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I S P  G L O S S A R Y
Your source for the most up-to-date terms, definitions, and acronyms for and about internet service providers.

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SAN
Last modified: Thursday, September 09, 2004 

Storage Area Network (SAN) is a high-speed subnetwork of shared storage devices. A storage device is a machine that contains nothing but a disk or disks for storing data.

A SAN's architecture works in a way that makes all storage devices available to all servers on a LAN or WAN. As more storage devices are added to a SAN, they too will be accessible from any server in the larger network. In this case, the server merely acts as a pathway between the end user and the stored data.

Because stored data does not reside directly on any of a network's servers, server power is utilized for business applications, and network capacity is released to the end user.

  Related Links

Network Storage -- The Basics 
This series of articles looks at the basics of network storage and some of the specific technologies in more detail.

Seagate Backup Exex
Seagate Software's Shared Storage Option implementation of SAN backup technology.

Storage Networking Industry Association
Contains information about storage area networks on behalf of the storage network industry.

Getting Beyond M&M SANs
Like the candy coated treats, SANs are an irresistable lure to criminals that can't wait to get to the soft, sweet center.

Related Categories

Client/Server Computing

Data Storage

Network Protocols

Networks

Related Terms

data mirroring

HAN

iSCSI

network

SAN fabric

SMI-S

storage

zoning