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Storage Area Networks for Dummies
Customer Reviews: 1 Average Customer Rating:  Write a Review and tell the world about this title! People who purchase this book frequently purchase: - DNS and BIND, 5th Edition; Cricket Liu, et al, $29.95, 40% Off!
- Configuring Juniper Networks NetScreen & SSG Firewalls; Rob Cameron, et al, $35.50, 29% Off!
- Using SANs and NAS; W. Curtis Preston, $14.95, 50% Off!
- Designing Storage Area Networks: A Practical Reference for Implementing Fibre Channel and IP SANs; Tom Clark, $37.95, 37% Off!
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In case you weren’t sure, a storage area network, or SAN, is a collection
of computers and storage devices connected over a high-speed optical network and
dedicated to the task of storing and protecting data. SANs solve many of the data
storage and management problems that have long bedeviled enterprise networks,
and they save companies who use them a bundle. Which is why SAN administration
is one of the highest-paid jobs in IT today. Add storage area networking to your
resume and your phone will ring off the hook with calls by head-hunters promising
of six-figure salaries.
Bored with in your current IT job and looking for a change of pace—and
bigger bucks? Then Storage Area Networks For Dummies is for you. Have you been
tasked with designing, implementing, or troubleshooting your company’s
SAN and need to play catch-up in a hurry? Look no further. In no time, this
book gets you on track with the know-how and confidence you need to:
- Choose the right hardware for the job
- Design state-of-the-art SANs
- Implement a SAN and get it running like a well-oiled machine
- Configure, manage and troubleshoot SANs
- Seamlessly integrate two or more SANs
- Become a SAN sage and give your career a major boost
From the ABCs of SANs to making the most of advanced SAN features, Storage
Area Networks For Dummies covers all the bases in plain English and with loads
of real-life examples. Key topics covered include:
- What are SANs, how they work, and who needs them
- SAN protocols, components, and common problems
- Designing and building a SAN
- SANs and disaster recovery
- Networking SANs
- Understanding, choosing, and using SAN backup solutions
- Making the most of Point-in-Time technology
- Outsourcing SANs
- Managing and troubleshooting SANs
The solution to so many enterprise data storage problems, SANs equal heightened
efficiency and productivity for organizations and greater prosperity for those
who build and manage them. Let Storage Area Networks For Dummies help you get
in on the ground floor of one of today’s hottest IT growth areas.
Customer Reviews
Customer Reviews: 1 Average Customer Rating: May 2, 2006 Sitikantha Prusty from UTAH, USA
Excellent Book to Invest Time and Money
Let me start by saying that it is a shame this book was published under the "..for Dummies" line of books. This book is definitely good enough to have been released by another publisher and well received by readers. I think most storage professionals would be embarrassed to be caught reading a book with this title, so it gets passed-over. After reading Tom Clark, Mark Farley, and Infinity I/O material, I'd had my fill of Fibre Channel protocols and design philosophies. I was looking for something a little closer to the real design, implementation and support of a Fibre Channel SAN. Surprisingly, there are not many good books that have this information. However, Christopher Poelker and Alex Nikitin have done an excellent job. They both work for Hitachi Data Systems and obviously have a lot of experience in this subject. Unlike Tom Clark's book, you won't find in-depth discussion on Fibre Channel protocol or 8b/10b encoding. There is just enough information on protocols to make you understand it, which is nice as most SAN admins don't need to know that much about it. The first few chapters lay out the basics of storage and SANs which everyone has probably read before. However, in each chapter I have found very valuable side-bars and notes from the authors. For example: What is a realistic fan-in ratio, what is a non-blocking architecture and why is it important, and what to look for in a vendor's storage array. This is great stuff! Chapter 7 is by far my favorite. It is a complete walk though of a SAN setup. It includes tasks like setting-up and zoning switches, installing HBAs and configuring servers, configuring storage arrays, and proper cabling. It also goes deeper with discussions on balancing LUNs across controllers, ensuring your paths are fault tolerant and how to migrate data onto the SAN. It even has examples of the HBA configuration file (i.e. jnic.conf) and the /kernel/drv/sd.conf file. This chapter alone made the purchase of this book worthwhile. Additional chapters explain stretching your SAN over IP networks (FCIP & iFCP), SAN-based backups and booting servers from the SAN. It has an excellent chapter on point-in-time copies (snapshots & mirrors) and how to utilize them. All in all, this is a great book. It has the usual number of typos and mistakes, but your average reader will catch them and not be completely thrown-off by them. Even so, this book alone isn't going to make anyone a SAN engineer. This book is an excellent companion to Tom Clark and Mark Farley. If you can read all of these, you're going to be very well informed.
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