Storage Area Networks (SAN) are being installed in increasingly larger numbers. There has always been a need a technology that will allow you to add storage on to an existing network configuration without disrupting operation. This is one of the important features that SAN technology addresses and can be realised through the use of Fibre Channel(s). Robust and resilient networks can now be built with our current RAID solutions with the following features:

• System redundancy
• Shared storage among systems
• Scalable network
• High Performance
• Robust data integrity and reliability
• Fast data access and backup

A Fibre network based on FC-AL (Fibre Channel-Arbitrated Loop) can support a total of 126 devices with transfer rates of up to 200MBytes/sec. Although a continuous Fibre loop can interconnect the devices, a hub is recommended to prevent a single point of failure from bringing down the whole network. Both hosts and storage modules can be added or removed without disrupting the other connected devices. Host systems, servers and workstations can share access to common RAID disk storage subsystems or devices.