Storage Area Networks / Project Management Report
Brief introduction into SANS (Storage Area Networks)
Unquestionable the most significant resource in computing is data. Data is the fundamental resource for all computer processes. Data can be stored on many different media formats and usually when a business is involved data will be executed by applications at the server end. The data/information of an organisation is absolutely vital since it is unique to any certain business.
Access to all business data is imperative in order that accurate results can be achieved. High-quality of management and security/protection of data are also required in data maintenance.
What are SANS?
A storage area network (SAN) is a high-speed exclusive network that interconnects different types of data storage devices with associated data servers on behalf of a larger network of users. The SAN method is very similar in theory to a typical LAN setup but incorporates a direct connection between storage elements and severs or clients, also take note that the typical method of connection between this devices in the present day is through a Fibre Optic Switch.
A typical server "rack", commonly seen in colocati...
English: Painting Thangka in Lhasa, Tibet. In Tibe...
Sans SouciThis high speed method was not always the obvious choice unfortunately; traditional each server required its own storage, even when upgrading the system by adding a server a storage bay would be required for that particular server.
(Please refer to figure 1 in appendix for present day typical setup diagram)
Figure 1 should hopefully illustrate how in the present day we have all servers connected to a pool of storage, this reduces unnecessary duplication of data, allows multiple access to data at the same time, data is also continually accessible which means the single point of failure is eliminated as if one server goes down the link to other servers is still available and more importantly the...