Network
Attached Storage (NAS) Explained
What
does network attached storage do?
Network-attached storage
is a hard disk storage system - including
RAID
configuration, with its own LAN IP address rather than being attached to the department computer that is serving applications to a network's workstation users.
It has it's own software for configuring and mapping file
locations to the network attached devices. A NAS can be included
as part of a more comprehensive solution like SAN.
As
these devices have an IP address they can be accessed directly
rather than through an intermediary.
In a
NAS because the storage resides separate to the server applications
files are served faster as they aren't competing for the same resources.
Another
advantage with Network Attached Storage is that even in
environments where you have different servers with different
operating systems the
storage, management and the backup of the
data can be centralised.
Some
of the big advantages of NAS include it's expandability. It's easy
to add extra storage. NAS also brings an extra level of fault
tolerance to the network as you can include mirror RAID features.
More on
RAID
|
