One of the hottest topics in the storage arena is the concept of the Storage Area Network (SAN). This seminar peels away the hype and examines the potential, and problems, of how the SAN is poised to reshape the future I/O environment.

Course Outline (click for details)

• Driving factors behind SAN

  Details
  	The exploding I/O Universe
  	Internet/web servers
  	Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
  	Data mining/warehousing
  	Video production
  	System performance trends
  	System performance trend
  	Moore's law
  	Storage capacity trend
  	Amdahl/Case rule for I/O
  	I/O attachment strategies
  	Integrated attach (IDE)
  	Channel attach (SCSI)
  	Network attach (LAN/NAS)
  	Storage area network (SAN)

• What is SAN?

  Details
  	Definition and discussion
  	Reality vs. Hype

• Benefits of SAN

  Details
  	Enhancing space utilization
  	Enhancing performance
  	Enhanced data access
  	Data consolidation
  	LAN-Free backup
  	Improved management
  	Improved device utilization
  	Disaster recovery

• SAN I/O requirements

  Details
  	Data rate requirements
  	Distance objectives
  	How much connectivity?
  	Multi-vendor environments
  	Reliability, Availability, Serviceability (RAS)
  	SAN I/O Interface options
  	SCSI Bus
  	ESCON
  	Fibre Channel

• Fibre Channel Concepts

  Details
  	The Fibre Channel Network
  	Nodes and Ports
  	Fibre Channel Topologies
  	Structure and Standards
  	Multi-Protocol transport
  	Fibre Channel Components
  	Host Bus Adapters
  	Systems and Servers
  	Raid Subsystems
  	Disk Enclosures (JBOD)
  	Disk and Tape Drives
  	Switches and Hubs
  	Fibre Channel Cables
  	GBICs, MIAs, and GLMs
  	Tools and Test Equipment
  	Fibre Channel Analyzers
  	Traffic Checkers/Monitors
  	Optical Link Testing
  	SAN Bridges
  	Legacy devices in SAN
  	Fibre Channel to SCSI
  	Fibre Channel to ESCON
  	Fibre Channel to WAN
  	Metropolitan/wide area SANs

• SAN Fault Tolerance

  Details
  	High-Availability SANs
  	Concurrent Maintenance
  	Disaster Recovery

• SAN Management

  Details
  	Device Management
  	Access Management
  	Topology zoning
  	Access control by switching
  	Space management
  	Data access management
  	LUN masking
  	Volume mapping
  	Access Zoning
  	Performance management
  	Performance monitoring
  	Performance tuning
  	Fault management
  	Fault notification
  	Fault isolation
  	Accounting and asset mgmt.
  	Security management
  	Version control/updating
  	Auditing
  	Software
  	Firmware
  	Management Protocols
  	SNMP
  	CIM
  	DMTF
  	SCSI Enclosure Services
  	ESCON manager

• Device and Data Sharing

  Details
  	Single-user vs. multi-user
  	Device sharing
  	Reserve/release
  	Controller access
  	Space sharing/partitioning
  	File sharing
  	Record sharing
  	Operating system issues
  	Mixed operating systems
  	SAN sharing solutions
  	Replacement file systems
  	Network redirectors
  	File system emulation

• Interoperability

  Details
  	Standards compliance
  	SAN Ready profile
  	Interoperability testing
  	Independent test labs
  	Vendor testing
  	User interoperability testing

• SAN Software Solutions

  Details
  	SAN file systems
  	SAN management tools

Who Should Attend This seminar is targeted towards developers, integrators, managers, marketing personnel, technical writers and others with a need for an understanding of storage area networks as implemented using Fibre Channel technology.
Prerequisites: An understanding of current computer interfaces or networks is useful, but not absolutely necessary.
Course Length:: 2 Days	Download course description (printable version)