Storage area network
lastmod 2016-06-11created 2016-06-111 edits
A storage area network (Storage area network, SAN), also called a storage area communication network, is a term for an architecture that attaches remote computer storage devices, such as disk arrays, tape libraries, and optical jukeboxes, to servers. It is called SAN for short. With this architecture, the devices appear to us as if they were directly attached to the operating system. A SAN generally refers to a network that connects storage devices that ordinary devices cannot access over the ordinary network. By the late 2000s, as the cost and complexity of SANs fell, they became more widely used in large enterprise and small and medium-sized business environments.