Storage Area Networks: Designing and Implementing a Mass Storage System

Book description

  • Evaluating, planning, and migrating to SAN storage architectures

  • SAN concepts, components, and applications—in depth

  • Management, backup, disaster recovery, and day-to-day administration

  • Includes an overview of Fibre Channel, the SAN enabler

  • The complete guide to SAN technology for every implementer and manager!

    Every month, enterprises require more information, delivered faster, with greater reliability—and traditional data storage methods no longer suffice. Enter the Storage Area Network (SAN), which can store enormous amounts of data, serve it at lightning speed, scale to meet accelerating growth, and deliver unprecedented reliability. Now, there's a complete guide to SAN technology for every IT professional and decision-maker. Storage Area Networks covers it all: key concepts, components, applications, implementation examples, management, and much more. Coverage includes:

  • What SANs are, what they can do, and how they overcome the critical limitations of earlier data storage systems

  • Evolving to SANs: best practices for building SANs from your legacy storage topologies

  • An overview of Fibre Channel, the key enabling technology for SANs

  • SAN configuration, device, and connectivity options—in depth

  • Well-managed SANs: day-to-day administration, backup, restore, and disaster recovery

  • A detailed review of Hewlett-Packard's market-leading SAN product line: Fibre Channel chips, host bus adapters, hubs, arrays, tape libraries, bridges, switches, and more

  • Storage Area Networks also previews the future of SAN technology: policy-based SANs, emerging applications, and more. Whether you're considering a SAN for the first time, or you want a comprehensive management reference for the SAN you've already invested in, this book offers the insights, techniques, and guidance you need right now.

    Table of contents

    1. Copyright
    2. List of Figures
    3. Foreword
    4. Preface
    5. About the Authors
    6. The Storage Area Network
      1. What Is a SAN?
      2. Why Are SANs Needed?
      3. The Signs of a SAN
    7. A Brief History of Storage
      1. How Did We Get to Networking Storage Anyway?
      2. Tapes
      3. Disks
      4. Local Area Networks (LANs)
      5. Network Attached Storage
      6. Mass Storage
      7. RAID
      8. Storage Area Networks (SANs)
    8. A Brief Review of Fibre Channel
      1. Current Mass Storage Architectures
      2. How Does Fibre Channel Help?
      3. Advantages of Fibre Channel for Mass Storage
      4. Fibre Channel Basics
      5. Topologies
      6. Fibre Channel Functional Levels and Protocols
      7. Functional Levels
      8. FC-0: The Physical Layer
      9. FC-1: The Transmission Protocol Level
      10. FC-2: Framing Protocol
      11. FC-3: Common Services
      12. FC-4: Mapping
      13. Upper Level Protocols
      14. Classes of Service
      15. FC-AL Characteristics
      16. Operation of the FC-AL
      17. Hubs
      18. Hub Topologies
    9. The SAN in Detail
      1. SAN Principles
      2. SAN Terms and Building Blocks
      3. SAN Topologies
      4. Other SAN Considerations
      5. Summary
    10. Managing the SAN
      1. Generic Requirements for SAN Management
      2. Hewlett-Packard SAN Management Products
    11. Backup and Restore
      1. Why Do Backups?
      2. SAN Demands on Backup
      3. The Painful Rules of Backup
      4. SAN Backup Media
      5. SAN Backup Devices
      6. SAN Backup Topologies
    12. Industry Implementations
      1. So Now We Have One; What Do We Do with It?
      2. General SAN Implementations
      3. Special SAN Implementations
    13. HP SAN Hardware Products
      1. Hewlett-Packard’s Fibre Channel Chips
      2. Fibre Channel Host Bus Adapters
      3. FC-AL Hubs
      4. Disk Arrays
      5. Tape Libraries
      6. SureStore E SCSI FC-SCSI FC 4/2 Bridge
      7. Fibre Channel Switches
    14. An Interview with Duane Zitzner
      1. Biography
      2. Interview
    15. Future Developments
      1. What Drives Change?
      2. SAN Technology Developments
      3. Technology Changes Outside the SAN
      4. New IT Applications
      5. The IT SAN Management Professional
      6. Future Applications
      7. The Final Word
    16. Glossary
    17. Bibliography
      1. General References
      2. Resources on the World Wide Web
      3. Hewlett-Packard Product Documents

    Product information

    • Title: Storage Area Networks: Designing and Implementing a Mass Storage System
    • Author(s): Ralph H. Thornburgh, Barry J. Schoenborn
    • Release date: September 2000
    • Publisher(s): Pearson
    • ISBN: 0130279595