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  Down on the Data Farm: Reap the Rewards of FC-AL January 25, 1999 | ||
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The SAN's the Limit Just as when you're building a LAN, when creating a SAN (Storage Area Network) you need NICs, hubs and cabling. And just as you plan the population of a LAN, you must consider the population of your SAN. Here are some sample SAN configurations offering a basic idea of how SANs can be implemented to reduce LAN traffic and increase data flow. · Storage Farms aggregate multiple servers and data storage devices. They are ideal for data warehouse applications. This setup gives servers a high bandwidth path to storage, while freeing server Ethernet ports for other transactions. It also cuts down server traffic on the LAN, freeing up bandwidth. · The Video SAN is for those very large files or streaming video/ data. The focus of this model is the inclusion of workstations and video and storage devices. A direct high-speed port to video lets editors work in real time, increasing both creativity and productivity. Cutting video out of the LAN frees up a huge amount of bandwidth.
· Distance SANs may turn out to be the most popular application. The distance SAN can string nodes up to 6.2 miles apart, making it ideal for campus installations. Beyond simple distance advantages, the distance SAN provides unique opportunities to deliver high-speed data traffic to every location on a geographically wide campus. Imagine a medical facility with a SAN: By clustering nodes based on the first two examples, a patient's X-rays, MRIs or CAT scans could flow from radiology to the radiologist's office, with copies circulating to other specialists, in near real time. |
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