What is the difference between san and nas

A SAN consists of interconnected hosts, switches and storage devices. The components can be connected using a variety of protocols. Fibre Channel is the original transport protocol of choice. Another option is Fibre Channel over Ethernet FCoE , which lets organizations move Fibre Channel traffic across existing high-speed Ethernet, converging storage and IP protocols onto a single infrastructure. Vendors offer entry-level and midrange SAN switches for rack settings, as well as high-end enterprise SAN directors for environments that require greater capacity and performance.

At least one storage node must be connected to this network. SAN is associated with structured workloads such as databases, while NAS is generally associated with unstructured data such as video and medical images. Unified storage — also known as multiprotocol storage — grew out of the desire to stop procuring SAN and NAS as two separate storage platforms and to combine unified block and file storage in one system.

NetApp is generally credited with the development of unified storage, though many vendors offer multiprotocol options. Today, the majority of midrange enterprise storage arrays tend to be multiprotocol, Sinclair says. That being said, SANs are really the only way to provide very fast data access for a large number of users that also can scale to supporting hundreds of users at the same time. High performance remains a SAN requirement and flash-based fabric protocols are helping to close the gap between FC speeds and slower IP.

A global namespace aggregates multiple NAS file systems to present a consolidated view. SAN file systems enable servers to share files. SAN file systems allow servers to safely share data by providing file-level access to servers on the same LUN. NAS connects directly to an Ethernet network via a cable into an Ethernet switch.

SANs are the higher performers for environments that need high-speed traffic such as high transaction databases and ecommerce websites. NAS generally has lower throughput and higher latency because of its slower file system layer, but high-speed networks can make up for performance losses within NAS.

Entry level and NAS devices are not highly scalable, but high-end NAS systems scale to petabytes using clusters or scale-out nodes. In contrast, scalability is a major driver for purchasing a SAN. Its network architecture enables admins to scale performance and capacity in scale-up or scale-out configurations.

NAS devices are considered appliances and have fewer hardware and software management components than a storage area network. Administrative costs also figure into the equation. A rule of thumb is to figure 10 to 20 times the purchase cost as an annual maintenance calculation.

In a one-to-one comparison, NAS wins the ease of management contest. The device easily plugs into the LAN and offers a simplified management interface.

Deployment often requires making physical changes to the data center, and ongoing management typically requires specialized admins. A single NAS device allows IT to consolidate multiple file servers for simplicity, ease of management, and space and energy savings.

Long-term archives are best stored on less expensive storage like tape or cloud-based cold storage. NAS is a good choice for searchable and accessible active archives, and high capacity NAS can replace large tape libraries for archives.

Scale-out NAS is good for processing large files, ETL extract, transform, load , intelligent data services like automated tiering, and analytics. NAS is also a good choice for large unstructured data such as video surveillance and streaming, and post-production storage.

This is a popular choice for new or small virtualization environments when the business does not already own a SAN. Mid-range and high-end NAS systems offer native data management features that support VDIsuch as fast desktop cloning and data deduplication. This makes SANs a good fit for enterprise databases and high traffic ecommerce websites. This makes for faster backup without increasing the load on the Ethernet network. In the end, a NAS is a great auxiliary storage device, but it is not going to solve all of your problems.

SAN is a dedicated network that enables servers to share a pool of storage resources. SANs are complex, interwoven systems most frequently used with mission-critical data and databases. As a separate network , a SAN moves resources off of the LAN local area network , creating a separate, high-speed, more organized environment that can be accessed by each client OS as if it were directly attached storage. A SAN is more than just one device , it is a network of storage devices that work together as a single cluster.

Creating a storage area network is an investment. A big one, yes, but it will save you money in the long run. A SAN will speed up your entire environment, give you a disaster recovery solution, and lengthen the life of your hardware, all while meeting your storage needs.