IP SANS: A Guide to iSCSI, iFCP, and FCIP Protocols for Storage Area Networks: A Guide to iSCSI, iFCP, and FCIP Protocols for Storage Area Networks - Softcover

Today's enterprises face unprecedented data storage and availability requirements. To meet these needs, they are increasingly turning to Storage Area Networks (SANs). Now, even more promising IP-based SANs are arriving, combining the advantages of SAN architecture with the familiarity and value of IP-based networking. Leading SAN expert Tom Clark surveys these emerging products, helping decision-makers understand the key issues, protocols, technologies, and applications. He begins with an overview of today's enterprise storage challenges and reviews existing approaches, including Fibre Channel, SCSI; and network-attached-storage solutions. He then introduces IP from the perspective of the storage professional. Clark reviews supporting technologies such as TCP offload engines; and presents in-depth coverage of security, including VLANs, encryption, and authentication. Case studies present IP SANs at work in server clustering, backup, storage consolidation, disaster recovery, and both metropolitan and wide-area IP storage networks. The book concludes with a developmental roadmap reflecting key advances such as 10 Gb Ethernet and Infiniband.

"A concise guide to an exciting new technology that is bringing SANs into mainstream IP networking."

--Jayshree Ullal, Group Vice President/General Manager, Cisco Systems

"IP SANs provides a comprehensive overview of the next-generation storage area networks, with concrete examples of how customers can deploy cost-effective and highly scalable IP storage solutions."

--Ahmad Zamer, Product Line Marketing Manager, Intel Corporation

"An essential reference for understanding the benefits that IP networking provides for SANs, including quality of service, security, and wide-area connectivity for storage."

--John L. Hufferd, Senior Technical Staff Member, IBM

IP storage and networking have traditionally resided in two distinct worlds. Networking professionals from an Internet Protocol (IP) internetworking background are usually not familiar with storage issues, and storage administrators may be unfamiliar with IP internetworking. With IP storage networking, network professionals dealing with storage area networks (SANs) now have an integrated option for improved data storage. IP SANs: A Guide to iSCSI, iFCP, and FCIP Protocols for Storage Area Networks explains these new IP technologies that enable SANs to keep up with today's networking needs, detailing the various storage solutions that are created when both disciplines are combined.

As more corporations take part in e-commerce and global data sharing, the need for more efficient data storage is increasing. SANs address this need for a more powerful means of storing and retrieving mass amounts of data. Until recently, SANs were based on the Fibre Channel technology, which, for years, has provided the industry with flexible, high-performance block data access for storage applications. However, network professionals are now looking for ways to implement SANs using the more familiar TCP/IP and Ethernet technologies. IP SANs provides an overview of these technologies, focusing on practical implementations, an understanding of existing data access paradigms, and the significant innovations of IP-based SANs. Covering the basic architecture and products, along with management strategies for professionals in IP SAN environments, this book outlines how to meet the growing data storage needs of today's marketplace.

IP SANs: A Guide to iSCSI, iFCP, and FCIP Protocols for Storage Area Networks is a targeted and timely account of the changing internetworking environment. Technology development requires both cooperation and competition. By combining storage capabilities with networking technologies, businesses will now be able to reap the benefits that only IP storage can provide.

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