Using SANs and NAS

Data is the lifeblood of modern business, and modern data centers have extremely demanding requirements for size, speed, and reliability. Multi-terabyte data stores are common; petabyte data stores are not unheard of. But given this much data, how do you ensure it's always available, that access times and throughput are reasonable, and that the data can be backed up and restored in a timely manner.

Using SANs and NAS shows you how to use the latest technologies for building large data centers. It helps you understand which complementing technologies are appropriate for your network. How do SANs and NAS differ, and how are they alike? How is NAS different from simple NFS and CMB/CIFS? What future technologies, such as iSCSI and DAFS might affect the picture? What are the building blocks of a SAN, and how can they be assembled for effective storage solutions?

Most important, Using SANs and NAS pays special attention to the problems of backing up huge data stores. How do you design a cost-effective backup system that can perform a backup or recovery of your multi-terabyte storage system in a reasonable time? What virtualization technologies can be used to make backup and recovery almost instantaneous?

Using SANs and NAS is a practical book that gives storage administrators the tools they need to solve the toughest problems. It is an essential part of a storage administrator's library.

1. What Are SANs and NAS?
• From SCSI to SANs
• What Is a SAN?
• Backup and Recovery: Before SANs
• From NFS and SMB to NAS
• SAN Versus NAS: A Summary
• Which Is Right for You?
2. Fibre Channel Architecture
• Fibre Channel: An Overview
• Fibre Channel Ports
• Fibre Channel Topologies
• SAN Building Blocks
• Fibre Channel and SANs: A Summary
3. Managing a SAN
• The Different Uses for SANs
• SAN Issues to Be Managed
• Access to Storage Resources
• Ongoing Maintenance
• Using SANs to Maximize Your Storage
• Summary
4. SAN Backup and Recovery
• Overview
• LAN-Free Backups
• Client-Free Backups
• Server-Free Backups
• LAN-Free, Client-Free, or Server-Free?
5. NAS Architecture
• What’s Wrong with Standard NFS and CIFS?
• NFS and CIFS Advances
• System Architecture Advances
• High Availability and Scalability
• Low Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
• Ease of Maintenance
• Ease of Use
6. Managing NAS
• The Different Uses for NAS
• Installing a Filer
• Configuring a Filer
• Applications
• Data Migration
• Maintenance
• Monitoring, Analyzing, and Reporting
• Performance Tuning
7. NAS Backup and Recovery
• Snapshots and Mirroring
• Native Utilities
• NFS/CIFS
• Push Agent Software
• NDMP
• What About LAN-Free, Client-Free, and Server-Free Backup?
• Database Backup and Recovery
• Benefits Summary

1. Disruptive Technologies
2. RAID Levels

A good introduction to SANs and NAS. It could of course have contained a little more detail than it does.