NAS vs SAN – The Benefits Of Using These Network Storage Systems
If you are looking for really reliable network storage systems, naturally, you are going to be looking for a comparison study between two systems – NAS vs SAN. There was once upon a time, in the days of yore, when all your data was saved on floppy disks and even on your hard drive. You even burn some CDs to preserve a lot of your precious data, forgetting that the CDs were delicate, and could be easily destroyed through dust and scratches. Then came the time when a sensible data storage company decided – why should not we make it possible for people to store their data over the Internet over remote servers. And so was born the idea of storage systems, also known as arrays, for disks. Remember that storage arrays are definitely not enclosures, because they are basically based on different computer drives and cache memories. However, an array is going to consist of a number of useful components like storage enclosures, cache memory, controllers, etc. So if you want to have a backup of all your important documents, it is sensible for you to choose a network attached storage system – NAS or SAN – storage area network, to store, send or retrieve your important data and information. For a better understanding, read about ISCSI NAS.
NAS vs SAN in HP storage
SAN is normally utility based. They can also be modular. NAS is normally specialized when compared to SAN. SANs are monolithic. NAS is used to send data to a number of clients, through the network. You are going to do this through using the file server setup capacities of NAS. You can configure it according to your requirements, and attach any hardware you prefer to an NAS system. SAN is normally used for general purposes but NAS can be specialized according to your own particular requirements and process specifications.
SAN storage is done on block level. It can be simplified so that you can have easy access to all the different arrays. All the storage devices seem as if they are attached locally, however, that is not so. Different protocols are used to make them accessible to the usual devices used on a network. You are going to be using this system to get access to a huge block of data. On the other hand, NAS is normally used to get access to one particular piece of data or file, because it is based on files. SAN normally is found in a disk form, so you can see this storage on all your client’s available local disks. NAS appears in the form of file servers.
So just imagine that your server has broken down. Thanks to SAN storage, all that information can be booted on the server. Disaster recovery programs and services normally use SAN, especially when they are using multiple systems storage facilities. You can also use SAN for replicating data through different arrays utilizing disk storage systems. So it does not matter what your business is; you can preserve your data, get easy access to it, duplicate or replace it when necessary with the help of SAN and NAS. Both of them have their own weaknesses and strengths, but both systems are extremely reliable and also, they are the most common ways of storing your important data. I hope this helped clarify the difference of NAS vs SAN.