Synonyms
SAN
Definition
A Storage Area Network is a network whose main purpose is to transfer data between storage devices and servers and among storage devices. The term Storage Area Network can be a synonym of the term Storage Network, but differs in that the term Storage Area Network is usually identified with a network with block-level I/O services rather than file access services. More specifically, the term Storage Area Network is often used to refer to a network with Fiber Channel technology. However, SNIA released a more general definition in which the term Storage Area Network is not connected with any specific types of network connections. Under this definition, an Ethernet-based network infrastructure for mainly connecting storage devices could also be considered a Storage Area Network. The term Storage Area Network is often abbreviated to SAN. When the term SAN is used in connection with a specific network technology X, the use of a term “X SAN” is encouraged. A SAN based...
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Recommended Reading
Clark T. Designing storage area networks: a practical reference for implementing fibre channel and IP SANs. Reading: Addison-Wesley; 2003.
Storage Network Industry Association. The dictionary of storage networking terminology. Also available at: http://www.snia.org/.
Troppens U, Erkens R, Müller W. Storage networks explained. New York: Wiley; 2004.
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Goda, K. (2018). Storage Area Network. In: Liu, L., Özsu, M.T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Database Systems. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-8265-9_1329
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-8265-9_1329
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