Network Storage The Latest In Information Storage

Improving

IT efficiency



NAS devices deliver these benefits:

• Eliminate
  
  long, cumbersome installations.
  
  
  
  
• Provide a
  
  cost-effective storage solution.
  
  
  
  
• Reduce maintenance
  
  costs.
  
  
  
  
• Deliver superior
  
  reliability.
  
  
  
  
• Provide an
  
  easy way to expand storage
  
  
  
  
• Optimize
  
  performance in switched-network environments.
  
  
  
  

Eliminate long,

cumbersome installations: One of the main benefits of adding storage

using a NAS thin server is reduced installation time. It takes less

than 15 minutes to complete a basic NAS thin server installation

compared to several hours for a general-purpose server.

Expanding a

general-purpose server involves taking the server off line, configuring

the server, putting the server back on line, dealing with any problems

that arise during the installation, and then configuring clients

to access the new expanded feature set.

NAS devices

make storage installation easier. Simply plug them in, connect them

to the network and start using them. NAS devices make installations

easier still by configuring themselves and using intelligent default

settings. Advanced settings are available for environments which

require additional tuning. Because NAS devices are so easy to set

up, people with little technical expertise can install them.

Provide a reliable

and cost-effective storage solution: Easy set up is just one aspect

of the NAS solution. Cost savings are another benefit. The operating

system on a NAS device is stored internally in Flash memory and

pre-programmed at the factory. Since the operating system is included

with the hardware, no expensive user-licenses are needed. Even though

NAS devices do not require licenses, they do implement existing

operating system industry standards. NAS devices are fully compliant

with the following standards and operating systems:

• CIFS/SMB
  
  for Microsoft NT.
  
  
  
  
• NCP for Novell
  
  NetWare.
  
  
  
  
• NFS for UNIX.
  
  
  
  
• HTTP for
  
  web browsing.
  
  
  
  
• DHCP for
  
  automatic IP addressing.
  
  
  
  
• SNMP for
  
  network management.
  
  
  
  

Currently, general-purpose

servers store their operating systems on a single, dedicated hard

drive or on two mirrored hard drives. These additional drive costs

are not borne by NAS users since NAS devices take advantage of reliable,

cost-effective Flash memory to store their operating system.

Reduce maintenance

costs: Closely related to the subject of installation is ongoing

maintenance. NAS devices are designed with administrators in mind.

Configuration changes and management are done remotely using a web

browser.

Upgrading is

also a concern with general-purpose servers. To keep pace with evolving

technologies, an investment must be made in software, upgrading

to new versions, as well as adding expensive hardware and memory

components. Remember that NAS devices are optimized for a single

function. By focusing on doing only a few tasks, a NAS device needs

to be upgraded less often. General-purpose servers running network

operating systems are much more complex since they are used not

only for storage, but also for other functions like running applications.

This complexity leads to more patches and upgrades.

Device drivers

are another maintenance headache. General-purpose servers require

drivers for keyboards, monitors, network adapters, disk controllers

and printers, just to name a few. Depending on the number of devices

connected to a general-purpose server, there will be an equal number

of drivers that must be maintained for that server.

Additionally,

every time a component, such as the operating system changes, a

domino effect can occur potentially requiring an upgrade for each

of the various server components, such as drivers, network operating

system and so on, just to be compatible with the new operating system.

As mentioned,

NAS devices use Flash memory for easy upgrading directly over the

network. If an upgrade is required, a simple network session to

transfer a new operating system into the NAS device is all that

is needed. NAS hardware is also less expensive than a general-purpose

server, making additions and replacement much less costly.



Delivering reliability: Imagine a general-purpose server crash.
In an instant, an organization's data is inaccessible.

This is an administrative

nightmare because every function the general-purpose server performed

is now gone, severely impacting users' productivity. Additionally,

a general-purpose server holds its operating system on a mechanical

hard disk, which has a higher likelihood of crashing.

By contrast,

a NAS thin server's operating system is stored in Flash memory,

making the thin server very reliable. If a NAS device does fail,

it only impacts the file access on that device and not other devices

on the network, such as the general-purpose server. The general-purpose

server can still run business applications and email service.

NAS devices

also have functionality built in to protect against inaccessibility,

provide redundancy, and to troubleshoot problems through graphical,

web-viewable diagnostics.



Expanding Storage: Administrators are often dealing with the headache
of their users either being short on disk space or requiring access

to more stored information. Not only do users require additional

storage space to be more productive, administrators must take the

time to add additional disks to existing servers or to set up a

new server to handle the need. This process further hinders employee

productivity while the general-purpose server is being upgraded.

NAS devices

are ideal for expanding storage space. Placing a NAS hard disk device

on the network provides additional storage to a workgroup of users.

The users simply map a drive to the new NAS resource using a standard

tool, like Windows Explorer. The installation takes only a short

period of time and provides instant storage expansion with very

little investment of time and money. Plus, there is no risk of causing

additional problems with the general-purpose server.

There is also

a lot of information now available on CD-ROM and DVD-ROM format

that needs to be shared on a network as well. Because CDs and DVDs

have large capacities and are inexpensive alternative storage media,

they are now being used to archive data and back up computer systems.

Rather than having to burden a general-purpose file server with

the task of managing the CD/DVD recording and sharing, a NAS thin

server can be used quite well in this situation.

Optimizing performance:

A common issue with any network is that traffic is very high, which

negatively impacts data access time. This delay ultimately slows

user productivity. In an effort to address this issue, general-purpose

servers have traditionally been placed on a high-speed segment or

the backbone of a network to handle the intense amount of network

traffic. Unfortunately, this can cause a lot of stress to network

backbones that are not optimized for intensive data transfers.

Because NAS

thin servers are designed so that they can be directly attached

anywhere in a network, they can be placed on the local segment where

they are accessed most. Placing NAS thin servers with specialized

functions closer to users offloads network traffic that otherwise

would have gone to the general-purpose server. This impacts everyone

on the network by improving access time and network throughput.

By more efficiently using network resources the efficiency of the

general-purpose server is increased so that it can now process other

requests with greater speed.

NAS

vs SAN