Digital Lecture Notes

STORAGE AREA NETWORKS (18CS822)

VTU Syllabus:

Module-1:

Storage System: Introduction to Information Storage: Information Storage, Evolution

of Storage Architecture, Data Center Infrastructure, Virtualization and Cloud Computing.

Data Center Environment: Application Database Management System (DBMS), Host

(Compute), Connectivity, Storage, Disk Drive Components, Disk Drive Performance, Host
Access to Data, Direct-Attached Storage, Storage Design Based on Application

Storage area network is abbreviated as SAN. SAN is a network which is designed to

attach computer storage devices such as disk array controllers and tape libraries to servers. SAN
network can be accessed by multiple computers. It is a secure and high-speed data network. It
is also known as SAN storage, SAN network, etc.

A dedicated, fast network that gives storage devices network access is called a Storage
Area Network (SAN).

SANs are generally made up of several technologies, topologies, and protocols that are
used to connect hosts, switches, storage elements, and storage devices. SANs can cover several
locations.
Data transfer between the server and storage device is the primary goal of SAN.
Additionally, it makes data transmission across storage systems possible. Storage area
networks are primarily used to connect servers to storage devices including disk-based
storage and tape libraries.

SANs are primarily used to access storage devices, such as disk arrays and tape libraries
from servers so that the devices appear to the operating system as direct-attached storage.

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Information Storage:

Businesses use data to derive information that is critical to their day-to-day operations.
Storage is a repository that enables users to store and retrieve this digital data. 
Data: Data is a collection of raw facts from which conclusions may be drawn.

Example: a printed book, a family photograph, a movie on videotape, e-mail message, an

e-book, a bit mapped image, or a digital movie are all examples of data.
The data can be generated using a computer and stored in strings of 0s and 1s, is called
digital data and is accessible by the user only after it is processed by a computer.

The following is a list of some of the factors that have contributed to the growth of digital data :

 Increase in data processing capabilities: Modern-day computers provide a significant

increase in processing and storage capabilities. This enables the conversion of various
types of content and media from conventional forms to digital formats.

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  Lower cost of digital storage: Technological advances and decrease in the cost of storage
devices have provided low-cost solutions and encouraged the development of less
expensive data storage devices. This cost benefit has increased the rate at which data is
being generated and stored.
 Affordable and faster communication technology: The rate of sharing digital data is
now much faster than traditional approaches. A handwritten letter may take a week to
reach its destination, whereas it only takes a few seconds for an e-mail message to reach
its recipient.

 Proliferation of applications and smart devices: Smart phones, tablets, and newer digital
devices, along with smart applications, have significantly contributed to the generation of
digital content.

Types of Data :
Data can be classified as structured or unstructured based on how it is stored and
managed.

Structured data: Structured data is organized in rows and columns in a rigidly defined
format so that applications can retrieve and process it efficiently.

Example: Structured data is typically stored using a database management system (DBMS).

Unstructured data:
Data is unstructured if its elements cannot be stored in rows and columns, and is
therefore difficult to query and retrieve by business applications.
Example: e-mail messages, business cards, or even digital format files such as .doc,
.txt, and .pdf.

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Introduction to Information Storage:

Information is increasingly important in our daily lives. We have become information

dependents of the twenty-first century, living in an on-command, on-demand world that
means we need information when and where it is required. We access the Internet every day
to perform searches, participate in social networking, send and receive e-mails, share pictures
and videos, and scores of other applications. Equipped with a growing number of content-
generating devices, more information is being created by individuals than by businesses.

Evolution of Storage Architecture:

The evolution of open systems and the affordability and ease of deployment that they offer
made it possible for business units/departments to have their own servers and storage.

Historically, organizations had centralized computers (mainframe) and information storage

devices (tape reels and disk packs) in their data center.
Server-centric storage architecture:
In earlier implementations of open systems, the storage was typically internal to the
server. This approach is referred to as server-centric storage architecture
In this server-centric storage architecture, each server has a limited number of storage
devices, and any administrative tasks, such as maintenance of the server or increasing storage
capacity, might result in unavailability of information.

