Using SANs and NAS
Data is the lifeblood of modern business, and modern data centers have extremely demanding requirements for size, speed, and reliability. Storage Area Networks (SANs) and Network Attached Storage (NAS) allow organizations to manage and back up huge file systems quickly, thereby keeping their lifeblood flowing. W. Curtis Preston's insightful book takes you through the ins and outs of building and managing large data centers using SANs and NAS.\ As a network administrator you're aware that...
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Data is the lifeblood of modern business, and modern data centers have extremely demanding requirements for size, speed, and reliability. Storage Area Networks (SANs) and Network Attached Storage (NAS) allow organizations to manage and back up huge file systems quickly, thereby keeping their lifeblood flowing. W. Curtis Preston's insightful book takes you through the ins and outs of building and managing large data centers using SANs and NAS. As a network administrator you're aware that multi-terabyte data stores are common and petabyte data stores are starting to appear. Given this much data, how do you ensure that it is available all the time, that access times and throughput are reasonable, and that the data can be backed up and restored in a timely manner? SANs and NAS provide solutions that help you work through these problems, with special attention to the difficulty of backing up huge data stores. This book explains the similarities and differences of SANs and NAS to help you determine which, or both, of these complementing technologies are appropriate for your network. Using SANs, for instance, is a way to share multiple devices (tape drives and disk drives) for storage, while NAS is a means for centrally storing files so they can be shared. Preston exams each technology with a vendor neutral approach, starting with the building blocks of a SAN and how they can be assembled for effective storage solutions. He covers day-to-day management and backup and recovery for both SANs and NAS in detail. Whether you're a seasoned storage administrator or a network administrator charged with taking on this role, you'll find all the information you need to makeinformedarchitecture and data management decisions. The book fans out to explore technologies such as RAID and other forms of monitoring that will help complement your data center. With an eye on the future, other technologies that might affect the architecture and management of the data center are explored. This is sure to be an essential volume in any network administrator's or storage administrator's library.
Preface1What Are SANs and NAS?1From SCSI to SANs1What Is a SAN?5Backup and Recovery: Before SANs6From NFS and SMB to NAS10SAN Versus NAS: A Summary13Which Is Right for You?142Fibre Channel Architecture19Fibre Channel: An Overview19Fibre Channel Ports24Fibre Channel Topologies25SAN Building Blocks32Fibre Channel and SANs: A Summary393Managing a SAN40The Different Uses for SANs40SAN Issues to Be Managed42Access to Storage Resources45Ongoing Maintenance56Using SANs to Maximize Your Storage59Summary654SAN Backup and Recovery66Overview66LAN-Free Backups68Client-Free Backups84Server-Free Backups105LAN-Free, Client-Free, or Server-Free?1125NAS Architecture114What's Wrong with Standard NFS and CIFS?114NFS and CIFS Advances118System Architecture Advances123High Availability and Scalability126Low Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)128Ease of Maintenance129Ease of Use1316Managing NAS132The Different Uses for NAS132Installing a Filer134Configuring a Filer136Applications150Data Migration151Maintenance154Monitoring, Analyzing, and Reporting157Performance Tuning1607NAS Backup and Recovery162Snapshots and Mirroring162Native Utilities166NFS/CIFS166Push Agent Software169NDMP170What About LAN-Free, Client-Free, and Server-Free Backup?183Database Backup and Recovery184Benefits Summary186ADisruptive Technologies189BRAID Levels194Index199
