The clustered filesystem provides data access speeds well beyond what is achievable through traditional methods such as NFS TM and FTP, solving data sharing bottlenecks for a broad range of environments. The explosive growth in storage deployment has created significant challenges for traditional storage architectures. The SAN has developed in response to these shortcomings. SAN technology allows multiple computer systems to share access to storage resources using high-speed Fibre Channel connections. Fibre Channel SANs provide many of the same configuration options as traditional networks, but avoid the high overhead of traditional network protocols.
SANs provide the ability to deploy flexible, fault-tolerant storage systems with great performance.
Storage Area Network Layer Model SAN technology can be conveniently discussed in terms of three distinct layers. Over the past year, layer 1 technology has become widely available, and interoperability between vendors is improving rapidly. Single and dual arbitrated loops have seen the earliest deployment, followed by fabrics of one or more Fibre Channel switches. All the tools used in direct-attach storage environments are already available for SANs. Comprehensive LAN management style tools that tie common management functions together are being developed.