The aspect of storage of data has emerged to be one of the main concerns for the IT and IT related industries in today’s world. In these industries each day a huge amount for data is produced and without proper storage system those data can get lost, forever.
That is why with each passing day the new kinds of technologies related to the storing solution are created. However, not all of them have the capability to satisfy the need of the market.
The NAS and SAN are two systems which have emerged to be the dominating technologies in the field of storage of the data. In this article a comprehensive analysis about the basic difference between NAS and SAN will be done.
What are these?
Well before jumping right in the process of finding out their differences it is first necessary for you to have a basic understanding about what they are? They both are storage devices connected with a network; however, their difference lies in their mode of working.
NAS is Network Attached Storage. It is a single storage device which mainly operates on the data files.
On the other hand the full form of SAN is Storage Area Network. In the SAN technology the operation is mainly involved with the disk block. It comprises of a network of local multiple devices.
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Mode of connection
The mode of connection for each kind of storage system is different. There are special kinds of needs for the precise protocols by which you can connect the storage device to your system for the transfer of the data. In the NAS system you will need the base of Local Area Network or LAN. The protocols which will be used by this storage technology are that of AFP, CIFS and Samba.
Now, when you take a look at the SAN then the platform which is needed is that of a SCSI Fibre channels. This infrastructure involves a lot of other things like Fibre Channel card and Fibre Channel Switch to make a fruitful transfer of Data. These things are made available from the client’s side only.
Size does matters
NAS type of storage is perfect for that kind of business network which are small in size. The small sized business network can easily connect their LAN to the NAS Device. The NAS device retains its own IP address and helps you in storing your data in a perfect manner.
Now there are many who have to manage a very big business network. For those the technology of SAN is the perfect one. This technology enables in accessing of a larger space of storage where storing of a huge amount of data is possible.And, it is needless to say that when compared in terms of price then the SAN turns out to be far more expensive than the NAS.
The blurring line
Now with the need of adaptability, new innovations are made in which the difference between NAS and SAN is slowly blurring. It is no doubt that they both are different in nature but experts are trying to develop something which have the goods of both but the bad of none.