The rapid increase in the number of departmental servers in an enterprise resulted in unprotected,
unmanaged, fragmented islands of information and increased capital and operating expenses.

To overcome these challenges, storage evolved from server-centric to information-centric

architecture.

Information-centric architecture:

In information-centric architecture, storage devices are managed centrally and independent of

servers.
These centrally-managed storage devices are shared with multiple servers. When a new server
is deployed in the environment, storage is assigned from the same shared storage devices to that
server.
The capacity of shared storage can be increased dynamically by adding more storage
devices without impacting information availability.
In this architecture, information management is easier and cost-effective.
Storage technology and architecture continues to evolve, which enables organizations to

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consolidate, protect, optimize, and leverage their data to achieve the highest return on
information assets.

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Data Center Infrastructure:

Organizations maintain data centers to provide centralized data processing

capabilities across the enterprise. The data center infrastructure includes computers,
storage systems, network devices, dedicated power backups, and environmental controls
(such as air conditioning and fire suppression).

Key data centre Elements: Five core elements are essential for the basic functionality of a data
center.

Application: An application is a computer program that provides the logic for computing
operations. Eg: order processing system.
Database: More commonly, a database management system (DBMS) provides a structured
way to store data in logically organized tables that are interrelated. A DBMS optimizes the
storage and retrieval of data.
Host or compute: A computing platform (hardware, firmware, and software) that runs
applications and databases.
Network: A data path that facilitates communication among various networked devices.

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Storage array: A device that stores data persistently for subsequent use. The storage array, after
receiving the read or write request from the host, performs the necessary operations to store the
data on physical disks.

Example of an online order transaction system

Key characteristics for Data Center Elements:

Uninterrupted operation of data centers is critical to the survival and success of a business.
It is necessary to have a reliable infrastructure that ensures data is accessible at all times.
While the requirements, ,are applicable to all elements of the data centre infrastructure, our focus
here is on storage systems.

1Availability: All data center elements should be designed to ensure accessibility. The
inability of users to access data can have a significant negative impact on a business.

2 Security: Polices, procedures, and proper integration of the data center core elements that will
prevent unauthorized access to information must be established. In addition to the security
measures for client access, specific mechanisms must enable servers to access only their
allocated resources on storage arrays.

3 Scalability: Data center operations should be able to allocate additional processing

capabilities or storage on demand, without interrupting business operations. Business
growth often requires deploying more servers, new applications, and additional databases. The
storage solution should be able to grow with the business.

4 Performance: All the core elements of the data center should be able to provide optimal
performance and service all processing requests at high speed. The infrastructure should be
able to support performance requirements.

5 Data integrity: Data integrity refers to mechanisms such as error correction codes or parity bits
which ensure that data is written to disk exactly as it was received. Any variation in data
during its retrieval implies corruption, which may affect the operations of the organization.

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6.Capacity: Data center operations require adequate resources to store and process large
amounts of data efficiently. When capacity requirements increase, the data center must be able
to provide additional capacity without interrupting availability, or, at the very least, with minimal
disruption.
Capacity may be managed by reallocation of existing resources, rather than by adding new
resources.
7. Manageability: A data center should perform all operations and activities in the most
efficient manner. Manageability can be achieved through automation and the reduction of
human (manual) intervention in common tasks.

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Virtualization and Cloud Computing:

Cloud Computing :

The National Institute of Standards defines cloud computing as “enabling ubiquitous,

convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources
(e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services).”

To be a cloud, NIST has determined it must have the following five essential characteristics:

 On-demand self-service: A consumer can unilaterally provision computing capabilities,

such as server time and network storage.
 Broad network access: Capabilities are available over the network through multiple
clients and devices.
 Resource pooling: The provider‟s computing resources are pooled to serve numerous
consumers using a multi-tenant model.
 Rapid elasticity: Users can add or reduce capacity through software
 Measured service: Automatic control and optimization of resources detailing who is
using what and how much.

