Special Edition Using Storage Area Networks

340 Pages·2001·3.34 MB·English

by  NIIT NIIT

Copyright
Copyright © 2002 by Que
All rights reserved. No part of this book shall be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
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contained herein.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 20-01096112
Printed in the United States of America
First Printing: November 2001
04 03 02 01 4 3 2 1
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Credits
Associate Publisher
Dean Miller
Acquisitions Editor
Candy Hall
Development Editor
Sean Dixon
Managing Editor
Thomas Hayes
Project Editor
Tricia Liebig
Copy Editor
Sean Dixon
Indexer
Bill Meyers
Proofreader
Melissa Lynch
Technical Editor
Aaron Rogers
Team Coordinator
Cindy Teeters
Interior Designer
Ruth Harvey
Cover Designer
Dan Armstrong
Ruth Harvey
Page Layout
Susan Geiselman
Dedication
To all the folks at home for bearing with our frequent disappearances.
—Pooja Sachdev
—Rajiv S. Arunkundram
About NIIT
NIIT is a global IT services and IT training corporation. NIIT has over 4,900 employees
spread across 37 countries and generated over $270 million in revenue in the financial year
2000.
NIIT is actively involved in creating software solutions and learning solutions for markets
worldwide. NIIT's software development procedure is controlled and managed through
processes that are 100% ISO 9001-certified and assessed at SEI-CMM Level 5 for the
maturity of our software processes ensuring high-quality solutions which are delivered
on-time and on-budget. NIIT's client list includes Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Microsoft, NETg,
AT&T, Hitachi, Computer Associates, Red Hat, Oracle, Sony, Sun Microsystems, and
Toshiba.
NIIT pioneered IT education and training in 1982. NIIT trains over 350,000 career IT
professionals through its network of over 2000 training centers in over 26 countries. NIIT has
an alumni base of over 1.5 million IT professionals.
NIIT has one of the world's largest learning content development facilities staffed with over
900 learning content development professionals. Over the years NIIT has developed a range
of curricula for people with diverse requirements—from students seeking careers in
computers, to IT professionals needing advanced training, to global corporate enterprises like
Microsoft, Arthur Andersen, PeopleSoft, Computer Associates, Tivoli Systems, Sun
Microsystems, The World Bank, Thomson Learning, Pearson Education, and Oracle who
require end-to-end learning solutions.
Acknowledgments
Writing this book has required a great deal of hard work and focus. To help us maintain this
and encourage us through the temporary phases of writers block were a number of people
whom we would like to thank.
None of this would have ever happened but for Kumar, who pushed us into writing this book
and allowing us explore our way around. His encouragement and faith in us and of course the
constant urging (and sometimes pestering!) saw us through the completion of this book.
Anu, who gave us valuable insights on presentation strategies. We are also grateful to her for
having reviewed many of our chapters and making them more readable.
Jaishree, Mani, Nivedita, Bharathi, and Swapna for the time they spent looking at these
chapters and helping us to make them better.
Karpagam, for contributing to some sections of this book. Our special thanks to her.
Sindhu, who created all those amazing graphics you get to see in the book. In trying to design
the figures, she gave us a completely new perspective to the way the content could be
handled.
Our special thanks to Shantanu, who coordinated the reviews for this book, and to Aaron
Rogers, Sean Dixon, and Gayle Johnson for their technical and editorial guidance.
And how could the acknowledgement be complete without mentioning all our colleagues for
their constant support and blind faith in us and for all those jokes and coffees. Thanks a lot!
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INTRODUCTION
In this introduction
This Book Is for You
How This Book Is Organized
Conventions Used in This Book
That you are reading this introduction is proof enough that SANs are becoming the latest
buzzword in the storage sector.
A SAN is a server-to-storage network that offers a highly scalable and manageable setup. It
can offer gigabit speed connectivity with a comprehensive fault-tolerance system and low
ownership costs. All these features and a whole lot more have led to the increase in the
market share of SANs.
We welcome you to the world of storage area networks!
This Book Is for You
This book is targeted at both network administrators and planners who are looking for an
efficient way to scale the storage systems in their networks. Even if you are new to the world
of storage management, this book will provide you with the basic knowledge of storage
systems. This book does assume that you are familiar with the setup and working of simple
networks. However, you will find that we have not assumed any prerequisite familiarity with
storage networks.

How This Book Is Organized
This book is divided into three parts. Each part covers a specific topic that you will need to
know in order to use Storage Area Networks in your network. Part I gives you a basic
introduction to the features of storage area networks. Part I walks you through the different
components of storage area networks. Part I deals with the concepts of designing,
implementing, and managing storage area networks in your network.
At the end of the every chapter, you will find a "Products Arena" section. This section
exposes you to the latest SAN products from different companies. We have tried to ensure
that products from different companies are projected in a manner that will help you select a
suitable product for your network.
Part I, "Basics of Networking and Data Storage," introduces you to storage area networks.
Chapter 1, "The Evolution of Storage Area Networks," introduces you to the world of SAN.
You will learn about the evolution of SANs; how the storage networking concepts moved
from DAS to NAS and finally to SANs. This chapter also gives you a brief overview of the
different computing models that most networks follow. This chapter serves as a roadmap to
the rest of the book. It introduces you to the different terms that you will find commonly used
in the world of SANs.
Chapter 2, "Externalizing Storage Using Storage Area Networks," introduces you to the most
forceful feature of SANs, the externalization of storage. This chapter familiarizes you with
the different components of a SAN and the way data transfers take place in SANs.
Part II, "Storage Area Networks and Their Components," takes you through a detailed study
of the different components of SAN. The two distinctive highlights of this section are the
coverage of Fibre Channels and the explanation on how to select the right components for
your SAN.
In Chapter 3, "Storage Area Network Interfaces," you will learn about the concepts of Serial
and Parallel interfaces. The different types of interfaces that are used in SANs are
demystified in this chapter and you will be given detailed explanations about the advantages
and disadvantages of each interface. This knowledge will equip you with the know-how to
decide on the right interface for your SAN.
In Chapter 4, "Storage Area Network Interconnects," you will be introduced to the devices
that make SAN possible. From a simple modem to a complicated director, we take you
through all of it. The combination of these interconnects is what will determine the
interoperability of your SAN. This chapter will explain how each of these devices works and
what advantages and restrictions it will impose on your SANs.
In Chapter 5, "Fibre Channel," you will be introduced to the world of Fibre Channel. In this
chapter, we tell you all about Fibre Channel What is it, why is it important, what is its
architecture, and what are its advantages and disadvantages. We will also tell you about the
different classes of services offered by Fibre Channels. And not to forget, this chapter has a
section on the different topologies that you can design using Fibre Channels.
In Chapter 6, "Storage Area Network Fabrics," you will be introduced to the advantages of
using fabrics in your network. This chapter will explain about the advantages of using
switching in your SANs. In addition, it explains switching in SANs by comparing it with the
all too familiar LANs. In addition, this chapter carries a section on storage consolidation.
Part III, "Designing, Managing, and Implementing Storage Area Networks," takes you
through the most critical functions of any network design, implementation, and management.
This part aims to equip you with enough knowledge to objectively evaluate your SAN and
how well it suits your requirements.