Storage Area Network

Storage Area Network

SAN, called Storage Area Network or Network behind servers, is specialized, high-speed network attaching servers and storage devices. A SAN allows "any to any" connection across the network, using interconnect elements such as routers, gateways, hubs and switches. It eliminates the traditional dedicated connection between a server and storage, and concept that the server effectively "owns and manages" the storage devices. It also eliminates any restriction to the amount of data that a server can access, currently limited by the number of storage devices, which can be attached to the individual server. Instead, a SAN introduces the flexibility of networking to enable one server or many heterogeneous servers to share a common storage "utility", which may comprise many storage devices, including disk, tape, and optical storage. And, the storage utility may be located far from the servers which use it.