6
Application of Storage Networks
In the first part of the book we introduced the fundamental building blocks of storage networks such as disk subsystems, file systems, virtualisation and transmission techniques. In the second part of the book our objective is to show how these building blocks can be combined in order to fulfil the requirements of IT systems such as flexibility, fault-tolerance and maintainability. As a prelude to the second part, this chapter discusses the fundamental requirements that are imposed independently of a particular application.
First of all, Section 6.1 contrasts the characteristics of various kinds of networks in order to emphasise the shape of a storage network. Section 6.2 introduces various possibilities in the storage network for device sharing and data sharing among several servers. The final part of the chapter deals with the two fundamental requirements of IT systems: availability of data (fault-tolerance, Section 6.3) and adaptability (Section 6.4).
In the following chapters we will be discussing the major topics of network backup (Chapter 7), archiving (Chapter 8), business continuity (Chapter 9) and the management of storage networks (chapters 10 and 11).
6.1 DEFINITION OF THE TERM ‘STORAGE NETWORK’
In our experience, ambiguities regarding the definition of the various transmission techniques for storage networks crop up again and again. This section therefore illustrates networks and storage networks once again from various points of ...
