Storage Networking Architectures Storage Area Network
Limitations of SANs:
Because SAN hardware and software are not commodity components today, the initial investment in a SAN can be high. Large SANs offer management challenges, especially in multi-vendor environments.
Part of the management challenge is that storage personnel must be trained in new SAN technologies, such as Fibre Channel. While Fibre Channel is a robust and stable technology, it is not as mature as Ethernet and IP. Different vendors implement features in different ways. Switch interoperability, multipathing, and storage device management is an area in which interoperability issues are still significant. Product selection has to be carefully considered and the supported solutions requirement must be taken into account. Many vendors will only support a subset of the available products, based on tried and tested configurations.