Storage Networking Protocol Fundamentals
About this ebook
- Introduces network administrators to the requirements of storage protocols
- Explains the operation of network protocols to storage administrators
- Compares and contrasts the functionality of Ethernet, TCP/IP, and Fibre Channel
- Documents the details of the major protocol suites, explains how they operate, and identifies common misunderstandings
- References the original standards and specifications so you can get a complete understanding of each protocol
- Helps you understand the implications of network design choices
- Discusses advanced network functionality such as QoS, security, management, and protocol analysis
Corporations increasingly depend on computer and communication technologies to remain competitive in the global economy. Customer relationship management, enterprise resource planning, and e-mail are a few of the many applications that generate new data every day. Effectively storing, managing, and accessing that data is a primary business challenge in the information age. Storage networking is a crucial component of the solution to meet that challenge.
Written for both storage administrators who need to learn more about networking and network administrators who need to learn more about storage, Storage Networking Protocol Fundamentals is a concise introduction to storage networking protocols. The book picks up where Storage Networking Fundamentals left off by focusing on the networking protocols that underlie modern open systems: block-oriented storage networks.
The first part of the book introduces you to the field of storage networking and the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) reference model. The second part compares networked storage technologies, including iSCSI (Small Computer Systems Interface over IP) and Fibre Channel. It also examines in detail each of the major protocol suites layer-by-layer within the OSI reference model. The third part discusses advanced functionalities of these technologies, such as quality of service (QoS), load-balancing functions, security, management, and protocol analysis. You can read this book cover to cover or use it as a reference, directly accessing the particular topics of interest to you.
“Storage networking is a critical concept for today’s businesses, and this book provides a unique and helpful way to better understand it. Storage networking is also continuously evolving, and as such this book may be seen as an introduction to the information technology infrastructures of the future.”
—from the foreword by Claudio DeSanti, vice-chairman of the ANSI INCITS T11 Technical Committee
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About the author
James Long is a storage networking systems engineer for Cisco Systems, Inc., where he specializes in field sales organization. James has more than 16 years of IT experience spanning server administration, database administration, software development, multiprotocol network design and administration, remote access solutions design and administration, IP telephony and IP contact center design, content distribution design, storage network design, and advanced technology evaluation. James holds numerous technical certifications from Cisco®, Microsoft, Novell, the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA), and the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA).
