IP SAN: Low on Fibre

The era of Fibre Channel interoperability is slowly dawning. In a world where Internet Protocol (IP) dominates local and wide area networks, and data storage requirements grow unabated, it seems inevitable that these two forces converge. Internet Protocol Storage Area Networks (IP SANs) [4] unite storage and IP networking enabling IP and Ethernet infrastructure to be used for expanding access to SAN storage and extending SAN connectivity across any distance. This paper provides an overview of storage networking and discusses its need. It goes deeper into the storage area network technology and analyzes its two types: Fibre Channel SAN [1] (FC SAN) and IP SAN. The paper then compares the two, making a case for IP SAN and highlighting that IP SANs will take the centre stage, possibly replacing Fibre Channel SANs completely.