Storage area network

Fibre Channel
Layer 4. Protocol mapping
LUN masking
Layer 3. Common services
Layer 2. Network
Fibre Channel fabric
Fibre Channel zoning
Registered state change notification
Layer 1. Data link
Fibre Channel 8b/10b encoding
Layer 0. Physical

A storage area network (SAN) or storage network is a computer network which provides access to consolidated, block-level data storage. SANs are primarily used to access data storage devices, such as disk arrays and tape libraries from servers so that the devices appear to the operating system as direct-attached storage. A SAN typically is a dedicated network of storage devices not accessible through the local area network (LAN).

Although a SAN provides only block-level access, file systems built on top of SANs do provide file-level access and are known as shared-disk file systems.

Newer SAN configurations enable hybrid SAN[1] and allow traditional block storage that appears as local storage but also object storage for web services through APIs.

  1. ^ "Water Panther Expanse SAN Series | Enterprise Data Center Hard Drives & SSDs". Water Panther. Archived from the original on 18 July 2022. Retrieved 18 July 2022.

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