Re: Promise VTRAK SAN box

In article <LXo8j.2234$_r2.1227@pd7urf1no>, itech@xxxxxxx says...

Hello all,

I am new to SAN technology and I have what may be a dumb question but
here goes (first a little background):

My understanding is that one of the main differences between NAS and SAN
is the location of the file system. NAS appliances have an embedded OS
with 2 or more hard disks formatted with a file system such as NTFS.
Network access to the disks is done using a file-level protocol.

SAN appliances such as our Promise VTRAK have a bank of hard disks
connected to the network through an iSCSI controller. A server on the
network runs an iSCSI initiator to connect to the SAN appliance. It
mounts the drives, creates a LUN through which Windows (or whatever OS)
can "see" the storage as a drive letter. Communication over the network
takes place at the block-level.

My question is: with a SAN, where does the file system actually reside?
In other words, if I had the VTRAK configured as JBOD ie. 15 individual
logical drives (no RAID), could I remove one of the hard drives, put it
in a PC and see the files? Or does the server somehow create a "virtual
file system" meaning that the only way to access the data on the disks
is via the server?

Thank you in advance for any clarification that could be offered.

it's even easier than that
a NAS iks a disguised file server that looks like a storage subsystem
a RAID (which is what your SAN storage is) is a bunch of hard drives,
typically striped together using a hardware controller in the same enclosure
that makes them all look lile one large hard drive) that "acts" the same way
as the hard drive that's attached directly to your computer. In computer talk
the NAS is called "file level" storage & the SAN storage is called "block
mode" storage.
& BTW, since SAN means Storage Area Network. w/ Network being the operable
word, if you attach a RAID to an iSCSI network OR a Fibre Channel network
they will be functionally the same.



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