Storage Area Networking

A Storage Area Network (SAN) is a specialized, high-speed network that provides network access to storage devices. SANs are typically composed of hosts, switches, storage elements, and storage devices that are interconnected using a variety of technologies, topologies, and protocols. SANs may span multiple sites.

A SAN presents storage devices to a host such that the storage appears to be locally attached. This simplified presentation of storage to a host is accomplished through the use of different types of virtualization.