Storage Area Networks For Dummies

If you’ve been charged with setting up storage area networks for your company, learning how SANs work and managing data storage problems might seem challenging. Storage Area Networks For Dummies, 2^nd Edition comes to the rescue with just what you need to know.

Whether you already a bit SAN savvy or you’re a complete novice, here’s the scoop on how SANs save money, how to implement new technologies like data de-duplication, iScsi, and Fibre Channel over Ethernet, how to develop SANs that will aid your company’s disaster recovery plan, and much more. For example, you can:

• Understand what SANs are, whether you need one, and what you need to build one
• Learn to use loops, switches, and fabric, and design your SAN for peak performance
• Create a disaster recovery plan with the appropriate guidelines, remote site, and data copy techniques
• Discover how to connect or extend SANs and how compression can reduce costs
• Compare tape and disk backups and network vs. SAN backup to choose the solution you need
• Find out how data de-duplication makes sense for backup, replication, and retention
• Follow great troubleshooting tips to help you find and fix a problem
• Benefit from a glossary of all those pesky acronyms

From the basics for beginners to advanced features like snapshot copies, storage virtualization, and heading off problems before they happen, here’s what you need to do the job with confidence!

Introduction.

Part I: SAN 101.

Chapter 1: The Storage Area Network.

Chapter 2: SAN Building Blocks.

Chapter 3: What Makes a SAN Go.

Chapter 4: What Makes a SAN Stop.

Part II: Designing and Building a SAN.

Chapter 5: Designing the SAN.

Chapter 6: SANs and Disaster Recovery.

Chapter 7: Putting It All Together.

Part III: Using Advanced SAN Features.

Chapter 8: Networking SANs.

Chapter 9: SAN-Based Backup.

Chapter 10: Mirror, Mirror: Point-in-Time Copies.

Part IV: SAN Management and Troubleshooting.

Chapter 11: Approaches to SAN Management.

Chapter 12: Troubleshooting SANs.

Part V: Understanding the Cool Stuff.

Chapter 13: Using Data De-Duplication to Lighten the Load.

Chapter 14: Continuous Data Protection.

Chapter 15: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Virtualization.

Part VI: The Par t of Tens.

Chapter 16: Ten Reasons to Use a SAN.

Chapter 17: Ten Reasons NOT to Use a SAN.

Index.

Christopher Poelker is Vice President of Enterprise Solutions for FalconStor Software, Inc. He spends most of his time with Fortune 1000 companies defining strategy for virtualization and business continuity solutions. Chris is also in great demand as a conference speaker. Alex Nikitin has been a storage architect and consultant for more than ten years.

Learn to:

• Implement new technologies such as data de-duplication, iSCSI, and Continuous Data Protection
• Design storage area networks that meet specific needs
• Maintain and troubleshoot SANs
• Develop SANs that will aid your company's disaster-recovery plan

So you need to set up a SAN? Here's how to design, implement, and manage one!

Whether you're a complete novice or you already have a bit of knowledge about storage area networks, this book is almost guaranteed to make your job easier. From the basics for beginners to advanced features like snapshot copies, storage virtualization, and heading off problems before they happen, here's what you need to do the job with confidence!

• Getting started — understand what SANs are, whether you need one, and what you need to build one
• Design basics — learn to use loops, switches, and the fabric layer, and design your SAN for peak performance
• No surprises — create a disaster-recovery plan with the appropriate guidelines and choose a remote site and data replication method
• SANs united — see how to connect or extend SANs and how compression can reduce costs
• Wait, back up — compare tape, disk, network, and SAN backup methods to choose the solution you need
• What if it breaks? — follow great troubleshooting tips to help you find and fix a problem
• De-dupe, de-dupe — find out how data de-duplication makes sense for backup, replication, and retention
• It's virtual — explore different types of virtualization and what they offer

Open the book and find:

• What RAID is and why it's important
• Issues to consider when planning your SAN
• A translation of all those pesky acronyms
• What to do when your server gets the hiccups
• How to use CDP and CDR
• What you should beware of with storage virtualization
• Hardware- and software-based copy solutions
• SAN best practices