- The up-to-the-minute SAN guide for every decision-maker
- Concepts, standards, applications, vendors, ROI, and much more
- Planning, design, architecture, deployment, testing, performance,
maintenance, and more
- In-depth coverage of SAN applications in high-availability
mission-critical systems
- IP-based SANs and other emerging technologies
Reliable, cost-effective SANs: an up-to-the-minute briefing for every
decision-maker.
SANs enable companies to manage accelerating amounts of data far more
effectively, but their reputation for complexity has deterred many companies
from deploying them. Now, there's a readable, up-to-the-minute guidebook
designed to help business and IT professionals understand SAN technology, make
intelligent decisions, and derive maximum business advantage from SANs—starting
right now. Leading network consultant John Vacca covers the entire SAN
lifecycle, from planning and strategy to implementation and day-to-day
administration. Coverage includes:
- SANs: what they are and what they offer
- Debunking the Top 5 SAN myths
- Comparing today's leading approaches: advantages, disadvantages, and
tradeoffs
- The SAN vendor community-including the newest SAN service providers
- IP-based SANs and other emerging standards—and what they mean to you
- Practical techniques for cost-justifying, planning, and designing SANs
- Maximizing scalability and availability
- In-depth deployment coverage: installation, testing, rollout, and
performance certification
- Day-to-day management and maintenance
- Next-generation SAN applications—including virtual SANs for
mission-critical Web applications
- 6 valuable appendices: product lists, vendor lists, streaming SAN case
study, and much more
Storage has never been more critical to your success—and by 2005 it may
account for up to 70% of your IT budget. No storage technology offers more
promise than SANs. Now's the time to understand them, and this is the book:
The Essential Guide to Storage Area Networks.
Table of
Contents
Foreword.
Introduction.
Importance of
Storage.
Value of Data.
Enterprise Core Competency.
Pros and Cons of
Storage.
Multiple Data Storage Options.
Managing the Arsenal.
Growing Storage Staff.
Who's Using SANs?
Who This Book is For.
What's So Special About This Book?
Part I: Overview of SANs Technology.
Part II: Designing SANs.
Part III: Planning for SANs.
Part IV:
Installing and Deploying SANs.
Part V: Maintaining the SANs.
Part VI:
SAN Solutions and Future Directions.
Part VII: Appendices.
Conventions.
Acknowledgments.
I. OVERVIEW OF SANS TECHNOLOGY.
SANs Fundamentals.
But What is a SAN—Really? Network Attached
Storage (NAS). SAN Attached Storage (SAS). SAN Interfaces. SAN Interconnects.
SAN Fabrics. Building a SAN. Why Are SANs Important? SAN Applications. Types of
SAN Operating Systems Software and Hardware Components. Sharing Data in a SAN.
The Case for SAN Hardware. SAN Market Demand and Projections by Region and
Country. Evolution of the SAN Market. The Value of Information. The Business
Information Landscape Today. Preparing for Storage Area Networking. The
Challenge of Implementing SAN Technology. The Storage Networking Management
Vision. From Here. End Notes.
Types of SAN Technology.
FC-AL: A First Step. SAN Setbacks. Technology
and Configuration. High Scalability and Flexibility. Web Service Scaling
Factors. Current Web Server Practice. Storage in the Web Server Plant.
Revisiting the SAN. SANs for Web Servers: A Scalable Alternative. Technology
Platform, Techniques, and Alternatives. How the GTA Did It. Scenarios. Other
Scenarios. Breaking Tradition in Video Distribution. Purely Analog Video. The
Introduction of Digital to Video. The Video Creation and Manipulation
Workstation. A Faster Network. Push versus Pull. SANs in Video. SAP R/3 Storage
Management. Environment Setup. Split Mirror Backup. Split Mirror Backup Process.
Process Automation. Suspension of Application Writes. Recovery. From Here. End
Notes.
Standards.
Like Ethernet, SANs Standards Are Evolving. A
Phased Approach. Getting to the Third Phase. Other Players. The Future of SAN
Standards. From Here. End Notes.
Types of Vendor and SANs Service Providers.
SAN Self-Service. The Interoperability Labs. The
Turnkey Solution. Service Provider Outsourcing. Multiple Computer Platforms
High-Speed Data Sharing. Deficiency of LAN Solutions. The SAN Revolution. True
SAN-Based Data Sharing. The Future Is Sharing. Indirect Channel Opportunity. The
Changing Role of the Channel. Drivers of Storage Market Growth. Identifying and
Creating Opportunities in the SAN Market. Storage Suppliers Respond to Growing
Customer Demand. Sharing Information. SANs Are Not a New Technology. Translating
SANs into Opportunity for Partners. Business Value of SAN. Overcoming Users'
Concerns about SANs. What SANs Mean to the Channel: Road Map for Exploiting SAN
Opportunities. Building Up to SAN. Choosing a SAN Supplier. IBM Business
Partners: Opportunities in Storage Area Networks—The Sum is Greater than the
Whole. Multivendor Enterprise Storage Area Networks End-to-End Services. Storage
Management Challenges. Networked Storage: The New Paradigm. Implementation
Challenges. A Service-Driven SAN Strategy, from IBM. Storage Subsystems for
Video Services. Related Work. Overview. Storage Server Requirements. Storage
Subsystem Requirements. User and Storage Area Network Requirements. Software
Requirements. The Basic Server Configuration. The Disk Subsystem. The Video
Storage Server. Server Memory Requirements. Server Processing Requirements.