Without those five essential characteristics, it is technically not a cloud.

The cloud model is classified on the basis of service and deployment of cloud.

Cloud comprised of three service models:

 Software as a Service (SaaS): The consumer can use the provider‟s applications
running on a cloud infrastructure.

 Platform as a Service (PaaS): The consumer can deploy on the cloud

infrastructure, applications created using programming languages, libraries,
services or tools supported by the provider.

 Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): The consumer can provision processing,

storage, networks, and other computer resources to deploy and run arbitrary
software.

There are four deployment models of the cloud:

 Private Cloud: The cloud infrastructure is provisioned for exclusive use by a single
organization comprising multiple consumers.

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  Community Cloud: The cloud infrastructure is provisioned for exclusive use by a
specific community of consumers from organizations that have shared concerns (e.g.,
mission, security requirements, policy, and compliance considerations).

 Public Cloud: The cloud infrastructure is provisioned for open use by the general
public. It may be owned, managed, and operated by a business, academic, or government
organization.

 Hybrid Cloud: The cloud infrastructure is a composition of two or more distinct cloud
infrastructures (private, community, or public).

Virtualization vs Cloud Computing:

virtualization is not cloud computing. It is, however, a fundamental technology that

makes cloud computing work. While cloud computing and virtualization rely on similar
models and principles, they are intrinsically different.

Simply put, virtualization can make one resource act like many, while cloud
computing lets different users access a single pool of resources.

With virtualization, a single physical server can become multiple virtual machines, which
are essentially isolated pieces of hardware with plenty of processing, memory, storage, and
network capacity.

For smaller companies, cloud computing is easier and more cost-effective to implement.
Resources are accessed via the Internet rather than added to the network.

Many small businesses are turning to the cloud for applications such as customer relationship
management (CRM), hosted voice over IP (VoIP) or off-site storage. The cost of using the
cloud is much lower than implementing virtualization. Cloud computing also offers easier
installation of applications and hardware, access to software .

In virtualization each virtual machine can run independently while sharing the resources of
a single host machine because they‟ve been loaded into hypervisors. Hypervisors, also known
as the abstraction layer, are used to separate physical resources from their virtual environments.
Once resources are pooled together, they can be divided across many virtual environments as
needed.

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 For some businesses, virtualization is the smarter choice and can save money in several
different ways:

 Adding many guests to one house maximizes resources, which means the business
needs fewer servers. This cuts down on operational costs.

 Fewer servers mean fewer people to look after and manage servers. This helps to
consolidate management, thereby reducing costs.

 Virtualization also adds another layer of protection for business continuity, since
virtual machines will limit the damage to itself.

Syllabus:
Data Center Environment: Application Database Management System (DBMS), Host
(Compute), Connectivity, Storage, Disk Drive Components, Disk Drive Performance, Host
Access to Data, Direct-Attached Storage, Storage Design Based on Application

Application Database Management System (DBMS:

A database is a structured way to store data in logically organized tables that are
interrelated. A DBMS controls the creation, maintenance, and use of a database.
A database-management system (DBMS) is a collection of interrelated
data and a set of programs to access those data. This is a collection of related data with an
implicit meaning and hence is a database. The collection of data, usually referred to as the
database, contains information relevant to an enterprise. The primary goal of a DBMS is to
provide a way to store and retrieve database information that is both convenient and
efficient. By data, we mean known facts that can be recorded and that have implicit meaning

Host (Compute):

The computers on which applications run are referred to as hosts. Hosts can range from simple
laptops to complex clusters of servers.
Hosts can be physical or virtual machines. A compute virtualization software enables creating
virtual machines on top of a physical compute infrastructure.

CPU: The CPU consists of four components-Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU), control unit, registers,
and cache.

