Ground Rules

In order to ensure the productivity of our training, we will

need to be
- Punctual
- Put mobile on vibration and do not receive calls within the
training room
- Be more interactive

Storage Basics

Storage Basics

Course Objectives
At the end of this course, you will be able to
Have overview of a Storage network.
Differentiate between a DAS, SAN & NAS.
Identify features and benefits of each.
Have overview of Fibre Channel protocol.
List SAN components.
Define different SAN topologies.

Storage Basics

Host system components

Host system Interact with the
operating system and applications that
require data.
Bus - for example, connecting the CPU
to memory
Ports - connections to external devices
such as printers, scanners, or storage.
Cables copper or fiber optic wires
connecting a host to external devices.
Storage System Devices where the
data is stored.

Storage Basics

Storage System Environment

Hard Disk
Controller
Bus
Ports
Cables

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Host Environment Logical components

Software applications
Operating system
Databases
File systems
Volume Management

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Improving Data Availability at the Host

Multiple HBAs connect hosts to storage devices
Multi-pathing software uses redundant paths to
ensure uninterrupted communication between the host
and the storage
Clustering uses redundant host systems to improve
data availability

Storage Basics

Traditional Protocols for Disk access

IDE/ATA: Integrated Device Electronics (IDE) / Advanced
Technology Attachment (ATA)
Most Popular for Desktop and laptop systems
Low cost

SCSI: Small Computer System Interface

Most popular hard disk interface for servers
Higher cost than IDE/ATA
Used primarily in server environments

Storage Basics

SCSI Model

Initiator ID uniquely identifies an initiator that is used as an

originating address,
Target ID uniquely identifies a target. Used as the address
for exchanging commands and status information with initiators.
Logical Unit Numbers (LUNs) identifies a specific Logical
Unit in a target. Logical Units can be more than a single disk.

Storage Basics

SCSI Addressing

Initiator ID a number from 0 to 15 with the most common

value being 7
Target ID a number from 0 to 15
LUN a number that specifies a device addressable
through a target

Storage Basics

Disk Addressing on UNIX hosts

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DAS - Direct attached storage

Storage (usually disk or tape) directly attached by a
cable to the computer
The most familiar form of storage.
This offers high performance.
Uses various versions of IDE, SCSI.
Access Devices like Hard disks, tape drives
& Robotic controls in a Tape library.
Now expanding to USB based connections.

Storage Basics

Channels/Bus Topology
Traditional host to storage communication used

Parallel Transport like IDE, SCSI & ESCON.

High performance
Low protocol overhead
Static configuration
Short distances
Connectivity is limited to a single host

Storage Basics

Networks e.g. Ethernet

Use Serial Transport
More flexible
Provide greater distance capabilities
Provide shared connectivity between host systems
Support heterogeneous protocols

Storage Basics

SAN Whats different

Uses a network to create a shared pool of storage
devices.
Allows sharing data between different network servers.
Provides a fast connection medium for data backup,
restoration, archiving and retrieval.
Network allows the devices to be connected over long
distances.

Storage Basics

SAN Storage Area Networks

SAN is a collection of computers and storage devices,

connected over a high-speed optical network and dedicate
the task of storing and protecting data.
SAN devices use optical fiber or bus based access topologi
for very fast disks connected directly through special netw
and special network cards.
The disks used are typically SCSI or Fiber Channel
disks.
These are implement for high end environments.

Storage Basics
When should Storage Area Networks be used?

SANs are optimized for high bandwidth block level I/O

Suited for the demands of real time applications that require
access to data resources such as Transactional databases,
Video streaming Applications with high transaction rate and
data volatility
Used to consolidate heterogeneous storage environments
Gain efficiencies in the management of storage
resources including capacity, performance and
connectivity
Physical consolidation
Logical consolidation
With proper host configuration, application I/O to a storage
array can be made sufficiently redundant

Storage Basics

A Comparison

Storage Basics

Fiber vs Fibre
The word fibre is used to describe the fiber optic cables
used in a SAN.
To differentiate them from the optical cables used in other
networks, such as the Ethernet.
Also, the protocol used in a SAN is called Fibre Channel.

Storage Basics

Fibre Channel - why and how?

Increase in the number of servers and storage devices.
Network like flexibility, channel-like reliability and
performance.
The SCSI driver is well implemented in all operating
system.
SCSI commands are mapped to Fibre Channel constructs,
then encapsulated and transported within Fibre Channel
frames.
This allows the SCSI protocol to be used over a Fibre
Channel network.

Storage Basics

Fibre Channel features

Initiator arbitrates for access before transmitting, this
ensures channel-like access to target.
All SCSI commands and user data is sent over 2112 byte
Fibre Channel payload frames.
An open standard (IEEE T11 committee)
Low latency: Less than 2 micro second latency input port
to output port of FC

Storage Basics

Fibre Channel features

Connectivity: Thousands of devices per fabric (network)
Performance: Current speeds: 1 and 2 Gbit/sec (100 and
200 MBytes/sec), 4 Gbit/sec & 10 Gbit/sec (400MBytes/sec
and 1 GBytes/sec) just released.
Long distance: Up to 10KM distance, even longer with
extenders.
Heterogeneous systems support - UNIX, Windows etc.

