NAS Gateways (NAS Heads) provide File access to SAN devices: – Allows existing SAN (block) devices to offer File Storage – Similar to traditional NAS device, but uses external disks – NAS for accessibility - SAN for scalability
Block I/O NAS GATEWAY File I/O NOTE:
Some storage platforms provide integrated NAS and SAN in same device
NAS gateways or “heads” provide an NFS gateway to SAN storage—like a file server with back-end SAN storage, but with the performance advantages of NAS. The SAN storage appears as a LUN to the NAS head, and the NAS head presents the LUN as a network file system. NAS heads combine the accessibility of NAS storage with the scalability of SAN storage.
Some new storage platforms are in development that can provide both NAS and SAN interfaces in an integrated product.