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Memory: There are two types of memory on a host, Random Access Memory (RAM) and Read-
Only Memory (ROM) 
I/O devices : keyboard, mouse, monitor 
a collection of software to perform computing operations - This software includes the operating
system, file system, logical volume manager, device drivers, and so on . 
Device Drivers :
A device driver is special software that permits the operating system to interact with a specific
device, such as a printer, a mouse, or a disk drive.

Volume Manager :
In the early days, disk drives appeared to the operating system as a number of continuous
disk blocks. The entire disk drive would be allocated to the file system or other data entity used by
the operating system or application.
Lack of flexibility, when a disk drive ran out of space, there was no easy way to extend the file
system’s size. as the storage capacity of the disk drive increased, allocating the entire disk drive for
the file system often resulted in underutilization of storage capacity .

Logical Volume Manage(LVM):

The LVM is software that runs on the compute system and manages logical and
physical storage. LVM is an intermediate layer between the file system and the physical disk.

LVM can partition a larger-capacity disk into virtual, smaller-capacity volumes(called

Partitioning) or aggregate several smaller disks to form a larger virtual volume. The process is
called concatenation.

Disk partitioning was introduced to improve the flexibility and utilization of disk drives. In
partitioning, a disk drive is divided into logical containers called logical volumes (LVs)

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 Disk Partitioning and concatenation

Concatenation is the process of grouping several physical drives and presenting them to the
host as one big logical volume.

 The basic LVM components are physical volumes, volume groups, and logical volumes.
 Each physical disk connected to the host system is a physical volume (PV).
 A volume group is created by grouping together one or more physical volumes.

Logical volumes are created within a given volume group. A logical volume can be thought
of as a disk partition, whereas the volume group itself can be thought of as a disk .

Compute virtualization:

Compute virtualization is a technique for masking or abstracting the physical hardware

from the operating system.
 It enables multiple operating systems to run concurrently on single or clustered physical
machines.
 This technique enables creating portable virtual compute systems called virtual
machines (VMs) running its own operating system and application instance in an
isolated manner.
 Compute virtualization is achieved by a virtualization layer that resides between the
hardware and virtual machines called the hypervisor. The hypervisor provides
hardware resources, such as CPU, memory, and network to all the virtual machines.

 A virtual machine is a logical entity but appears like a physical host to the operating
system, with its own CPU, memory, network controller, and disks.

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 However, all VMs share the same underlying physical hardware in an isolated manner.

Before Compute virtualization: 

A physical server often faces resource-conflict issues when two or more applications running on
the same server have conflicting requirements. As a result, only one application can be run on a
server at a time

After Compute virtualization:

This technique significantly improves server utilization and provides server consolidation. Server
consolidation enables organizations to run their data center with fewer physical servers.

This techniques reduces cost of new server acquisition,

▪ reduces operational cost
▪ saves data center floor and rack space.

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Connectivity :

Connectivity refers to the interconnection between hosts or between a host and

peripheral devices, such as printers or storage devices.

Connectivity and communication between host and storage are enabled using:

 Physical components
 Interface protocols.

 Physical Components of Connectivity:

The physical components of connectivity are the hardware elements that connect the host to
storage.
Three physical components of connectivity between the host and storage are -

 the host interface device

 port
 cable

 A host interface device or host adapter connects a host to other hosts and storage
devices

e.g. host bus adapter (HBA) and network interface card (NIC).

 A port is a specialized outlet that enables connectivity between the host and
external devices. An HBA may contain one or more ports to connect the host.

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  Cables connect hosts to internal or external devices using copper or fiber optic
media.

 Interface Protocols:

A protocol enables communication between the host and storage. Protocols are
implemented using interface devices (or controllers) at both source and destination. The popular
interface protocols used for host to storage communications are:

I. Integrated Device Electronics/Advanced Technology Attachment (IDE/ATA)

II. Small Computer System Interface (SCSI),
III. Fibre Channel (FC)
IV. Internet Protocol (IP)

I.Integrated Device Electronics/Advanced Technology Attachment (IDE/ATA):

IDE/ATA is a popular interface protocol standard used for connecting storage devices,
such as disk drives and CD-ROM drives. This protocol supports parallel transmission and
therefore is also known as Parallel ATA (PATA) or simply ATA. IDE/ATA has a variety of
standards and names.

