NAS uses TCP/IP networks, most commonly Ethernet. See our comprehensive guide on Storage Area Networks in the Enterprise. SANs are not dependent on the LAN and relieves pressure on the local network by offloading data directly from attached servers. Servers identify the SAN as locally attached storage, so multiple servers can share a storage pool. Servers connect to the SAN fabric using host bus adapters (HBAs). High-end enterprise SANs may also include SAN directors for higher performance and efficient capacity usage. The network interconnects storage devices, switches, and hosts. SAN is a dedicated high-performance network for consolidated block-level storage. In the market for a network attached storage solution? See our list of the best enterprise NAS. See our comprehensive guide to learn more about network attached storage in the enterprise. NAS is not typically as fast as block-based SAN, but high-speed LANs can overcome most performance and latency issues. NAS is LAN-dependent if the LAN goes down so does the NAS. Employees access files from the NAS like they do any other file on the network. NAS appears to the operating system as a shared folder. It typically uses NFS or CIFS protocols, although other choices like HTTP are available. NAS is a file-level data storage device attached to an TCP/IP network, usually Ethernet. This article will help you do that by defining NAS and SAN, calling out their distinctions, and presenting usage cases for both architectures. However, enterprise IT budgets are not infinite, and organizations need to optimize their storage expenditures to suit their priority requirements. NAS and SAN are as complementary as they are competitive and fill different needs and usage cases in the organization. NAS “versus” SAN doesn’t tell the whole story in comparing these two popular storage architectures.

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