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