Storage Area Network Definition

This post provides a definition and overview of what a Storage Area Network or SAN is. The basic idea behind a SAN is to provide high performacne access to enterprise data using specialised hardware and software.

A typical SAN configuration contains a combination of disk arrays, special SAN switches and special software. A SAN is a dedicated network of data storage devices that is intended to provide high availabability, high performance and data redundancy. It achieves this through combining a number of hardware technologies and assocaited software.

SINA - the Storage Network Industry Association defines a SAN as:
"a network whose primary purpose is the transfer of data between computer systems and storage elements"

I would extend this definition to include the data stroage elements such as the disk arrays as they really are part of the overall SAN solution.