Summary

This chapter introduced the concept of SANs and unified fabric.

SAN technology supports shared storage that is separate from the servers that use it. Storage resources are easily moved or allocated with no interruption of service on the servers. The consolidation of multiple lower-end storage systems into centralized, higher-end systems allows for reduced administrative overhead. Backup is easier with SAN technology because it does not tie up host capacity, nor does it require a dedicated network or bandwidth on the main network. SAN technology also supports the rapid implementation of high availability.