reviews/sans_nas.xml
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<page title="Using SANs and NAS" keywords="">
<item>
<p>Author: W. Curtis Preston</p>
<p><a href="http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/sansnas/index.html">ISBN:
0596001533</a></p>
<p>Publisher: O'Reilly</p>
<p>Reviewed by: <a href="http://www.unixdaemon.net/">Dean Wilson</a></p>
</item>
<item>
<p>While storage capacity has grown (almost as fast as the amount of data
we want to store!) our ability to manage and backup critical resources
has been lagging behind, and is only just emerging from the dark ages.
Although a couple of 250GB hard drives and a DVD burner
may be an adequate solution for a home user, a company with large
databases, shared file servers, remote home directories and tight
data recovery windows needs something more; this book presents
the two best options.</p>
<p>Two main options exists for enterprise data storage needs: SANs and NAS.
This book aims to provide an introduction, comparison and enough
information to set you onto the path of efficient, trustworthy data
access and storage using the most suitable of the two technologies. The
book itself is broken up into three main sections: a brief overview of
using fibre channel as a storage back bone, a look at storage attached
networks (SANs) and a look at network attached storage (NAS).</p>
<p>The book opens with an overview of the two storage technologies and the
uses to which each is best suited. After reading this chapter you'll
know if you only need to read the SAN or NAS related chapters; although
reading the whole book cover to cover isn't a chore. The second chapter
is a short but very well written primer on fibre channel. It explains
why you'd want to use fibre channel cabling in your storage
architecture, shows the typical topologies, explains addressing and
closes with a look at its relationship with storage technology.</p>
<p>The next two chapters make up the SAN section of the book, starting with
"Managing A SAN" and then moving on to "SAN Backup and Recovery". These
chapters take a reader unfamiliar with SANs on a tour of the benefits
and issues with SANs before explaining the concepts of zoning, improving
SAN availability (via some sample topologies) and the need for
persistent binding of devices. SAN Backup and Recovery is a mixed
chapter. It shows some of the major benefits available with a SAN (LAN
free, client free and server free backups each get a lot of coverage)
and explains when you should consider each. While the coverage is
thorough and provides you with the background knowledge to make a simple
evaluation of each benefit in the context of your own environment, the
pace of this chapter didn't feel right and seemed to drag on.</p>
<p>The last section of the book covers NAS (in somewhat less detail than SANs
were covered) and provides some interesting background on how NAS
works, including details on a number of the performance gains. The
second NAS focused chapter explains how NAS can fit in to your
infrastructure, however it approaches the topic from a very high level
so while the points are all worth considering there isn't really any
meat in the answers.</p>
<p>The last chapter of the book looks at how to backup and recover NAS.
Without getting in to any real technical depth it explains the more common
techniques and shows a number of pitfalls inherent in using native
tools before delving in to the more useful NDMP (network data management
protocol); an open standard that provides a common way for backups to be
executed.</p>
<p>I first read this book near its release date almost three years ago. On my
initial read it took me from knowing nothing about SANs, NAS or basic fibre
channel usage to being able to hold a sensible conversation with the
consultants that were proposing a SAN based solution. After re-reading
it three years later the book still serves as an excellent introduction
to the technologies, terms and basic principles. While it's light on
actual technical and implementation details, this has helped the book to age
extremely well and it's still one of the best introductions to a confusing
subject.</p>
<p>Summary: Excellent introduction to SANs, NAS and fibre channel that has
aged well. 7/10</p>
</item>
</page>
reviews/sans_nas.xml
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<page title="Using SANs and NAS" keywords="">
<item>
<p>Author: W. Curtis Preston</p>
<p><a href="http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/sansnas/index.html">ISBN:
0596001533</a></p>
<p>Publisher: O'Reilly</p>
<p>Reviewed by: <a href="http://www.unixdaemon.net/">Dean Wilson</a></p>
</item>
<item>
<p>While storage capacity has grown (almost as fast as the amount of data
we want to store!) our ability to manage and backup critical resources
has been lagging behind, and is only just emerging from the dark ages.
Although a couple of 250GB hard drives and a DVD burner
may be an adequate solution for a home user, a company with large
databases, shared file servers, remote home directories and tight
data recovery windows needs something more; this book presents
the two best options.</p>
<p>Two main options exists for enterprise data storage needs: SANs and NAS.
This book aims to provide an introduction, comparison and enough
information to set you onto the path of efficient, trustworthy data
access and storage using the most suitable of the two technologies. The
book itself is broken up into three main sections: a brief overview of
using fibre channel as a storage back bone, a look at storage attached
networks (SANs) and a look at network attached storage (NAS).</p>
<p>The book opens with an overview of the two storage technologies and the
uses to which each is best suited. After reading this chapter you'll
know if you only need to read the SAN or NAS related chapters; although
reading the whole book cover to cover isn't a chore. The second chapter
is a short but very well written primer on fibre channel. It explains
why you'd want to use fibre channel cabling in your storage
architecture, shows the typical topologies, explains addressing and
closes with a look at its relationship with storage technology.</p>
<p>The next two chapters make up the SAN section of the book, starting with
"Managing A SAN" and then moving on to "SAN Backup and Recovery". These
chapters take a reader unfamiliar with SANs on a tour of the benefits
and issues with SANs before explaining the concepts of zoning, improving
SAN availability (via some sample topologies) and the need for
persistent binding of devices. SAN Backup and Recovery is a mixed
chapter. It shows some of the major benefits available with a SAN (LAN
free, client free and server free backups each get a lot of coverage)
and explains when you should consider each. While the coverage is
thorough and provides you with the background knowledge to make a simple
evaluation of each benefit in the context of your own environment, the
pace of this chapter didn't feel right and seemed to drag on.</p>
<p>The last section of the book covers NAS (in somewhat less detail than SANs
were covered) and provides some interesting background on how NAS
works, including details on a number of the performance gains. The
second NAS focused chapter explains how NAS can fit in to your
infrastructure, however it approaches the topic from a very high level
so while the points are all worth considering there isn't really any
meat in the answers.</p>
<p>The last chapter of the book looks at how to backup and recover NAS.
Without getting in to any real technical depth it explains the more common
techniques and shows a number of pitfalls inherent in using native
tools before delving in to the more useful NDMP (network data management
protocol); an open standard that provides a common way for backups to be
executed.</p>
<p>I first read this book near its release date almost three years ago. On my
initial read it took me from knowing nothing about SANs, NAS or basic fibre
channel usage to being able to hold a sensible conversation with the
consultants that were proposing a SAN based solution. After re-reading
it three years later the book still serves as an excellent introduction
to the technologies, terms and basic principles. While it's light on
actual technical and implementation details, this has helped the book to age
extremely well and it's still one of the best introductions to a confusing
subject.</p>
<p>Summary: Excellent introduction to SANs, NAS and fibre channel that has
aged well. 7/10</p>
</item>
</page>