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Storage Area Network Fundamentals, by Meeta Gupta

If you're a newcomer to SANs like myself, you might want to read Storage Area Network Fundamentals by Meeta Gupta.

The book includes discussions of Fibre Channel hardware, cabling, software, design, protocols, security, management and alternatives to Fibre Channel, such as iSCSI, DAFS and FCIp. In particular, I would recommend the chapters "Introduction to Storage Area Networks," "SAN Topologies" and "Designing and Building a SAN."

However, chapters on cabling, hardware and security could have been condensed, and more attention could have been paid to the question of the interconnect between a LAN and a SAN.

The book is not without its flaws - it is unevenly written, and not very user-friendly. It sometimes reiterates basic concepts in painful detail, while at other times providing elaborate explanations of complex issues without first stating the basics. But on the whole, the book lives up to its tagline: "A guide to planning, implementing, managing and using storage area networks to increase the efficiency of your network infrastructure."

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This was first published in October 2002

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