It doesn't matter if you're a SAN beginner or a veteran. Our SAN Learning Guide has all the latest information. Find out if a SAN is right for you, how to configure one, the best way to manage it and how a SAN figures into your backup plans.
If you haven't already, come and take a seat in our SAN School and learn the ins and outs of the SAN with our expert Chris Poelker.
  Table of Contents | |
SAN for beginners
SAN players/products
SAN trends
SAN protocols
SAN configuration
SAN management
SAN and backup
SAN performance
It's always best to start at the beginning, right? Learn the basics of a SAN and find out if such a configuration would be a benefit to your shop.
Expert tips:
SAN School: Lesson 1 – The SAN
How to choose the best switch for your SAN or LAN
Troubleshooting your SAN (more or less) painlessly
How to document a SAN
Expert Q&As:
Making it a simple transition from NAS to SAN
My first SAN
Increasing uptime in the data center with a SAN
Is SAN implementation more expensive than NAS?
The difference between SAN and NAS
How do I know if I'm ready for a SAN?
Why you shouldn't share disk resources in a SAN
Servers and SANs, how they work
Storage magazine insider:
No-sweat SAN design
SAN anxieties allayed
Additional resources:
What is a SAN
Storage Topics: SAN
Discuss SAN basics with your peers in ITKnowledge Exchange.
It's important to know the players in the game, the tools they offer, and what's working and what's not.
Expert tips:
Expand your SAN: No-sweat SAN design tools
How to scan your SAN
New player enters the low-cost SAN game
Strategic Vendor Series: NetApp
Strategic Vendor Series: Brocade
Strategic Vendor Series: HP
Strategic Vendor Series: EMC
Strategic Vendor Series: HDS
Strategic Vendor Series: IBM
Expert Q&As:
Tools for scanning and mapping the SAN
Where to find testing tools
Storage magazine insider:
First look: Crossroads Systems' DataMover 240f
First look: Brocade's SilkWorm Multiprotocol router
Hands-on review: Onaro SANscreen 2.5.2
SANMelody tunes up SMB storage
Additional resources:
Discuss the various SAN vendors with your peers in ITKnowledge Exchange.
When it comes to storage, you've got to stay on top. There are new vendors and products coming on the market everyday.
Expert tips:
EMC TOEs the iSCSI line
Dueling SAN technologies: NAS vs. iSCSI
SAN trend tips library
SAN/NAS convergence: Proceed with caution, part 1
SAN/NAS convergence: Proceed with caution, part 2
SAN/NAS convergence: Proceed with caution, part 3
Thing provisioning slims storage volumes
Expert Q&As:
SAN and NAS (heads), together at last
SAN predictions for 2005: The year of programmable storage
How SATA drives hook up to a SAN
Who's winning the SATA/ATA race
Storage magazine insider:
Survey says: Appetite for NAS calms to SAN levels
Switch partitions gain steam
Think thin (provisioning)
Cheap SANs – hype or hot?
CAD for SANs
Additional resources:
Discuss SAN trends with your peers in ITKnowledge Exchange.
Read up on the various SAN protocols, there are many -- FC-SW, FC-AL, iSCSI, FC/IP, iFC/IP. It's a lot to keep straight.
Expert tips:
Fibre Channel, part 1: Going the distance with SANs
Fibre Channel, part 2: Calculating data speed over distance
Expert Q&As:
Is it possible to SAN boot using an iSCSI adapter?
The difference between iFCP and FCIP?
What will it be, iSCI or iFCP?
iFCP networking best practices
The difference between IP storage and iSCSI
What switches to use when implementing an iSCSI SAN
How FC-AL and FC-SW switches are implemented
How is FC-AL implemented in loop switch?
Storage magazine insider:
Securing IP SANs
IP storage delivers
Additional resources:
Crash Course: IP SANs
What is FC/IP
What is iFCP
What is iSCSI
Discuss SAN protocols with your peers in ITKnowledge Exchange.
You may know the different parts of SAN but do you know the best way to put one together? See what the experts have to say about SAN design and you'll be on your way.
Expert tips:
SAN School: Lesson 2 --- SAN building blocks
SAN School: Lesson 5 – SAN loops and the SAN fabric
SAN School: Lesson 7 – Putting it all together
SAN School: Lesson 8 – Tying your SANs together
Checklist: How to design a scalable SAN
How to design a core/edge SAN
SAN road map: How to scale beyond a single fabric
Expert Q&As:
How to assign LUNs in a SAN
NAS gateway versus SAN-attached server
Creating a iSCSI SAN using only Ethernet switches
Building a SAN for shared video editing storage
Storage magazine insider:
Bridging SAN islands
Snapshot: Do you boot from the SAN?
SAN switch smarts
Snapshot: How is your SAN architected?
Scaling SANs
Additional resources:
SAN/NAS Technical Tips
Discuss SAN configuration with your peers in ITKnowledge Exchange.
It may not seem like it, but one of the toughest job in storage is managing it. Read up on management software and best practices.
Expert tips:
SAN School: Lesson 12 -- Approaches to SAN management
SAN School: Lesson 13 – Storage outsourcing
Do SAN management tools help?
For compliance, neither SAN nor NAS are a slam dunk
Making sense of SAN management software
How to help your SAN keep it's cool
Can a database get too big for its SAN
Why SANs still aren't simple
How much storage management is enough?
Expert Q&As
Ten best practices for moving data files to a SAN
Which tasks take the most time in managing a SAN and why?
Multiple redundant SAN islands versus a large SAN fabric
Storage magazine insider:
Chart a course for consolidation
Slash SAN costs
Too many SAN islands
Additional resources:
Learning Guide: SAN management
Tech Report: Flexible RAID arrays
Fast Guide: RAID
Discuss SAN management with your peers in ITKnowledge Exchange.
The reality is, backup is not an area you want to ignore. Tape or disk, doesn't matter -- you just need to make sure you have all the SAN backup bases covered.
Expert tips:
SAN School: Lesson 6 – Disaster recovery planning
SAN School: Lesson 9 – SAN backup, the killer app
SAN School: Lesson 11 – Using point-in-time copies
Effective SAN extension strategies need CARBS
Which came first: The SAN or the backup?
Disk-based backup for SAN and NAS
Stars align for remote replication
Expert Q&As:
SAN DR planning
What are the disadvantages of booting off the SAN?
Which came first, the SAN or the backup solution?
Designing a tape SAN for backup
Designing a SAN with multiple servers using serverless backup
Severless backup isn't the only solution for a SAN
Storage magazine insider:
D2D backup: Disk's dual role
Additional resources:
Learning Guide: SAN-based backups
Discuss SAN backup with your peers in ITKnowledge Exchange.
When everything is said and done, it comes down to performance. And when you're SAN performance is down, you're sure to hear some screaming. Read up on how to maximize your SAN's performance, troubleshoot problems and keeps things running smoothly.
Expert tips:
SAN School: Lesson 3 -- What makes a SAN go
SAN School: Lesson 4 – What makes a SAN stop
SAN School: Lesson 10 -- Booting into your SAN
SAN School: Lesson 14: Troubleshooting your SAN
SAN consolidation reduces costs, boosts performance
Checklist; Ten steps to troubleshooting SAN/NAS performance problems
Test your SAN cool with an infrared scanner
Expert Q&As:
Increasing SAN bandwidth
Why does a SAN access data from the server faster than a hard drive?
Hard numbers and performance figures
Additional resources:
Discuss SAN performance with your peers in ITKnowledge Exchange.