Multiple Server Configurations. The Server Interconnect Problem: A Case for
Fibre Channel. Is There an SSP in Your Future? From Here. End Notes.
Providing SAN Scalability and High Availability.
The Increased Need for Higher Availability.
High-Level Availability Objectives. System Availability through Redundancy.
Applications. Servers and Host Bus Adapters. Storage. Mirroring. Switches.
Networking in the Fabric. Meshed Tree Topology for Switches. A Single Fabric
with Dual Connectivity. A Dual Fabric with Dual Connectivity. Reliability
Calculations for Single and Dual Fabrics. Zoning. Fabric Management. The Key to
High Availability. From Here. End Notes.
II. DESIGNING SANS.
SAN Design Issues.
Fibre Channel Topologies. Customer Selection of
Fibre Channel Products. Designing Storage Networks. Application Requirements.
Protocol Support. Cable Plant. Distance between Devices. Number of Devices.
Accommodation of Legacy Devices. Anticipated Growth. Traffic Volumes.
Departmental Segmentation. Redundancy. Disaster Recovery. SNMP Management.
Cost/Performance Ratio. Design It and They Will Come. SAN Story. End-User
Education. SAN-to-SAN Connectivity. Cost Considerations. SAN Software. OEM
Involvement. From Here. End Notes.
Cost Justification and Consideration.
Financial Impact of a SAN. Capital Savings.
Backup Savings. Data Management. Justification of SAN Operating Costs. Financial
Considerations and Acquisitions. Mission-Critical. The Middle Road. The Value
Approach. Final Decision. Acquisitions. From Here. End Notes.
Standards Design Issues.
Designing Distributed SAN Standards. Driving
Forces behind Infiniband Technology Adoption. Revolutionizing Internet Data
Centers. SAN Standard Design Implications. IDC View of Infiniband. Postscript.
New Storage Standards Design Issues. IP Debate Heating Up. Industry Unity over
Standards? Customer Considerations. No Winning Protocol Likely. From Here. End
Notes.
Architectural Design Considerations.
Traditional Captive Storage Architecture. SAN
Architecture. Interface Comparison. SAN's Shared Storage versus Traditional
Captive Storage. Availability/Reliability. Performance. Configuration
Flexibility. Cost. From Here. End Note.
III. PLANNING FOR SANS.
Implementation of Plan Development.
Scalability. How Available Is It? Security
Issues. How Easy Is Management? Minimizing Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).
Thinking Strategically. Disaster Recovery Plan. Data Explosion. Platform
Proliferation. Restoration is the Issue. Mirror, Mirror. No Panaceas. How to
Make SANs a Reality in Your Environment with Your Infrastructure. Internet-Based
Water Exchange Pours Resources into a SAN Infrastructure. Preparing for a SAN.
Making the Decision for a SAN? Planning and Designing a SAN. Getting Help. Going
Live with a SAN. From Here. End Notes.
Virtual Storage Area Networks Planning Techniques: Making the Web
Mission-Critical.
No Standards Yet. SAN Clustering Technologies.
Traditional IP Clustering and SANs. Storage Clusters. The Global File System.
Shared GFS Root File Systems. Storage Clusters and Centralized Storage. SAN
Virtualization Architectural Planning Guidelines. Virtualization Schemes.
Selection Criteria. Back to the Choices. Ensuring that Your Storage
Virtualization Doors are Never Closed. What is True Storage Virtualization? The
Ability to Stripe across and Utilize All Available Space. The Ability to
Centrally Manage and Share Storage. Nonvirtualized versus Virtualized Storage in
the Real World. Nonvirtualized Storage and True Storage Virtualization. A Better
Solution: True Storage Virtualization. From Here. End Notes.
IV. INSTALLING AND DEPLOYING SANS.
Testing Techniques.
Physical Layer Testing. Application Layer
Testing. Management Layer Testing. Why Use SAN Testing? SANmark Revision “A”
Test Suite. The Role of the SANmark Revision “A” Test. Other Testing Technology.
From Here. End Notes.
Installation and Deployment.
Look to Your Applications. Prepare for the
Future. How to Deploy a SAN. Expanding Storage the SAN Way. A Packaged Solution.
