Checklist: How to design a scalable SAN

SAN design is a lot easier than it was a few years ago, thanks to new tools from vendors and more experienced storage administrators. But if you want your SAN to scale up as your enterprise grows, you'll need to think carefully about your choices during the planning phase.

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Tip: How to document a SAN

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Tip: Troubleshooting your SAN (more or less) painlessly

About the author: Rick Cook has been writing about mass storage since the days when the term meant an 80 K floppy disk. The computers he learned on used ferrite cores and magnetic drums. For the last 20 years, he has been a freelance writer specializing in storage and other computer issues.

Rate this Tip To rate tips, you must be a member of SearchStorage.com. Register now to start rating these tips. Log in if you are already a member. BROWSE BY TAG SAN management,   SAN (storage area network),   NAS management,   NAS (network attached storage),   SAN/NAS Update,   SAN/NAS Technical Tips,   EMC,   Tips,   VIEW ALL TAGS Digg This!     StumbleUpon     Del.icio.us    RELATED CONTENT SAN management Storage Decisions Chicago 2009 Session Downloads Storage Decisions Session Downloads: Managing Storage Networks Track (Chicago 2009) Storage-area networks to become increasingly object based Data storage management in virtual server environments 10 Gb Ethernet bodes well for iSCSI Mellanox builds bridge to consolidation Best storage Products of the Year 2008 Wide stripe before you dive into SSD How your SAN will evolve New realities of green IT: STORAGE BIN 2.0 SAN management Research NAS management Storage Decisions Chicago 2009 Session Downloads Isilon expands with transactional and archive systems Digital Reef aims for data classification scalability EMC adds file-level single instancing, Flash to Celerra Scale-out NAS poised for growth How to determine a NAS system's scalability Top five NAS tips of 2008 Storage Decisions San Francisco 2008 Session Downloads Sun repackages open storage NAS products Attune file virtualization software reports on Windows NAS performance NAS management Research SAN/NAS Update Storage-area networks to become increasingly object based Reducing storage network complexity with FCoE Clustered storage essentials: What to ask your vendor The value of easy-to-use SAN storage SAN storage consolidation checklist Pros and cons of using NAS NFS with VMware A case for 8 GB Fibre Channel Wide stripe before you dive into SSD How to determine a NAS system's scalability Top five SAN tips of 2008 RELATED GLOSSARY TERMS Terms from Whatis.com − the technology online dictionary Fast Guide to Storage Technologies  (WhatIs.com) fat provisioning  (SearchStorage.com) oversubscription  (SearchStorage.com) RAID  (SearchStorage.com) storage area management  (SearchStorage.com) storage area network  (SearchStorage.com) thin provisioning  (SearchStorage.com) unified storage  (SearchStorage.com) virtual provisioning  (SearchStorage.com) zoned-bit recording  (SearchStorage.com) RELATED RESOURCES 2020software.com, trial software downloads for accounting software, ERP software, CRM software and business software systems Search Bitpipe.com for the latest white papers and business webcasts Whatis.com, the online computer dictionary DISCLAIMER: Our Tips Exchange is a forum for you to share technical advice and expertise with your peers and to learn from other enterprise IT professionals. TechTarget provides the infrastructure to facilitate this sharing of information. However, we cannot guarantee the accuracy or validity of the material submitted. You agree that your use of the Ask The Expert services and your reliance on any questions, answers, information or other materials received through this Web site is at your own risk.