II. Small Computer System Interface (SCSI):

SCSI has emerged as a preferred connectivity protocol in high-end computers. This

protocol supports parallel transmission and offers improved performance, scalability, and
compatibility compared to ATA.

III. Fibre Channel (FC)

Fibre Channel is a widely used protocol for high-speed communication to the storage
device. Fibre Channel interface provides gigabit network speed. It provides a serial data
transmission that operates over copper wire and optical fiber.

The latest version of the FC interface (16FC) allows transmission of data up to 16 Gb/s.

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IV.Internet Protocol (IP):

IP is a network protocol that has been traditionally used for host-to-host traffic. With the
emergence of new technologies, an IP network has become a viable option for host- to-storage
communication.

IP offers several advantages:

 Cost
 Maturity
 Enables organizations to leverage their existing IP-based network.
iSCSI and FCIP protocols are common examples that leverage IP for host-to-storage
communication.

Storage:

Storage is a core component in a data center. A storage device uses magnetic, optic, or
solid state media. Disks, tapes, and diskettes use magnetic media, CD/DVD uses optical
media. Removable Flash memory or Flash drives uses solid state media.

 Tapes:

In the past, tapes were the most popular storage option for backups because of their low
cost. Tapes have various limitations in terms of performance and management, as listed
below:

 Data is stored on the tape linearly along the length of the tape.
 Search and retrieval of data are done sequentially, and it invariably takes several
seconds to access the data.

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  Random data access is slow and time-consuming.
 In a shared computing environment, data stored on tape cannot be accessed by multiple
applications simultaneously, restricting its use to one application at a time.

Due to these limitations and availability of low-cost disk drives, tapes are no longer a
preferred choice as a backup destination for enterprise-class data centers.

 Optical Disc Storage:

It is popular in small, single-user computing environments. It is frequently used by

individuals to store photos or as a backup medium on personal or laptop computers.

It is also used as a distribution medium for small applications, such as games, or as a means to
transfer small amounts of data from one computer system to another.

The capability to write once and read many (WORM) is one advantage of optical disc
storage. Eg: CD-ROM

Collections of optical discs in an array, called a jukebox, are still used as a fixed-content
storage solution.
Other forms of optical discs include CD-RW, Blu-ray disc, and other variations of DVD .

 Disk Drives:

Disk drives are the most popular storage medium used in modern computers for
storing and accessing data for performance-intensive, online applications.
Disks support rapid access to random data locations. Disks have large capacity. Disk
storage arrays are configured with multiple disks to provide increased capacity and
enhanced performance.

Disk drives are accessed through predefined protocols, such as ATA, SATA, SAS, and
FC. These protocols are implemented on the disk interface controllers.

Disk interface controllers were earlier implemented as separate cards, which were
connected to the motherboard.
Modern disk interface controllers are integrated with the disk drives; therefore, disk drives
are known by the protocol interface they support, for example SATA disk, FC disk, etc.

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Disk Drive Performance:

The advances in disk technology improves disk performance. These advances include
increased rotational speed, faster seek times, and higher data rates. Some other advances
such as disk density or total drive capacity also impact the performance.

Disk performance is measured by "total job completion time" for a complex task involving
a long sequence of disk I/Os.

The time for a disk drive to complete a user request consists of :

 command overhead
 seek time
 rotational latency
 data transfer time

 Command overhead -- The time takes for the disk controller to process and handle
I/O request -- depends on the type of interface (IDE or SCSI), type of command
read/write, use of drive's buffer. Typical value is 0.5 ms for buffer miss and 0.1 ms for
buffer hit.
 Seek time -- the time for the head to move from its current cylinder to the targer
cylinder. Settling time -- the time to position the head over the target track until the
correct track identification is confirmed. A typical seek time is 10 ms.

