QuickSpecs

SAN fabric
The hardware that connects servers to storage devices in
a SAN. The SAN infrastructure enables any-server-to-any-
storage-device connectivity through fibre channel switching.
SAS (Serial Attached SCSI)
A next-generation SCSI interface that uses serial technology.
It is the first generation of disks with a small form factor
(currently only available for the MSA50).
SATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment)
Interface technology for disk drives, providing the lowest
cost per MB—ideal for storing low-usage reference
information (an increasing regulatory requirement). SATA
provides basic reliability and performance (based on an
8-hour and 10–30 percent duty cycle) compared to SCSI
(and fibre-channel) HDDs, which are more advanced,
offering a 24x7 and 80–100 percent active duty cycle
(read/write).
SCSI (Small Computer System Interface)
A protocol used to communicate with SCSI devices. Also
used by fibre-channel technology to communicate with
disk drives.
SAN (storage area network)
High-speed, special-purpose network connecting different
data storage devices to servers. May extend to multiple or
remote locations for backup and archival storage.
TOE card (TCP/IP Offload Engine)
Network cards that offload network protocol tasks from
the standard server CPUs.
Virtualization
Technologies that help remove physical storage
boundaries by treating all available storage, regardless
of its location, as one ‘virtual’ pool.
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