Chapter List

Overview

What This Chapter Will Do For You

This chapter looks at flexible and scalable storage access infrastructures for SMB, and distributed environments to simplify storage access and management costs. Some of the items you will learn about in this chapter include:

• The value of integrated, turnkey SAN and NAS solutions for data protection

• Essential technologies to support small resilient storage networks

• SMB environments can be at greater risk for lack of data protection than an enterprise

• Is your SMB or SOHO environment at risk, and is your personal data protected?

14.1 Overview

Resilient storage networks are not just for large environments; storage networks of any size can benefit from the techniques discussed in this book. Storage networks using different interfaces (Fibre Channel, Ethernet, InfiniBand, USB, SATA) and protocols (FCP, IP, iSCSI, NAS) can be deployed in SOHO and SMB environments. Some examples of where small storage networks can be utilized include:

• Satellite remote, SOHO, and branch offices

• Workgroup and collaborative applications

• Windows, NetWare, Linux, and UNIX Cluster environments

• Small environments with a small mainframe and open systems

• Small and medium businesses and small home offices

• Application-specific environments where isolation is needed

• Web and e-mail systems for various size environments