S T O R A G E S O L U T I O N W H I T E PA P E R
Storage Area Networks (SANs)
As the volume and criticality of corporate
data grows exponentially, companies are
seeking storage solutions that maximize
their capacity, scalability and flexibility,
while controlling costs. To meet the
growing information needs of the business,
IT managers must find ways to make more
data more available to more users — while
ensuring that data is properly protected.
Challenge: Managing Data,
Managing Costs
Today, companies of all sizes — from small-
to-medium sized businesses to large
enterprises — are experiencing an
unprecedented set of storage challenges,
including the following:
• Dramatic growth in data, including both
transactional data required to run the
business and reference data.
• Increased requirements to keep data readily
accessible and protected for rapid
restoration to ensure business continuance
and disaster recovery.
• Need to make data accessible to users,
systems and applications across the
organization, enabling greater collaboration
and new data-driven capabilities and services.
Adding to these challenges are the budgetary
realities facing many IT managers, who are
constantly expected to do more with less.
Traditionally, companies have accommodated
storage needs with Direct Attach Storage
(DAS) solutions that link storage resources
directly to associated servers or platforms.
While DAS is suitable for environments with
an individual server or a limited number of
servers, the environment rapidly becomes
unmanageable if there are multiple servers or
significant data growth. Performance and
scalability are limited and, in such multi-
server environments, DAS resources cannot be
efficiently allocated. DAS systems also limit
data sharing and tie up valuable LAN
bandwidth during backup windows.
The Answer: Storage Area Executive Summary
Networks
Since their introduction nearly a decade ago, Problem
Storage Area Networks (SANs) have become a Companies need efficient,
mainstay for companies looking to increase scalable solutions for making
data available to servers,
storage utilization and flexibility, while reducing applications and users across
total costs. By providing a network of storage the enterprise.
resources to servers, SANs uncouple storage
from individual platforms, allowing data transfer Solution
among all nodes on the storage network. Adaptec provides iSCSI and
Fibre Channel Storage Area
Once reserved for large enterprises, SANs are Network (SAN), using low-cost,
now within reach of small-to-medium sized high-reliability SATA/SAS
interconnect and drive
businesses, thanks to recent technology solutions that reduce storage
advances — including the introduction of low- TCO, while dramatically
cost/high-performance Serial ATA disk, SAS increasing storage efficiency,
drives, the mainstreaming of iSCSI data scalability and availability.
transport protocol, and existing moderate price Benefits
drops in high-speed Fibre Channel solutions.
Increase efficiency by pooling
SAN Benefits data resources
SANs offer a range of benefits that address the Leverage iSCSI technology for
needs of today’s data-intensive businesses: simple deployment and
management
• Lower total cost of ownership (TCO) – While
Leverage SATA, SAS, and Fibre
the initial cost of a SAN solution may be Channel technology to deliver
higher than that of DAS, the inherent ultra-high performance and
flexibility and scalability of a SAN, together availability
with its reduced management complexity Scale cost-effectively to meet
and cost, deliver long-term cost benefits. growing storage needs
SANs can be tailored cost-effectively to a Reduce management cost
company’s needs. When additional capacity and complexity
is required, it can be expanded without
Enhance data protection
downtime. across the enterprise
• Efficient capacity utilization – By
consolidating storage resources and sharing
capacity across multiple servers, SANs
generally utilize 50% more capacity per
storage device than DAS. This further
optimizes the storage spend.
• Centralized storage management – By
centralizing the management of all storage
resources, even vast amounts of storage can
be easily managed by a small IT staff. A
single IT person can manage 4-7 times the
amount of capacity as compared to DAS
resources, dramatically reducing
management costs and headaches.

Storage Area Networks (SANs)
• Superior data protection – SANs provide the infrastructure to
implement advanced data protection features — like snapshot
and mirroring/replication — to enhance backup and recovery
and Disaster Recovery features critical to uptime and business
success.
• Increased user productivity – By erasing technology boundaries
between data and users across the enterprise, SANs increase
collaboration and productivity, saving time and money and
enhancing corporate profitability.
Two SAN Alternatives
With their growth in popularity and technology advances, two
types of SAN solutions have emerged: one based on Fibre Channel
interface technology; the other based on the more recent IP-based
iSCSI protocol. Each offers its own set of advantages.
Fibre Channel – In this SAN infrastructure, storage and servers are
linked via a high-speed network of interconnected Fibre Channel
switches for high-speed, block-level data access. Advantages
include:
• Very high performance – up to 2Gb throughput, making Fibre
Channel ideal for demanding, transaction-intensive storage
applications.
• Very high availability, enabling a range of redundant
configurations to deliver the uninterrupted data access required
for mission-critical applications.
SI
Backup Server
iSC re Ch
Fib
SAN
(Fibre Channel/iSCSI)
Application Server
iS
Fib CSI
re
Application Server
Offline Storage
Tape Library
Figure 1: SAN Solution
S T O R A G E S O L U T I O N W H I T E PA P E R
• Proven SAN technology, with a solid track record of reliability in
demanding enterprise environments.
While these benefits are compelling, the high cost of Fibre Channel
technology — and its requirement for specialized IT knowledge
and skills — has generally limited its use to mission-critical
applications for large enterprises.
iSCSI – This SAN infrastructure leverages the flexibility and
ubiquity of IP network and Ethernet technology to deliver all the
consolidation, scalability and flexibility benefits of a SAN, at a
lower cost than fibre channel advantages include:
• Very cost-effective – iSCSI SANs utilize low-cost IP network
elements to deliver a Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) 43% lower
than that of DAS…and 50% lower TCO than FC SANs.
• Easy to deploy and manage, leveraging industry-standard IP
technology, standards and protocols and requiring only limited
staffing, with no specialized skill sets.
These advantages have made iSCSI SANs a popular alternative for
smaller organizations and workgroups seeking a cost-effective
solution. They are ideal for Windows, Linux, and Novell
environments where server proliferation is making storage
management complex and expensive.
SAS Expansion
l
ne
an Primary Storage
iSGSI
Fibre Channel
Secondary Storage SATA Expansion
Ch
an
ne
l
Mixed Application
SAS/SATA Expansion
 S T O R A G E S O L U T I O N W H I T E PA P E R

