Daniel Feenberg <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> asked: > OK, but how do I use a SAN to replace NFS?
and "A. Rich" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> replied: > You either set up some sort of active-active clustering amongst your machines, > or you have one (possibly set of) designated server that mounts the SAN then > exports it out to the rest of your hosts via CIFS, NFS, AFS, whatever. I'd like to suggest the following, to avoid confusion . . . Rather than saying "SAN" and "NAS," say "block access" and "file sharing." Block access and file sharing are two different technologies that solve different problems. Yes, both problems involve hosts and disks, but ignore that for now. If you want to give multiple hosts simultaneous access to one or more files then you need something like NFS or CIFS or a clustered file- system. If you want to give multiple hosts access to different parts of the same (logical or physical) disk then you need something like iSCSI or whatever the correct-for-this-situation name of FC is (both of which are based on SCSI). Now, it's entirely likely that a solution to your file sharing problem will include a block access mechanism (just like Amy described above), but in most cases SANs and NASes are not interchangeable. I think I said this before, but I think it bears repeating: iSCSI and the like (i.e., "SAN") is functionally just a really long cable between the CPU and the disk; NAS is one computer acting as a gatekeeper for lots of computers trying to access the same file(s). Yes, this is an over-simplification, but when trying to remember what each technology does best it's a reasonable working model. AdamM _______________________________________________ bblisa mailing list [email protected] http://www.bblisa.org/mailman/listinfo/bblisa
