) to the target (disk array).

MacG

[Joseph Loo]

hi shiv,

this is quite a good reference on what u should know about disk arrays and SAN.

http://www.hp.com/sbso/serverstorage/san.pdf

regards.

[Arunvijai_4]

There are three types of storage consolidations available today.

a) SAN - Storage Area Network
b) NAS - Network attached Storage
c) CAS - Content Addressed Storage

They differ in protocols, type of data, requirement and apps. SAN provides High availability (99.999%), performance, Scalability, better recovery.

-Arun

[Cem Tugrul]

Addition to Arunvijai;

a) SAN - Storage Area Network
b) NAS - Network attached Storage
c) CAS - Content Addressed Storage

d)DAS - Direct Attached Storage

Good Luck,

[Muthukumar_5]

SAN, DAS, NAS informations are available here as,

http://www.storagesearch.com/xtore-art1.html

hth.

[Steven Clementi]

Shiv:

The simple answer here is yes and no.

Yes, some (maybe even more than some) companies are moving away from Direct Attached Storage and similar disk arrays and heading into the SAN arena...

...where as other companies are still utilizing Direct Attached Storage and similar disk arrays to perform normal every day tasks.

In general, the natural evolution of your storage environment as it grows could potentially mean that you move into the SAN arena from a DAS or NAS infrastructure. It all depends on the needs of the company, what your storage requirements are, what your growth is, etc... many different factors.

Earlier disk Arrays are not being replaced with SAN('s). (this statement is dependant upon each persons view of what you could possibly mean by asking the question). They are being replaced with newer Disk Arrays and in some cases, upgraded to SAN type storage systems.


Steven