Description

• A storage area network (SAN) is a system designed to facilitate the transfer of data between clients and storage. The SAN portrays storage devices as local devices, allowing for a central storage location amongst many clients, including those that are long distance.
  
  

Advantages & Disadvantages

• A SAN relies directly on the storage facility, the network accessing it, and the end client. Because of this, performance depends on the performance of each of these parts. If a network does not have sufficient speed to transfer the data, system access can be slow.
  
  In terms of scalability, storage data centers can be added on to near endlessly, providing adequate storage for any potential system or problem. However, SAN systems are still expensive to implement due to the high cost related with storage architecture.
  
  

Cost Comparison

• Once the storage area network is implemented, the addition of storage is relatively low-cost. Compared to other systems which require the installation of base components for each increase in storage, storage area networks are attached to the existing architecture. This produces a lower cost than other systems.