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Storage Networking & Information Management Primer
Storage Networking & Information Management Primer
This section of the SNIA Education website contains information about the
technologies around networked storage and managed information. From NAS and
SAN to content-addressable storage, from file area networks to security to
the basics on disk and tape, this material will be a helpful primer to gain
an understanding on the tools and solutions for today's storage
challenges.
These selections come from leading authors and SNIA contributors, and in
some cases are official SNIA technical tutorials, produced in SNIA
vendor-neutral fashion. SNIA does not claim that each article is forever
accurate, current, or represents a complete picture on every technology.
Each author's opinions and observations do not necessarily represent a SNIA
architecture or technical recommendation. However, there are other resources
to consult, and there are more advanced training opportunities--including SNIA-endorsed storage certification
courses--that will help in greater discernment. These articles are
included, however, in that they represent significant contributions from
some of the leading technologists in our industry.
Note: The materials for this primer are copyrighted by either SNIA
or the original publishers, and there are significant restrictions on their
use, republication, or copying in any form. Please consult each article for
the relevant copyright information; in some cases, helpful links are
provided so that you can purchase an entire text from an author.
Please send suggestions for other articles to primer@snia.org
Primer Contents
1.
What Storage Networking Is and What It Can Mean to You
from Storage Area Network Essentials: A Complete Guide to
Understanding and Implementing SANs
Authors: Richard Barker and Paul Massiglia, Publisher: John Wiley &
Sons, Published: November 2002, ISBN: 0471034452. Copyright© 2002 by John
Wiley and Sons, used by permission. All rights reserved.
This chapter discusses introductory subjects such as:
- What a storage area network is
- What properties a storage area network must have, should have, and may
have
- The importance of software to storage area networks
- Information processing capabilities enabled by storage area
networks
To purchase the entire book from which this chapter is taken, please
click here to purchase at Amazon.com.
2. Storage Devices: Disk and
Tape
Reproduced from the book Storage Networking Fundamentals: An
Introduction to Storage Devices, Subsystems, Applications, Management, and
File Systems
Author: Marc Farley, Publisher: Cisco Press, ISBN: 1587051621.
Copyright© 2005, Cisco Systems, Inc. Reproduced by permission of Pearson
Education, Inc., 800 East 96th Street, Indianapolis, IN 46240. Written
permission from Pearson Education, Inc. is required for all other uses.
Storage devices perform the fundamental function of storage networks, which
is the reading and writing of data stored on nonvolatile media. They operate
in the microscopic realm, combining advanced magnetic physics, chemistry,
and electronics. Demands to increase capacity and performance continue to
force the industry to conduct fundamental scientific research on the
microscopic characteristics of materials. This chapter mostly examines disk
drive technology as the device that is used tar more than any other. Tape
drives are looked at at the end of the chapter.
To purchase the entire book from which this chapter is taken, please
click here to purchase at Amazon.com.
3.
The SNIA Shared Storage Model
A helpful guide to understand the various components in a networked storage
environment. Useful in understanding terminology and how various components
interact in the storage infrastructure. A series of SNIA tutorials.
(PDF format; full booklet available for download)
4.
Storage Management: The SNIA Technical Tutorial
The author introduces the protocols and issues related to the management of
storage, and details the SNIA development foundation for SMI-S, the storage
management industry specification being developed by the SNIA.
Author: Roger Cummings. Copyright © 2004 Storage Networking Industry
Association (SNIA). All rights reserved. Photography, illustration, and text
incorporated into SNIA printed publications are copyright protected by SNIA
or other owners and/or representatives. Downloading, screen capturing or
copying these items in any manner for any use other than personally viewing
the original document in its entirety is prohibited.
(PDF format; full booklet available for download)
5. Introducing File Area Networks
Authors: Michael O'Connor & Josh Judd. Publisher: Infinity Publishing,
May 2007. Copyright© 2007 by Brocade Corporation; all rights reserved,
chapter selections used by permission.
This book contains information about File Area Networks (FANs). It is
also
designed to be useful as a desktop reference for FAN administrators.
Information from many white papers, classes, and the authors’ experience has
been combined to create this work.
(PDF format; full booklet available for download)
6. IP Storage Whitepaper: The IP Storage Forum
This paper is aimed at a rather wide audience ranging from executives to
technical specialists. The first section is a high-level overview of what is
IP Storage, why consider using IP Storage and briefly discusses how IP
Storage is different from other storage networking technologies. A
significant portion of the material presented comes from earlier Storage
Networking World Conferences, particularly the “IP Storage Technologies”
presentation by David Dale and Peter Hunter and the presentation of “NAS and
iSCSI Technology Overview” by Wolfgang Singer. The second section contains a
more technical discussion of the three main technologies deployed in IP
Storage; namely iSCSI, iFCP and FCIP. All three of these protocols are now
fully ratified and vendors have a wide range of products in the market that
are utilizing them.
(PDF format; full booklet available for download)
7.
Storage Security: The SNIA Technical Tutorial
This tutorial contains information about storage security. After a detailed
introduction to some of the history behind digital security, the author,
Roger Cummings, outlines the salient issues that need to be considered when
designing and deploying a secure storage networking infrastructure.
Author: Roger Cummings. Copyright © 2004 Storage Networking Industry
Association (SNIA). All rights reserved. Photography, illustration, and text
incorporated into SNIA printed publications are copyright protected by SNIA
or other owners and/or representatives. Downloading, screen capturing or
copying these items in any manner for any use other than personally viewing
the original document in its entirety is prohibited.
(PDF format; full booklet available for download)
8. Storage
Virtualization: The SNIA Technical Tutorial
This booklet contains information storage virtualization, and discusses
both in-band and out-of-band virtualization technologies.
Authors: Frank Bunn, Gene Nagle, Rob Peglar and Nick Simpson. Copyright ©
2004 Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA). All rights reserved.
Photography, illustration, and text incorporated into SNIA printed
publications are copyright protected by SNIA or other owners and/or
representatives. Downloading, screen capturing or copying these items in any
manner for any use other than personally viewing the original document in
its entirety is prohibited.
(PDF format; full booklet available for download)