CONTENTS
What Is a Storage Area Network? • • • What Makes a SAN Different? What Makes a Good SAN? What Makes a Great SAN?
Why Connect Storage to a Network? The Secret to SANs' Success: Software • • SAN Software Capability Summarizing SANs and Software
The Best Is Yet to Come: Radical Changes in Information Storage and Processing • • • • Best-in-Class Computer Systems Smarter Storage and Appliances Heterogeneous Computer Systems Data Storage as a Service
Back to Earth ....A Couple of Closing Clarifications • • • • Is SAN Storage or a Network? What Is This Area Thing, Anyway? Is NAS Just SAN Spelled Backward? Summary
In this chapter we'll learn more about: • • • • • • What a storage area network is What properties a storage area network must have, should have, and may have The importance of software to storage area networks Why information services professionals should be interested in storage networking Information processing capabilities enabled by storage area networks Some quirks in the vocabulary of storage networking