CompTIA exam study guide presentations by instructor Brian Ferrill, PACE-IT (Progressive, Accelerated Certifications for Employment in Information Technology) "Funded by the Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, Grant #TC-23745-12-60-A-53" Learn more about the PACE-IT Online program: www.edcc.edu/pace-it

1. Storage area
networks.

2. Page 2
Instructor, PACE-IT Program – Edmonds Community College
Areas of Expertise Industry Certifications
 PC Hardware
 Network Administration
 IT Project Management
 Network Design
 User Training
 IT Troubleshooting
Qualifications Summary
Education
 M.B.A., IT Management, Western Governor’s University
 B.S., IT Security, Western Governor’s University
Entrepreneur, executive leader, and proven manger
with 10+ years of experience turning complex issues
into efficient and effective solutions.
Strengths include developing and mentoring diverse
workforces, improving processes, analyzing
business needs and creating the solutions
required— with a focus on technology.

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– Justifications for storage area
networks.
– SAN technology.
PACE-IT.

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Storage area networks.

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Several factors have led to the
increased demand for data
storage—one of them is the
dramatic decrease in the
actual cost of data storage.
What has happened is that, as the cost of storage has
decreased, the demand for storage has increased dramatically.
Business are now generating and analyzing huge amounts of
data in an effort to create competitive advantages, leading to
more demand for storage capacity. Another factor is that the
demand for the data to be available from anywhere and
accessible from any device has also increased.
A storage area network (SAN) can be a solution to the need for
both storage capacity and high availability.
Storage area networks.

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– Advantages of the SAN.
» Scalability: the amount of data that is being generated is huge,
which has led to a need to store that data. The SAN is more
scalable than other options.
• As storage needs increase, the capacity of the SAN can be
easily increased to meet them.
» Data availability: demand has increased for data to be
available at anytime from anywhere. A SAN can play a vital role
in creating that accessibility.
• SANs are often deployed as part of a cloud computing
solution, thus increasing that availability.
» Optimization: as the requirements to store data are removed
from application servers, those servers can then be optimized
to run those applications more efficiently.
• At the same time, data storage is also optimized.
Storage area networks.

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Storage area networks.

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The storage area network
(SAN) and network attached
storage (NAS) often get
confused with one another.
The SAN is an actual network of devices that have
the sole purpose of storing data efficiently. The NAS
is a specifically designed network appliance that has
been configured to store data more efficiently than
standard storage methods.
The difference is that a NAS is a data storage
appliance that is placed on a network, while a SAN
is a network of data storage devices. It is not
uncommon for a SAN to contain multiple NAS
devices.
Storage area networks.

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– Fibre channel (FC).
» A high speed network technology originally developed to
operate over fiber optic cables only.
• The standards have been modified to allow the use of copper
cabling in conjunction with the fiber.
» Commonly used to connect SANs.
• Uses Fibre Channel Protocol (FCP) as its transport protocol
to transmit SCSI (Small Computer System Interface)
commands to storage devices (e.g., NAS appliances).
– Internet SCSI (iSCSI).
» An IP based networking standard used to connect data storage
facilities and SANs.
• Allows SCSI commands and processes to take place over
long distances.
– Jumbo frames.
» Allows for greater throughput of data by allowing up to 9000
bytes of data in a single frame.
• Can greatly increase the efficiency of the SAN.
Storage area networks.

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Storage area networks.
The reduction in cost of storage and the increased desire to access data at
anytime from anywhere has led to an increase in the demand for data
storage. The SAN is a solution to the data storage needs of the modern era.
SANs are scalable, can lead to increased data availability, and can also be
used to optimize networking performance.
Topic
Justification for storage area
networks.
Summary
A SAN is a network of storage capacity, while a NAS is a data storage
device (or devices) that is attached to a network. Multiple NAS devices may
be found within a SAN. Fibre Channel (FC) uses FCP as the transport
protocol to connect SANs and to transmit SCSI commands within the SANs.
Internet SCSI (iSCSI) allows SCSI commands and processes to occur over
long distances. Jumbo frames can be used to increase data throughput by
allowing payloads of up to 9000 bytes.
SAN technology.

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THANK YOU!

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created by the grantee and does not necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S.
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Administration, Grant #TC-23745-12-60-A-53.
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