Storage Basics

Nodes
A device e.g.server or storage with a Fibre Channel
Interface is called a Node.
The Fibre Channel ports on that Device are called Ports.
Each Port has a Transmit Fibre and a Receive Fibre
In other words SAN is a collection of nodes attached to
each other using a device called as a switch.
Nodes can be an Initiator (HBA) or a Target (Storage).

Storage Basics

SAN Fabric
Fabric is a term used to describe a generic switching
environment.
It can consists one or more interconnected switches
(domains) One Fibre Channel Switch = One Fabric
Domain
Maximum of 239 domains in a single Fabric.
Identifiers are Domain ID and Worldwide Name (WWN)

Storage Basics

SAN Topology
Point-to-point - Direct-connect a server to storage
Arbitrated loop (FC-AL) - Server to hub to storage
Switched fabric (FC-SW) - Server to switch to
storage

Storage Basics

SAN components
Host Bus Adapter (HBA)
Fibre/Copper Cabling
Hub
Fibre Channel or IP Switch
Multi-protocol Gateway or Router
Storage Array
Management System

Storage Basics

FC Connectors
SC (Standard Connector)
LC (Lucent Connector)

ST Connector

Storage Basics

FC (HBAs) Host Bus Adapters

Provides an Interface between the Servers or
Workstations Internal Bus (e.g.PCI or SBUS) and Fibre
Channel network.
HBA software driver provides the storage information
required by the Operating System.
Handles I/O and Control requests.
Copper/Optical media support.
May be dual port cards.

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Storage Arrays
Modular /Departmental / Mid-range
Monolithic / Enterprise

Storage Basics

Modular Storage Arrays

Small companies/department level
Smaller disk capacity and less global cache
Takes up less floor space and costs less
Can start with a smaller number of disks and scale as needed
Fewer front end ports for connection to servers
Performance can degrade as capacity increases
Cannot connect to mainframes
Limited redundancy and connectivity
Usually have separate controllers from the disk array

Storage Basics

Enterprise Storage Arrays

Large storage capacity
Large amounts of cache to temporarily store I/Os before writing to
disk
Redundant components for improved data protection and
availability
Many built in features to make them more robust and fault tolerant
Usually connect to mainframes or very powerful open systems
hosts
Multiple front end ports to provide connectivity to multiple servers
Multiple back end Fibre Channel or SCSI RAID controllers to
manage disk processing.
Expensive

Storage Basics

Zoning
Soft zoning: Zone by World Wide Name
Flexibility
Reconfiguration
Troubleshooting

Hard zoning: Zone by physical switch port

More Secure
Simplified HBA replacement

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NAS Network-Attached Storage

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NAS Network-Attached Storage

File Server + Networked Storage = NAS
A specialized file server that connects to the network.
Shares file systems.
It consists of hard disk storage, including multi-disk RAID
systems, and a slimmed-down operating system for
configuring and mapping file locations to the networkattached device.
It processes I/O requests by supporting the popular file
sharing protocols, primarily CIFS for Windows and NFS for
Unix.

Storage Basics

NAS

Client Application

Built on the concept of shared

storage on a Local Area

Network

Application

Application

Windows Client

IP Network

Leverages the benefits of a

network file server and

network storage

Utilizes industry-standard

network and file sharing

protocols

File Server

File Server + Network-attached storage = NAS

RAID

Storage Basics

NAS Network-Attached Storage

Use existing LAN/WAN
Throughput depends on LAN/WAN infrastructure & client
machines.
NAS head or gateway: Its a device which does not have any
integrated storage, but instead connects to a SAN.

Storage Basics

NAS Operations
All I/O operations use file level I/O
protocols

NAS
Application

No awareness of disk volumes or disk

sectors
IP Network

File system is mounted remotely using a

network file access protocol, such as:
-Network File System (NFS)
-Common Internet File System(CIFS)

I/O is redirected to remote system

Utilizes mature data transport (e.g.,
TCP/IP) and media access protocols
NAS device assumes responsibility for
organizing data (R/W) on disk and
managing cache

NAS Device
Direct
Attach

OR

Disk

SAN

Storage Basics

NAS Advantages
Highest availability
Scales for growth
Avoids file replication
Increases flexibility
Reduces complexity
Improves security
Costs

Storage Basics

NAS Applications
Highest availability
Scales for growth
Avoids file replication
Increases flexibility
Reduces complexity
Improves security
Costs

Storage Basics

NAS Advantages
CAD/CAM environments, where widely dispersed
engineers have to share and modify design drawings
Serving Web pages to thousands of workstations at the
same time
Easily sharing company-wide information among
employees
Database application
-Low transaction rate
-Low data volatility
-Smaller in size
-High performance not needed

Storage Basics

Summary
You have learned
The various types of Storage
Advantages of FC SAN over traditional SCSI storage
Components and Terms used in a SAN & NAS.