 Rotational latency -- in the past disk spins at the speed 3,600 rpm. Today the highest
speed is 10,000 rpm and typically 5,400 rpm. representing the average latency 5.6 ms.

 Data transfer time -- depends on "data rate" and "transfer size". There are two kinds of
data rate : media rate and interface rate.
Media rate depends on recording density and rotational speed. For example, a
disk rotating at 5,400 rpm with 111 sectors (512 bytes each) per track will have a media
rate 5 Mbytes per second. Interface rate is how fast data can be transferred between
the host and the disk drive over its interface. SCSI drives can do upto 20 Mbytes per
sec. over each 8-bit-wide transfer. IDE drives with the Ultra-ATA interface support upto
33.3 Mbytes per sec.

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Transfer time equals transfer size divided by data rate. The average media transfer time is 0.8
ms, the average interface transfer time is 0.4 ms.

Example : The typical average time to do a random 4-K byte disk I/O is overhead + seek +
latency + transfer = 0.5 ms + 10 ms + 5.6 ms + 0.8 ms =16.9 ms

Locality of access -- most I/Os are not random, the efffect is that the real seek time is about one
third of random seek time. Taking this into account the above example will be

overhead + seek + latency + transfer =0.5 ms + 1/3 * 10 ms + 5.6 ms + 0.8 ms =10.2 ms

File System:

A file is a collection of related records or data stored as a unit with a name.A file system is
a hierarchical structure of files. A file system enables easy access to data files residing within a
disk drive, a disk partition, or a logical volume.

It provides users with the functionality to create, modify, delete, and access files. A file
system organizes data in a structured hierarchical manner via the use of directories, which are
containers for storing pointers to multiple files.

All file systems maintain a pointer map to the directories, subdirectories, and files that
are part of the file system

Examples of common file systems are:

 FAT 32 (File Allocation Table) for Microsoft Windows

 NT File System (NTFS) for Microsoft Windows
 UNIX File System (UFS) for UNIX
 Extended File System (EXT2/3) for Linux

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Process of mapping:

The following list shows the process of mapping user files to the disk storage subsystem with
an LVM

1. Files are created and managed by users and applications.

2. These files reside in the file systems.
3. The file systems are mapped to file system blocks.
4. The file system blocks are mapped to logical extents of a logical volume.
5. These logical extents in turn are mapped to the disk physical extents either by the operating
system or by the LVM.
6. These physical extents are mapped to the disk sectors in a storage subsystem.
If there is no LVM, then there are no logical extents. Without LVM, file system blocks are
directly mapped to disk sectors.

Process of mapping user files to disk storage

The file system tree starts with the root directory. The root directory has a number of
subdirectories.

A file system can be either :

✓ a journaling file system
✓ a nonjournaling file system.

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  Nonjournaling file system :

Nonjournaling file systems cause a potential loss of files because they use separate writes to
update their data and metadata. If the system crashes during the write process, the metadata or
data might be lost or corrupted. When the system reboots, the file system attempts to update the
metadata structures by examining and repairing them. This operation takes a long time on large
file systems.

 Journaling file system:

Journaling File System uses a separate area called a log or journal. This journal might
contain all the data to be written (physical journal) or just the metadata to be updated (logical
journal). Before changes are made to the file system, they are written to this separate area. After
the journal has been updated, the operation on the file system can be performed. If the system
crashes during the operation, there is enough information in the log to “replay” the log record
and complete the operation. Nearly all file system implementations today use journaling

Advantages:

 Journaling results in a quick file system check because it looks only at the active, most
recently accessed parts of a large file system.
 Since information about the pending operation is saved, the risk of files being lost is
reduced.

Disadvantage:

 they are slower than other file systems. This slowdown is the result of the extra
operations that have to be performed on the journal each time the file system is changed.
 But the advantages of lesser time for file system checks and maintaining file system
integrity far outweighs its disadvantage.

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Direct-Attached Storage:

DAS stands for Direct Attached Storage. It is a digital storage device connected directly to
the server, workstation, or personal computer via the cable. In Direct Attached Storage,
applications use the block-level access protocol for accessing the data.

