A Storage Area Network (SAN) is simply the name used to describe the storage infrastructure used to consolidate the disk storage used by many servers into a large, central storage location.

Instead of having Servers with their own unique internal disk space, storage is consolidated into one large storage platform that these servers can connect to.

A Storage Area Network is typically made up of a Storage Array(s), and redundant Fibre Switches/Directors. Servers connect to this storage platform typically via Fibre Channel or ISCSI Adapters.

The SAN provides large amounts of high speed, highly redundant storage to this group of servers, allowing for much greater volumes of continuous space than what can be typically provided internally by one server. A SAN also provides greater flexibility in carving up and allocating disk space to this group of Servers.
Why would I need a SAN?

There are several driving factors that would lead a customer to require a SAN on their network.

• Large Data Storage Requirements

  It is possible to have storage requirements that exceed the capabilities one server can provide internally. When an organisation has more than one application in this situation a SAN often provides the logical answer.
  
  

• Data Storage Management & Consolidation

  On a large network where there are many servers each with large volumes of internal storage, the management and operation of this storage can become difficult. Internal disk capacity may be under-utilised in some servers, whilst near capacity in others. A SAN provides an easily managed, large central storage solution that provides flexibility to these large environments. Administrators can quickly carve out storage for new applications and servers or expand capacities on existing servers without interruption.
  
  
• Clustered Servers & VMWARE
  Servers running Windows Advanced Server, or Enterprise versions of Linux or Unix can be clustered together to form a highly available, scalable group or "cluster" of servers. Services like SQL, Oracle, Exchange, and File/Print Services can be configured to automatically fail-over between these servers in the event of a server hardware failure or can be configured to provide performance load-balancing for greater capacity.
  
  A Cluster requires a shared storage device, so that fail-over or load balanced servers can access the same information. A SAN can provide shared storage to two or more servers.
  
  VMware takes advantage of SAN technology when using its Vmotion capabilities. Server instances can be moved from one physical server node to another node live whilst users are connected. VMware requires a shared storage array to handle this.

Global Storage Partnerships

Global Storage works closely with leading SAN vendors such as EMC, Hitachi Data Systems and HP to provide the best "value for money" SAN solutions in Australia. Our expertise in Clustering, and consolidated storage solutions has made us the preferred choice of SAN provider by Corporate, Government, Education, and Health organisations.

With storage solutions starting at several hundred Gigabytes and moving all the way to multi-Terabyte solutions, Global Storage can deliver the appropriate SAN solution for your environment. All of our SAN solutions come with 24x7 support and online monitoring of your SAN environment, ensuring an enterprise quality solution.

More Information?

Call Global Storage on 03 9445 3300 and ask for one of our storage consultants to find out more.