What are the applications of storage area network?

Answer 1

A storage area network (SAN) can be described as a separate network of storage devices that are physically removed from, but still connected to, the main enterprise network. SANs evolved from the concept of taking storage devices and storage traffic off the LAN and creating a separate back-end network specifically designed for data.

In essence, A SAN is a separate network to handle storage needs. The SAN decouples storage tasks from specific servers and creates a shared storage facility across a high-speed network. The collection of networked storage devices can include hard disks, tape libraries, and CD arrays.

In traditional client server LANs, data were stored on devices (typically disk drives) inside or directly attached to the server. Network Attached Storage (NAS) systems were the next step in the evolution of LAN storage systems. NAS separated storage devices from the server and connected them directly to the network. SANs go one step further by allowing storage devices to exist on their own separate network and communicate directly with each other over very fast interfaces. Users access these storage devices via servers that are connected to both the LAN and the SAN. The SAN arrangement improves client-to-storage access efficiency, as well as direct storage-to-storage communications for backup and replication functions.