On Jun 16, 2005, at 3:25 PM, Lawlin, David C CIV (NAVAIR 4.1.3) wrote: We have recently begun to look into employing a Network Attached Storage (NAS) in our Heterogeneous/Mixed architecture enclave. My lead SA is looking at NetApp as a strong contender however, having recently committed to procuring an Xserve to host a number of databases(Filemaker Pro and Advance Server) and to help administer our mixed architecture network; It would seems natural that we consider the Xserve Raid and Xsan. The problem is that many in the NAS community consider Xsan to be only a SW package that supplies only a subset of the functionality of say NetApps Network Appliance systems. Apple states/implies that Xsan, especially when coupled with SDIC StorNext products can provide NAS functionality, to a greater or lesser degree I do not know.
David,
Need to clear up some conflicting info in your message.....
Xsan is not NAS. SAN - Storage Area Network (simultaneous node access typically over Fibre Channel) NAS - Network Attached Storage (typically served to clients over Ethernet)
Xsan is a 64-bit SAN File System for Mac OS X / Mac OS X Server. Nodes can share files and volumes up to 2 petabytes (PB). Xsan is a Cluster File System.
It is 100% compatible with ADIC's StorNext SAN
SAN and NAS are not the same thing and do not solve the same IT needs. You can 'serve' SAN storage to network clients as NAS (SMB/CIFS, AFP, NFS).
Hope this helps.
-Shawn ___________________________________________ Shawn Geddis Security Consulting Engineer Apple Computer - US Federal Government
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