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Storage Basics

 Storage Basics


SAN vs NAS vs DAS

Here’s a simple way to understand how storage actually works behind the scenes.

DAS (Direct Attached Storage)

This is storage directly connected to a single server or system.
Simple and fast, but not easy to share with multiple servers.

NAS (Network Attached Storage)

This works on file-level sharing over the network.
Multiple users and systems can access files easily. Best for shared folders, backups, and general file storage.

SAN (Storage Area Network)

This is high-performance block-level storage mostly used in enterprise environments.
It looks like a local disk to servers but actually comes from centralized storage. Perfect for databases, virtualization, and critical applications.

RAID Levels – Performance + Protection

RAID helps combine multiple disks to improve speed and protect data.

• RAID 1 – Mirrors data for safety
• RAID 5 – Balance between performance and storage capacity
• RAID 10 – High performance + strong protection (used for critical workloads)

Storage Pools

Instead of assigning disks to specific servers, all disks are combined into a shared pool.
This improves flexibility, better space usage, and makes scaling easier.

LUN Provisioning

From storage pools, logical storage (LUNs) is created and given to servers.
Servers use these LUNs just like physical hard drives.

Big Storage Flow to Remember:

Disks → RAID → Storage Pool → LUN → Server → Application


#Storage #SAN #NAS #DAS #RAID #DataStorage #Virtualization #EnterpriseIT #Infrastructure #Datacenter



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