7 Differences and Use Cases of NAS and SAN
Some articles do not describe everything when comparing two popular storage architectures, Network Attached Storage (NAS) and Storage Area Network (SAN). In fact, NAS and SAN are complementary and competitive. They can meet different needs in the organization and provide use cases.
Some articles do not describe everything when comparing two popular storage architectures, Network Attached Storage (NAS) and Storage Area Network (SAN). In fact, NAS and SAN are complementary and competitive. They can meet different needs in the organization and provide use cases. Many large organizations have these two storage architectures.
However, corporate IT budgets are not unlimited. Organizations need to optimize their storage expenditures to meet their priority requirements. The following will help people do this by defining NAS and SAN, calling their differences, and presenting the usage of both architectures.
|| Defining NAS and SAN
(1) Network Attached Storage (NAS)
Network Attached Storage (NAS) is a file-level data storage device connected to a TCP/IP network (usually Ethernet). It usually uses the Network File System (NFS) or CIFS protocol, but other options, such as HTTP, can also be used.
The NAS appears as a shared folder in the operating system. Workers access files in the NAS just like other files on the network. The NAS relies on LAN operation. If the LAN fails, the NAS service will be interrupted.
NAS is not usually as fast as block-based SANs, but high-speed LANs can overcome most performance and latency issues.
(2) Storage Area Network (SAN)
SAN is a dedicated, high-performance network for integrating block-level storage. The network interconnects storage devices, switches, and hosts. High-end enterprise storage area networks (SANs) may also include SAN director-level switches for higher performance and more efficient capacity usage.
The server uses a host bus adapter (HBA) to connect to the SAN fabric. The server identifies the SAN as a locally attached storage, so multiple servers can share a storage pool. The SAN does not rely on local area networks and relieves the pressure on the local network by offloading data directly from the connected servers.
|| 7 differences between NAS and SAN
(1) Fabric. NAS uses a TCP/IP network, the most common being Ethernet. Traditional SANs typically run on high-speed Fibre Channel networks, although more SANs use IP-based fiber architectures because of the cost and complexity of Fibre Channel. High performance is still a requirement for SANs, and flash-based fiber protocols help bridge the gap between Fibre Channel speed and IP speed.
(2) Data processing. The two storage architectures handle data in different ways: NAS handles file-based data while SAN processes block data. This story is not that simple: NAS can use global namespaces, and SANs can access specialized SAN file systems. Global namespaces aggregate multiple NAS file systems to present a unified view. The SAN file system enables servers to share files. In the SAN architecture, each server maintains a dedicated non-shared LAN. The SAN file system allows servers to securely share data by providing file-level access to servers on the same LAN.
(3) Agreement. The NAS directly connects Ethernet to Ethernet switches through cables. NAS can use a variety of protocols to connect to servers, including NFS, SMB/CIFS, and HTTP. On the SAN side, servers use the SCSI protocol to communicate with SAN disk drive devices. The network is formed using SAS/SATA structures or mapping layers to other protocols such as Fibre Channel Protocol (FCP), Fibre Channel mapped SCSI, or TCP/IP mapped SCSI.
(4) Performance. For environments that require high-speed traffic, such as high-trading databases and e-commerce sites, SANs have higher performance. Due to the slow file system layer of NAS, NAS usually has lower throughput and higher delay, but high-speed network can compensate for the performance loss inside the NAS.
(5) Scalability. Entry-level and NAS devices are not scalable, but high-end NAS systems use clusters or scale-out nodes to scale to the petabytes. In contrast, scalability is the main driver for SAN purchases. Its network architecture enables administrators to scale performance and capacity in extended or expanded configurations.
(6) Prices. Although the price of high-end NAS will be higher than that of entry-level SAN, the cost of NAS purchase and maintenance is usually low. NAS devices have fewer hardware and software management components than storage area networks. Administrative expenses are also included in the comparative factors. On the basis of complex stacks, using the FC SAN to manage the SAN is more complicated. The rule of thumb is to calculate the annual maintenance cost of 10 to 20 times the purchase cost.
(7) Easy to manage. In a one-on-one comparison, NAS won the convenience of managing the competition. The device is easily plugged into the LAN and offers a simplified management interface. SANs require more management time than NAS devices. Deployment often requires physical changes to the data center, and continuous management often requires specialized management personnel. For the SAN, the exception is that more NAS devices do not share the common management console.
|| NAS and SAN Use Cases
NAS and SAN serve different needs and use cases. Users understand what they need and where they need it.
(1) NAS: When it needs to be integrated, centralized, and shared
• File storage and sharing. This is the main use case of NAS in SMEs and corporate remote offices. A single NAS device allows IT to consolidate multiple file servers, simplify management, save space and energy.
• Activity profile. Long-term archiving is best stored on less expensive storage media such as tape or cloud-based cold storage. NAS is ideal for searching and accessing active archives, while high-capacity NAS can replace large tape libraries for archiving.
•Big Data. Businesses have multiple options for big data: scale-out NAS, distributed JBOD nodes, all-flash arrays, and object-based storage. Scale-out NAS is suitable for processing large files, ETL (extract, convert, load), intelligent data services (such as automatic tiering and analysis). NAS is also ideal for large unstructured data (such as video surveillance and streaming media) and post-production storage.
•Virtualization. Not every user is using NAS for virtualized network sales, but use cases are growing. Both VMware and Hyper-V support data storage on NAS. This is a popular choice for new or small virtualized environments when the enterprise does not already own a SAN.
• Virtual Desktop Interface (VDI). Mid-range and high-end NAS systems provide native data management capabilities that support VDI, such as fast desktop cloning and deduplication.
(2) SAN: When acceleration, expansion and protection are needed
• Databases and e-commerce sites. Universal file services or NAS can be used for smaller databases, but high-speed transaction environments require high I/O processing speed and very low latency for the SAN. This makes SANs ideal for enterprise databases and high-traffic e-commerce sites.
• Fast backup. The server operating system treats the SAN as additional storage, enabling fast backup of the SAN. Because the server directly backs up to the SAN, backup traffic is not transmitted over the LAN. This enables faster backups without increasing Ethernet load.
• Virtualization. NAS supports virtualized environments, but SANs are more suitable for large-scale and/or high-performance deployments. Storage area networks can quickly transfer multiple I/O streams between virtual machines and virtualization hosts, and have high scalability to support dynamic processing.
• Video editing. Video editing applications require very low latency and very high data transfer rates. The SAN offers this high performance because it is directly connected to the video editing desktop client without additional server layers. The video editing environment requires a third-party SAN distributed file system and per-node load balancing control.
|| SAN and NAS Fusion
Unified (or multiprotocol) SAN/NAS combines file and block storage into one storage system. These unified systems support up to four protocols. The storage controller allocates physical storage for NAS or SAN processing.
For medium-sized businesses that require SANs and NAS, they are very popular but lack data center space and dedicated managers for individual systems. Compared with obvious deployments, the market share of converged SAN/NAS is much smaller, but it shows steady growth.
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