The System of DAS is attached directly to the computer through the HBA (Host Bus
Adapter. As compared to NAS devices, its device attaches directly to the server without the
network. The modern systems of this storage device include the integrated controllers of a disk
array with the advanced features.

It is a good choice for those small businesses, workgroups, and departments, which do not
want to share the data across the enterprises. It is used in those places which require less number
of hosts and servers.

Types of DAS

Following are the two types of Direct Attached Storage (DAS):

 Internal DAS
 External DAS

Internal DAS:

Internal DAS is a DAS in which the storage device is attached internally to the
server or PC by the HBA. In this DAS, HBA is used for high-speed bus connectivity over a
short distance.

External DAS

External DAS is a DAS in which the external storage device is directly connected to
the server without any device. In this type of DAS, FCP and SCSI are the protocols which act
as an interface between server and the storage device.

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Differences between the Direct Attached Storage (DAS) and Network Attached Storage
(NAS):

Direct Attached Storage (DAS) Network Attached Storage (NAS):

It uses files for backup and recovery. It uses sectors for backup and recovery.
The capacity of NAS is 109 to 1012 bytes. . The capacity of DAS is only 109 bytes
This storage device allows users to share the This storage device does not allow users to
files on different OS. share the files on different OS.
It uses Ethernet and TCP/IP for transmission It uses IDE/SCSI for the transmission of data.
of data.
This storage Device is complex than the DAS This storage device is simple, not complex. Its
device. The cost of this storage device is higher cost is low as compared to NAS.
than the DAS device.
Difficult to set up Easy to set up and install.

Differences between the Direct Attached Storage (DAS) and Storage Area Network (SAN):

Direct Attached Storage (DAS) Storage Area Network (SAN)

It uses files for backup and recovery It uses block by block copying technique for
backup and recovery.
The capacity of DAS is only 109 bytes. The capacity of SAN is more than the 1012
bytes.
This storage device does not allow users to This storage device allows users to share the
share the files on different OS files on different OS.
It uses IDE/SCSI for the transmission of data. It uses Internet Protocol and Fibre Channel for
transmission of data.
It is not complex., easy to set up and install It is complex than the DAS device, slightly
than SAN difficult to install and set up.

KIT/CSE/ 18CS822/M1/BJ STORAGE AREA NETWORKS (18CS822) Page 24

 Questions (Module-1) from VTU Previous Year QP

Jan./Feb-2023

1.
a.What is data Center? Explain key Characteristics of data center with neat
diagram. 05
b. Explain the evolution of storage architecture with neat diagram. 05
c. Describe volume manager and compute virtualization with neat diagram. 10

[Answer: 1a.-page - 6; b.- Pages 4,5,6 ; c.- Pages-12,13,14]

OR

2 a. Explain disk drive components. 05

b. What is a file system? Explain the process of mapping user files to
disk storage. 10
c. Explain the following keywords:

i. Seek Time ii. Rotational latency iii. Data transfer rate. 05

[Answer: 2a.-page - 18; b.- Pages 20,21,22 ; c.- Pages-19]

July/August 2022:

1.
a. Explain the core elements of data centre along with key characteristics. 10
b. Discuss the process of host access to storage. 06
c. Write a short note on evolution of storage architecture. 04

OR

[Answer: 1a.-page - 6,7,8; b.- Pages-17,18 ; c.- Pages-4,5]

KIT/CSE/ 18CS822/M1/BJ STORAGE AREA NETWORKS (18CS822) Page 25

2.
a. Explain in detail disk drive components with suitable diagram. 10
b. Discuss the concept of DAS with advantages and disadvantages. 06
c. Explain disk partitioning and concatenation. 04

[Answer: 2a.-page 18,19 ; b.- Pages 23 ; c.- Pages-12,13]

KIT/CSE/ 18CS822/M1/BJ STORAGE AREA NETWORKS (18CS822) Page 26