Storage Area Networks (SANs)

Which to Choose? • iSCSI SAN solutions that leverage the cost-effectiveness of IP

Which SAN alternative is right for your organization? The table
below addresses specific criteria, capabilities and limitations for
each SAN technology.
Criteria iSCSI SANs
Initial cost con- • Low deployment costs
siderations • Leverages existing IP network
resources
• Lower management costs
(TCO) than fibre channel SAN
and DAS
Scalability • Implementation dependent
Performance • 60-80% of FC
• Up to 1Gb
• Growth path to 10Gb
Availability • Multiple paths between
servers and storage enable a
constant connection, even if
some paths go down.
Distance between • No distance limitations
storage and
servers
Ideal for… • Small-to-Medium sized
businesses
• Remote offices/Branch Offices
Departmental/Workgroups
• Companies with modest IT
staff
• Companies with short
investment-return cycles
* May vary with Applications
Solution: Flexible SAN Solutions
Adaptec enables you to take full advantage of today’s industry-
leading SAN technologies with a full range of solutions that deliver
the highest level of data availability and performance in any
environment. Adaptec offers:
• Fibre Channel SAN solutions that provide the ultra-high
performance and availability required for demanding enterprise
environments.
Fibre Channel SANs
• High deployment costs
• Requires special Fibre Channel
infrastructure
• Requires specialized training
• Lower management costs (TCO)
than DAS
• 126 devices in arbitrated loop
configuration;
• 16 million devices in a switched
configuration
• Up to 2Gb
• Growth path to 10Gb
• Multiple paths between servers
and storage enable a constant
connection, even if some paths go
down.
• Limited to 10km
• Large businesses/Data Centers
• Mission Critical Applications -
Applications requiring highest
performance and availability
• Companies with robust IT expertise
• Companies with longer investment-
return cycles
technology to provide cost-effective storage environments that
are easy to deploy and manage.
• Advanced SAN management software designed to enhance
uptime and reduce management costs for your networked
storage infrastructure.
• Advanced data protection software — Adaptec mirroring and
snapshot — that lets you tailor your SAN to your business
continuance requirements, allowing you to cost-effectively
deploy and manage a high-availability solution to ensure that
your critical data is protected, backed-up and quickly restorable.
Based on open industry standards, Adaptec products offer the
flexibility to select best-of-breed hardware and software,
simplifying integration, deployment and maintenance.
Adaptec protects your storage technology investment and reduces
your risk through extensive interoperability testing. So you can
build best-of-breed storage solutions with confidence…and
without the headaches.
Through the Adaptec Connect Solution Partner Program, we work
with leading industry partners to give you the flexibility to leverage
industry-leading hardware and software to ensure your valuable
data is protected and secure.
Let Adaptec show you how to meet your company’s storage
challenges with SAN solutions that combine unparalleled
performance and flexibility with unmatched value.
Expansion storage units utilize cost-effect, high-performance,
highly-reliable, SATA/SAS interconnects and disk drives to
dramatically effects the overall costs of storage.

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Copyright 2005 Adaptec, Inc. All rights reserved. Adaptec, the Adaptec logo, Snap Appliance, the Snap Appliance logo, Snap Server, Snap Disk, GuardianOS, SnapOS, and Storage Manager are trademarks of Adaptec, Inc., which
may be registered in some jurisdictions. Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation, used under license. All other trademarks used are owned by their respective owners.
Information supplied by Adaptec, Inc., is believed to be accurate and reliable at the time of printing, but Adaptec, Inc., assumes no responsibility for any errors that may appear in this document.
Adaptec, Inc., reserves the right, without notice, to make changes in product design or specifications. Information is subject to change without notice.

Part Number: 906682-013 Printed in U.S.A. 07/05 3929_1.4