Storage networks explained : basics and application of fibre channel SAN, NAS, iSCSI, InfiniBand and FCoE.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

All you need to know about Storage Area Networks

The amount of data of an average company doubles every year. Thus, companies who own 1TB of data today will own 32TB in five years. Storage networks help to tame such data quantities and to manage this data growth efficiently. Since stored data and information are the biggest asset of any company, anyone who is involved in the planning or the operation of IT systems requires a basic knowledge of the principle and the use of storage networks.

Storage Networks Explained covers the fundaments, techniques and functions of storage networks such as disk subsystems, Fibre Channel SAN, Internet SCSI (iSCSI), Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE), Network Attached Storage (NAS), file systems, and storage virtualization. Furthermore the authors describe the use of these techniques and how they are designed to achieve high-availability, flexibility, and scalability of data and applications. Additional attention is given to network backup and the management of storage networks. Written by leading experts in the field, this book on storage area networks is updated and fully revised.

Key features:

Presents the basic concepts of storage networks, such as I/O techniques, disk subsystems, virtualization, NAS and SAN file systems Covers the design of storage networks which provide flexible, highly-available, and scaleable IT systems Explains the use of storage networks for data sharing, data protection, and digital archiving Discusses management of storage networks using SNMP, SMI-S, and IEEE 1244

This book provides system administrators and system architects, as well as students and decision makers, with the tools needed for optimal selection and cost-effective use of storage networks.

The Linux Journal awarded the first edition with the "Editor's Choice Award 2005" in the category "System Administration Book."

