Network Attach Storage (NAS)

Network Attached Storage (NAS) a self-contained computer and storage system connected to a network, with the sole purpose of supplying file-based data storage services to other devices on the network. They contain an operating system and potentially other applications that provide the functionality for the data storage, file system and the management tools. NAS is not designed to carry out general-purpose computing tasks and are controlled and configured over the network, often by connecting a browser to their network address.

NAS systems contain one or more hard disks, often arranged into logical, redundant storage containers or RAID arrays and remove the responsibility of file serving from other servers on the network. NAS uses file-based protocols such as NFS (popular on UNIX systems), SMB/CIFS (Server Message Block/Common Internet File System) (used with MS Windows systems), or AFP (used with Mac systems). NAS units rarely limit clients to a single protocol.

Storage NAS

Benefits

The majority of professional NAS systems provide good availability of data and certain levels of data protection as they will have onboard RAID and clustering functionality. Additionally network performance can be increased as the file serving is done by the NAS and not done by the servers on the network allowing the CPU resource to be used for key applications.

Remote back up and replication

In addition to a simple way of adding storage to a network, either business or in the home, NAS has also emerged as an ideal technology for applications such as remote back up and replication. Its ease of installation means users on remote sites can add storage to the network that will back up local data and replicate this into a central site each night with little or no IT expertise required. This function can be automated by software and works in both directions to deploy software updates to remote sites and restore data in the event of a disaster; additionally it can be an ideal technology to back up remote laptop users every time they attach to the network.

Storage Backup Replication

Disk based back up

In recent years NAS has also entered into new markets such as disk to disk to tape (D2D2T) back up solutions. Data can be backed up to the disks within the NAS device quicker than tape and as disk is a faster media than tape this also speeds up the time it takes to restore files in the event of data loss. To ensure there is added data protection files can be moved off to a tape device directly attached to the system with no overhead to the network users and without the need for a back up window.

Key benefits of D2D2T back up:

Complete hardware and software solution
Overcome the hassles of backup to tape
Faster backups and restores
Protect file servers and application servers
Protect desktops and notebooks
Supports Windows, Mac, Linux
Create tapes from disk backups for long term archives

Storage Disk Backup

NAS in the home

The consumer market is now an emerging market for NAS where there is a large amount of multi-media data. Such consumer market appliances are now commonly available. Unlike their business counterparts, they are generally packaged in smaller form factors. The price of NAS appliances has come down in recent years, offering flexible network-based storage to the home consumer market for little more than the cost of a regular USB or FireWire external hard disk. These devices offer unique features across a home network giving users the ability to access their systems from anywhere in the world to back up data. Figures show that the sales of NAS units in to the home market will grow from 2.2M per year as of 2008 to 12.2M per year by 2012 as more households are networked and move to centralised storage.

Storage NAS Home