Difference between Storage Area Network (SAN) and Network Attached Storage (NAS)
Storage Area Network (SAN)
Storage Area Network (SAN) is used to transfer data between a server and storage devices using fiber channels and switches. Data is denoted by disk blocks. SAN uses SCSI, SATA protocols. Following are important components of SAN.
Network Attached Storage (NAS)
Network Attached Storage (NAS) uses files to store data block. Here data is identified by file name as well as byte offset. Here file system is mananged by CPU and memory as Head Unit. Following are important components of NAS.
Head Unit: CPU, Memory
NIC, Network Interface Card
Optimized operating system.
File System Protocols
Other protocols like ATA, SCSI and FC.
Following are some of the important differences between Storage Area Network (SAN) and Network Attached Storage (NAS).
| Sr. No. | Key | Storage Area Network (SAN) | Network Attached Storage (NAS) |
|---|
| 1 | Stands for | SAN stands for Storage Area Network. | NAS stands for Network Attached Storage. |
| 2 | Data Identification | In SAN, data identification is done by disk blocks. | In NAS, data identification is done by file name as well as byte offset. |
| 3 | Managed by | In SAN, file system is managed by servers. | In NAS, file system is managed by head unit like CPU. |
| 4 | Cost | SAN is more expensive than NAS. | NAS is less expensive than SAN. |
| 5 | Protocols | SAN uses SCSI, SATA etc protocols. | NAS uses File Server, CIFS etc. protocols. |
| 6 | Backup and Recovery | In SAN, block by block copying technique is used for backup and recovery. | In NAS, files are used for backup and recovery. |
Published on 15-Apr-2020 10:41:28