Using HSM Technology. Getting Started on SAN. Start with Hubs. Link Hubs to a
Fibre Channel Switch. Big Switch Phase. The Next Phase of SAN Deployment:
Storage Switch Technology. What's Driving SAN Evolution? The Storage Switch: A
Simple, Cost-Effective Approach to SAN Switching. Applying Storage Switch in the
SAN: One-Tier SAN. Industry Validation of the Storage Switch. Putting Data to
Work for E-Business in SAN Installation and Deployment. The Changing
Environment. The Challenges. The Promise of SANs. From Here. End Notes.
Certification of SAN Performance.
SAN Testing and Troubleshooting. Documenting and
Testing SANs. FSM Performance. Direct FSM Advantages. Scalability. Performance
Results. Test Configuration. Performance Data. Certifying SAN Performance. From
Here. End Notes.
V. MAINTAINING SANS.
Management of Storage Area Networks.
Data Management Solution. The Growing Need for
More Efficient Information Management. The Advantages of a SAN Infrastructure.
Greater Data Protection for Improved Backup and Recovery. More Efficient
Utilization of IT Resources through Server and Storage Consolidation. Advanced
Scalability and Manageability. Business Continuance through High Availability.
Remote Disaster Recovery Capabilities. A Strategic Technology for the Future.
Virtual Storage Area Networks. Requirements for Storage and Access. Possible
Answer: SmartStor InfiNet. The Benefits of InfiNet. Return on Investment.
Indirect Business Value: Customer Satisfaction for E-Business. How Does InfiNet
Work? Fibre Channel-Arbitrated Loop: A Management Strategy. When is Management
Required? Management Definitions: Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP).
General Issues in Arbitrated Loop Management. Device Management. Problem
Detection. Problem Isolation. Recovery. Predictive Management. From Here. End
Notes.
Ongoing Maintenance.
The Facts about SAN Software. Increasing
Efficiency in the Prepress Market. The Problem of Performance. Storage Area
Networks. The Power to Share. File Sharing of a LAN at the Speed of a SAN. A Mix
of Operating Systems. A Slightly Different Workflow. From Here. End Notes.
Standards Development.
SAN Management Standards. Managing the
Infrastructure. The Future of SAN Standards. Standards Wars: The Contenders.
Standards Depend on the Customer. Two Gigabits and Beyond. From Here. End Notes.
VI. SAN SOLUTIONS AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS.
High Availability Business Systems: The Role of SANs.
The Causes of Data Unavailability. Cost
Trade-offs. High Availability Objectives. The SAN. The Single Building. The
Campus Cluster. The Metro Cluster. From Here. End Notes.
SAN Solutions for Considerations.
Solutions to Making a SAN Work. Making SAN Work.
Enterprise SAN Solutions. SAN Solutions for Consolidation. SAN Solutions for
Sharing. Share Storage, File Systems, and Files. SAN Solutions for Disaster
Tolerance. Clustering to Achieve True Availability. Storage Management
Solutions: The Vision. Holo-Vision Storage Management Solutions of the Future.
From Here. End Notes.
Role of SANs in Computer Forensics.
Evidence Collection. Securing the Computer
Evidence. Forensic Analysis. Reconstructing Past Events. Becoming a Digital
Detective. Frankenstein. Beauty is More than Skin Deep. What's Going On? Looking
for Things. From Here. End Notes.
Summary, Conclusions, and Recommendations.
The Storage Network behind the Server. The
Problem: Limitations Loom over Surge of Data. Fibre Channel: The Open SAN
Solution. High Bandwidth. Server and Storage Scalability. Modular Connectivity.
High Availability and Fault Tolerance. Manageability. Ease of Integration. Total
Cost of Ownership. Advanced Application Capabilities. SAN Future. Great Uses for
Fibre Channel. Advancements. Service Differentiation. Return-on-Investment (ROI)
Business Case. Storage Enters the Third Dimension: Where No SAN has Gone Before.
Storage Goes Holographic. Advanced System from NASA. End Notes.
VII. APPENDICES.
Online Storage Management Checklist.
Powerful Administration.
Flexible File Migration. Quick Access to Data.
Automated Scheduling. Advanced Diagnostics. List of Top SANs Implementation and
Deployment Companies.
SAN Product Offerings.
SAN Storage.
SAN Software. End Notes. Standards for SANs.
SNIA Initiatives.
Initial Open SAN Solutions. Streamlined Customer
Support. Next Steps by the SNIA. Setting a New Standard for SANs. How iSCSI
Works. Development Milestones. Potential iSCSI Roadblocks. SCSI versus Fibre
Channel Storage.
SCSI.
Fibre Channel. End Notes. List of Miscellaneous
SAN Resources.
Fibre Channel.
Industry Associations. Miscellaneous SAN
Resources. SCSI. Vendors. Enterprise Messaging. Partnerships. Storage Resource
Management. Fibre Channel. Miscellaneous Announcements.
Glossary.
Index.