Networking Fundamentals: Storage Area Network (SAN)
Network storage is vitally important for a business because it directly attributes to a company’s productivity. Every business, be it a mammoth corporation or a small player in the SME sector requires an effective storage management solution. With proper storage management, a business can amplify server management, easily backup invaluable data, simplify data management, and ensure business continuity in the face of a disaster.
The options in network storage fundamentally include Storage Area Networks or SAN. The latter is a significant aspect of computer networking and in one’s training of information technology, it would be important to develop a strong understanding of how SANs work, the benefits they offer, and how do they scale up alongside other network storage solutions.
Backing Up Data
Storage Area Network is an effective method that has been around for quite a fair amount of time. It was brought to meet the most dire business demands, one of which certainly remains backup of important data. Many companies, especially start-ups fail to implement data storage and backup strategy because they do not understand the importance of it.
However, data backup and storage is one of the most important business affairs and the leading organizations in the world have scrambled towards incorporation top-tier technologically driven solutions to ensure protection. The use of Storage Area Networks is a strong part of it because it is quite sought after and has an equally important method for achieving a business’s sustainability goals.
Array of Opportunities
Storage Area Networks have always been a key domain for the top organizations, given the fact that the most important players will more likely have greater concern about protecting their data. Moreover, they would also be able to spare some resources in order to invest in and implement such technology. However, a recent study indicates that start-ups and businesses in the SME sector are increasingly defeating the stereotype and shifting towards the assimilation of SANs as a contemporary way of network storage. The influx in demand has also been brought due to an increase in the cost of setting up such a storage model. Therefore, the integration of SAN as an effective network storage solution has opened an array of opportunities for even small businesses.
In theory, Storage Area Networks or SANs refer to fast-paced networks that allow connection between large networks and storage tools. SANs oversee any sort of communication taking place between devices and each other by connecting to the storage space through switches. Space is handled by administrations in given unit numbers or LUNs.
Apart from the most basic function mentioned above, Storage Area Networks or SANs offer a range of different functions which are discussed further down below:
• SANs are responsible for facilitating all the traffic between an application and administration.
• They can also connect a broad range of diverse devices, such as tapes, disc drives, RAID subsystems, robotic libraries, file servers, etc.
• SANs can work on different kinds of networks including Fibre Channels and Ethernet.
Considering SANs have the factor of versatility in terms of storage devices, it offers a greater benefit and opens more opportunities.
How does SAN compare to Cloud?
Nowadays, an increasing number of organizations have found cloud-based storage services as the optimum solution for their data backup, protection, and recovery. Cloud has been a revolutionary technology that has transformed data storage completely. Cloud computing utilizes virtual servers to amplify storage capacities beyond the existing measures. It broadens the horizon in terms of a company’s storage capabilities.
On the other hand, Storage Area Networks or SANs are used by cloud technology developers because SAN has the key ability to connect a large number of services to devices.
The vital difference between SAN and cloud is that a company’s server is required to host SAN. Contrarily, a cloud is run on internet servers and it uses the same servers for storage purposes. Apart from that, cloud-based storage solutions are also more cost-effective than SANs because the latter entails more cost of purchasing physical storage to make room for more capacity.
Any business that feels discouraged to channel investments for storage would steer clear from SANs. However, most cloud-based storage services also come at high costs that may increase depending on the amount of storage space is required by a business.
Alternatively, many organizations have taken a rather compound approach for storage. They use both Cloud and SANs for network storage solutions. It works in a way that cloud is utilized for items that do not have much priority and SANs for everything that can be used immediately and is readily available. This compound approach is a better way to address storage solutions and make use of both innovative technologies in an efficient manner.
Storage Area Networks (SANs) have a wide array of benefits to a business. It allows business continuity, disaster recovery, data availability at any time, proper disk utilization, more backup speed, etc.
Setting up Storage Area Networks involves upfront costs but these are necessary investments that pave way for greater benefits. Certainly, SAN technology is integral and so are the rest of the contemporary aspects of computer networking. Anyone who is seeking to specialize and acquire Cisco Certification can sign up with QuickStart. The platform is growing increasingly popular among the tech fraternity for their immaculate solutions, training programs and courses which allow an individual to seek proper benefit and train for CCNA, CCSP, CCIP, and CCNP.
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