A mass amount of data is annually generated and stored in IT corporations, banks, insurance companies, telecommunication industries, and government and military organizations. However, the traditional storage mechanisms cannot provide the ever increasing dependability and performance needs of users, mandating the use of data storage systems. These systems, classified to low-end, mid-range, and high-end, offer a high level of availability, reliability, and performance, and support special features such as snapshot, instant copy, and remote backup.
A variety of data storage methods can be noted such as Direct Attached Storage (DAS), Network Attached Storage (NAS), and Storage Area Network (SAN). Each method is preferred depending on the users’ requirements.
Storage Structure | Network | Connection Media | Input/Output Protocols | Bandwidth | Availability |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
DAS | No | Parallel SCSI / FC | SCSI | 40 MBps up to 160 MBps | Low |
NAS | Yes | Ethernet | NFS/CIFS | 10 MBps to 1 Gbps | Moderate |
SAN | Yes | Fiber Channel/Ethenet | SCSI | 1Gbps up to 50Gbps | High |
SAB storage system has SAN structure, using Fiber Channel switches and cables for the connection of servers and storage arrays. This storage system uses a dedicated software/OS for storage management. The following figure shows the structure of SAB storage system and its connection to servers.
The continuous service of data centers is of decisive importance, mandating high reliability and availability of data storage system. The main features of a SAN storage system are as follows: