What is SAN Storage?

What is SAN Storage

A storage area network (SAN) is an exclusive network of storage devices that offers a shared storage pool to multiple computers and servers. Data storage in centralized shared storage architecture, such as SANs, enables organizations to manage storage from a single location and implement uniform policies for security, data protection, and disaster recovery.

 

What is SAN Storage

SAN Storage

 

What is the function of SAN?

SANs are used to give multiple computers and servers access to a shared storage pool. Direct-attached storage is how storage appears to networked computers.

A SAN transfers the storage responsibility from individual servers to a single location where it can be managed, protected, and accessed. Storage traffic performance is optimized when servers and workloads are not forced to share LAN bandwidth with traffic from storage devices.

How is SAN storage implemented?

The cabling, host bus adapters, and SAN switches connected to storage arrays and servers are SAN’s constituent parts. In order to connect servers to logical disk units (LUNs), a collection of block storage from a pool of shared storage, and make them appear to the server as a logical disk, SANs use block-based storage and high-speed architecture.

Host, fabric, and storage are the three separate layers that make up a SAN.

Host layer

The host layer is made up of the SAN-connected servers that run business workloads that need access to storage, such as g. databases.

SAN hosts communicate with a server’s operating system using host bus adapters (HBAs), unique network adapters designed specifically for SAN access. This enables a workload to use the operating system to send storage commands and data to the SAN and its storage resources.

Fabric layer

The network fabric that connects SAN hosts and storage is made up of cabling and networking hardware, which together make up the fabric layer. SAN switches, gateways, routers, and protocol bridges are examples of SAN networking devices.

By providing numerous alternate pathways from hosts to storage across the fabric, the fabric layer offers more redundancy than a typical network. As a result, the SAN is able to communicate using a different path if there is a disruption on one path.

Storage layer

Multiple storage devices, most commonly hard disk drives (HDDs), but also sometimes solid state drives (SSDs), CDs, DVDs, and tape drives, are included in the storage layer. RAID groups can be created from storage devices within a SAN to increase storage capacity and boost reliability.

Multiple protocols are supported by SAN technologies, enabling communication between operating systems, layers, and applications. The most frequently used protocol is the Fibre Channel Protocol (FCP), which is based on the Fibre Channel (FC) technology. Small and medium-sized businesses frequently use Internet Small Computing System Interface (iSCSI), a less expensive FC substitute.

Benefits of using SAN Storage

For enterprise workloads, SAN solutions have a number of advantages, such as:.

Enhanced data security

Data protection algorithms are implemented centrally with a SAN. This guarantees that all the servers in the SAN are configured with the same security and compliance settings.

Managed Centrally

A SAN’s centralized features can be used to manage all of the storage resources on the SAN, simplifying storage management. Data deduplication, storage replication, and data encryption are examples of features.

Increased accessibility

Storage in a SAN is accessible via a number of paths and continues to be independent of applications. The network fabric can use a different path to maintain storage availability if a communication failure occurs.

Improved scalability

SANs can consist of thousands of SAN host servers and storage units, and they can be scaled out by adding new hosts and storage capacity to meet shifting business requirements.

Improvement in Performance

With a SAN, storage processing is transferred from servers to a separate network specifically for storage-related tasks. Traffic performance is unaffected by LAN traffic because the SAN is solely used for storage, so it is dedicated to that purpose. Due to the reduction of storage traffic and the resulting increase in bandwidth, SAN solutions also improve LAN performance.

 

What is SAN Storage

SAN Storage

 

HP 3PAR a SAN Storage

The HP 3PAR StoreServ was designed to fulfill the strict specifications of highly consolidated cloud service providers. With solutions from a few TBs to more than 20PB scale, 3PAR transforms midrange and enterprise deployments with over 3M IOPS and reliable sub-ms latency.

For more information about HP 3PAR License, click.

Your data center will be updated by the HP 3PAR StoreServ family of flash-optimized data storage systems so that it can easily handle erratic workloads. HP is the only storage provider with the intelligence to guarantee 99.9999 percent data availability. A tier-1 storage architecture that starts small and scales big offers hardware-accelerated deduplication and compression, rapid and automated provisioning, multi-tenant design, and sub-1ms latency.

The leading all-flash array and the top midrange storage array in the market are both HP 3PAR StoreServ. Thousands of customers have modernized their storage infrastructure and eliminated complex storages thanks to its timeless architecture.

Starting with a few terabytes in a single system and scaling to over eighty petabytes in a four-system federation with a common OS, feature set, and management, you can handle unified file and block workloads across midrange, enterprise, and all-flash.

HP MSA a SAN Storage

Increased entry storage standards brought about by flash-enabled arrays enable application acceleration for a variety of price points.

You can invest in HP MSA Storage with confidence because there are more than 500,000 units already in use. With departmental or remote office workloads for enterprise customers as well as best-in-class performance—including hybrid flash for application acceleration—and intuitive setup and management, HP MSA offers affordable entry level storage solutions for small and midsize businesses.

 

What is SAN Storage

SAN Storage

 

The HPE MSA family of data storage arrays raise the performance bar for entry storage to entirely new heights. The HP MSA 2052 hybrid flash array is prepared to speed up your applications right out of the box with 1.6 TB of standard SSD capacity and built-in dynamic tiering.

You can set it and forget it with an all-inclusive software suite that includes snapshots for immediate recovery and straightforward management tools. And when you’re ready, the MSA 2052 expands along with you.

You can add more flash capacity, safeguard investments with upgrades that don’t affect existing data, and increase flexibility by supporting any mix of SSDs and HDDs.

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