Storage Networking Architectures
Network-Attached Storage
NAS Strengths and Limitations
Relatively inexpensive Can cause high traffic
loads on the LAN
Ease of management
Most NAS solutions are
Easily installed
optimized for file-level
Does not have to be
‘implemented’ like a SAN
storage
The NAS server can be More scalable and
reliable than DAS a bottleneck
Still dealing with TCP/IP
Accessible by any host
OS anywhere on the
New TCP/IP accelerators
network
becoming common
Strengths of NAS:
NAS devices are typically priced competitively.
Some NAS vendors’ claims of “plug-and-play” might be a bit
overstated—issues with security management and backups can still be
complex—but the appliance model used by most NAS vendors simplifies
management, making it easy to add new storage and keeping down the
cost of management.
NAS devices typically contain multiple SCSI or Fibre Channel I/O buses,
providing up to several terabytes of storage in some NAS products.
NAS devices can be ‘installed’ rather than ‘implemented’ like a SAN.
Accessibility of storage resources to multiple host operating systems
across standard IP network provides flexibility in allocating storage
resources.