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Troppens: Storage 2e - ToC from the first edition
• About the Authors
• Foreword
• Foreword to the German
• Preface by the Authors
• List of Figures and Tables
• 1 Introduction
• 1.1 Server-Centric IT Architecture and its Limitations
• 1.2 Storage-Centric IT Architecture and its Advantages
• 1.3 Case Study: Replacing a Server with Storage Networks
• 1.4 The Structure of the Book
• Part I Technologies for Storage Networks 1
• 2 Intelligent Disk Subsystems
• 2.1 Architecture of Intelligent Disk Subsystems
• 2.2 Hard Disks and Internal I/O Channels
• 2.3 JBOD: Just a Bunch of Disks
• 2.4 Storage Virtualization using RAID
• 2.5 Different RAID Levels in Detail
• 2.6 Caching: Acceleration of Hard Disk Access
• 2.7 Intelligent Disk Subsystems
• 2.8 Availability of Disk Subsystems
• 2.9 Summary
• 3 I/O Techniques
• 3.1 The Physical I/O Path from the CPU to the Storage System
• 3.2 SCSI
• 3.3 The Fibre Channel Protocol Stack
• 3.4 Fibre Channel SAN
• 3.5 IP Storage
• 3.6 InfiniBand-based storage networks
• 3.7 Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE)
• 3.8 Summary
• 4 File Systems and Network Attached Storage (NAS)
• 4.1 Local File Systems
• 4.2 Network File Systems and File Servers
• 4.3 Shared Disk File Systems
• 4.4 Comparison: NAS, Fibre Channel SAN and iSCSI SAN
• 4.5 Summary
• 5 Storage Virtualization
• 5.1 Once Again: Virtualization in the I/O Path
• 5.2 Limitations and Requirements
• 5.3 Definition of Storage Virtualization
• 5.4 Implementation Considerations
• 5.5 Storage Virtualization on Block or File Level
• 5.6 Storage Virtualization on Various Levels of the Storage Network
• 5.7 Symmetric and Asymmetric Storage Virtualization in the Network
• 5.8 Summary
• Part II Application and Management of Storage Networks
• 6 Application of Storage Networks
• 6.1 Definition of the Term 'Storage Network'
• 6.2 Storage Sharing
• 6.3 Availability of Data
• 6.4 Adaptability and Scalability of IT Systems
• 6.5 Summary
• 7 Network Back-up
• 7.1 General Conditions for Back-up
• 7.2 Network Back-up Services
• 7.3 Server Components
• 7.4 Back-up Clients
• 7.5 Performance Gains as a Result of Network Back-up
• 7.6 Performance Bottlenecks of Network Back-up
• 7.7 Limited Opportunities for Increasing Performance
• 7.8 Next Generation Back-up
• 7.9 Back-up of File Systems
• 7.10 Back-up of Databases
• 7.11 Organizational Aspects of Back-up
• 7.12 Summary
• 8 Management of Storage Networks
• 8.1 System Management
• 8.2 Requirements of Management Systems
• 8.3 Support by Management Systems
• 8.4 Management Interfaces
• 8.5 Standardized and Proprietary Mechanisms
• 8.6 In-band Management
• 8.7 Out-band Management
• 8.8 Operational Aspects of the Management of Storage Networks
• 8.9 Summary
• 9 Removable Media Management
• 9.1 The Significance of Removable Media
• 9.2 Removable Media
• 9.3 Libraries and Drives
• 9.4 Problems and Requirements Related to Removable Media Management
• 9.5 The IEEE 1244 Standard for Removable Media Management
• 9.6 Summary
• 10 The SNIA Shared Storage Model
• 10.1 The Model
• 10.2 Examples of Disk-Based Storage Architectures
• 10.3 Extension of the SNIA Shared Storage Model to Tape Functions
• 10.4 Examples of Tape-Based Back-Up Techniques and Architectures
• 10.5 Summary
• Glossary
• Annotated Bibliography
• Appendix A Proof of the Calculation of the Parity Block of RAID 4 and 5
• Appendix B Checklist for the Management of Storage Networks
• B.1 Applications
• B.1.1 Monitoring
• B.1.2 Availability
• B.1.3 Performance
• B.1.4 Scalability
• B.1.5 Efficient use
• B.2 Data
• B.2.1 Availability
• B.2.2 Performance
• B.2.3 Data protection
• B.2.4 Archiving
• B.2.5 Migration
• B.2.6 Data sharing
• B.2.7 Security/access control
• B.3 Resources
• B.3.1 Inventory/asset management and planning
• B.3.2 Monitoring
• B.3.3 Configuration
• B.3.4 Resource use
• B.3.5 Capacity
• B.3.6 Efficient resource utilization
• B.3.7 Availability
• B.3.8 Resource migration
• B.3.9 Security
• B.4 Network
• B.4.1 Topology
• B.4.2 Monitoring
• B.4.3 Availability
• B.4.4 Performance
• Index

Author notes provided by Syndetics

The authors are employed at IBM's storage competence center in Mainz, Germany. They work at the interface between technology and customers. Their duties cover a wide field of responsibilities. They develop and test new software for storage networks. They present the latest hardware and software products in the field of storage networks to customers and explain their underlying concepts. Last but not least they deploy and support respective hardware and software in customer environments.
Ulf Troppens (centre) studied Computer Science at the University of Karlsruhe. Since 1989 he has been primarily involved in the development and administration of Unix systems, storage systems, data and storage networks and distributed applications.
Rainer Erkens (left) studied Mathematics at the University of Mainz. His experience in the management of computers and distributed applications goes back to 1992. Since 2005 he is a technical support manager in IBM's European Storage Competence Center.
Wolfgang M¨ uller-Friedt (right) studied Computer Science at the FH Darmstadt. He is a software architect focussing on the software development of management applications for storage networks which support open standards such as SMI-S and IEEE 1244.
Nils Haustein (left front) studied Electrical Engineering at the TU Chemnitz. For several years he is with IBM's advanced technical sales support in Europe where he is focussing on digital archiving.
Rainer Wolafka (right front) studied Electrical Engineering at the FH Frankfurt and Software Engineering at the Santa Clara University. Since 1997 he is working in the field of storage networks and the software development of management applications for storage networks.