The Top 10 SANs vs. NAS Decision Factors
Publish Date: Mar. 14, 2002

Learn about the differences between Storage Area Networks (SANs) and Networked Attached Storage (NAS) in this article by W. Curtis Preston, the author of Using SANs and NAS.

View all articles by W. Curtis Preston.

Using SANs and NAS

Customer Reviews

Using SANs and NAS Review
2002-03-13 05:01:12 s.weinberger
These book, helps me to build a small SAN with an backup-Solution.

Using SANs and NAS Review
2002-03-12 10:40:14 Mel Beckman
The most complete treatment of the subject for network administrators that I've found. Better than Tom Clark's "Designing Storage Area Networks" (which is still very good and worth getting), because the information is more hands-on practical.

Author W. Curtis Preston's writing is very clear, and friendly to boot. You get the feeling you're working with an old hand who's showing you the ropes of this technology. Preston's diagrams are first rate, and his comments on industry hype fun to read. The multitude of practical technical tips are priceless.

Preston provides deep coverage of backup and recovery -- issues often glossed over by vendors and other technical treatments. For example, many storage network users are shocked to learn during a catastrophe that their carefully-backed-up data will take hours or days to restore. Preston's careful design advice helps you avoid such pitfalls.

In contrast, Clark's "Designing Storage Area Networks" focuses on the low-level technical details of storage network hardware and protocols, saying little about day-to-day management.

The books are inexpensive; I recommend you buy both. But if you can only buy one, Preston's is it.

Media Reviews

"The book takes you through the ins and outs of building and managing large data centers using SANs and NAS."
--www.enterprisestorageforum.com, Feb 2002

"I can say this book is a must for any person engaged in storage administration."
--Virantha Mendes ,news@uk, June 2002

"If you want to know the ins and outs of these two systems, and their respective strengths and weaknesses, 'Using SANS and NAS' is probably the only resource that brings all the necessary information together in one place...very well presented, this is about practical issues and not about programming. An important resource for network and data storage administrators."
--Major Keary, Book News, 2002 No 6

"I would recommend this book to anyone considering purchasing a SAN or NAS solution."
--Lee R. Chikasue, Williamsburg Macromedia User Group, April 30, 2002

"Preston wrote the book as a help for storage administrators, and he has succeeded wonderfully...The book offers a welcome and clear view on a technology that is still subject to a lot of hyped characteristics. Vendors of NAS and SAN solutions are fighting not only for market share, but especially for mindshare. Nevertheless, as Preston's book clearly shows, both technologies have their own merits and should be carefully weighed against each other. And once the choice has been made, managing these environments is not an easy task, either. Preston's book is a good reference for the buying process as well as everything that follows."--Erik Vlietinck, http://it-enquirer.com/, April 2002

"Author W. Curtis Preston has written a delightful book on SAN and NAS that can be read on many levels. It earns the 'delightful' moniker because, unlike most computer books, it is not hard to understand, poorly organized, or geared to a small section of readers presumed to know 90% of what the author fails to say, explain or put into perspective. Even more encouraging is the fact that the author is not a cheerleader for SAN or NAS technologies. Oh sure, he says they're both useful and promising--and step by step tells how to use them--but he also cautions that SANs and NAS carry a lot of new baggage: greater complexities and configuration challenges...In sum, if you need a good guide on how to employ a SAN or NAS, or just what questions to ask the vendors of these products, read 'Using SANs and NAS'."--Storage Magazine, April 2002

Unix Backup and Recovery

Customer Reviews

Unix Backup & Recovery Review
1999-11-21 00:00:00 John T. Willis


This is a good read. I found the depth of
the database chapters especially interesting.
It's a big book, but covers the territory very
well.

It's about the same size as
"Essential System Administration" and truly
belongs on any book shelf that already has
a copy of that book. This book 'earns' its
blue cover.

He covers the five most popular OS'es including
Linux! And he covers bare-metal recovery.. how
many times have you wondered what to do with those
backup tapes after a crash?

I especially enjoyed the "how we got here"
mini-history lessons about the tools and why
there is so much duplication.

I'm extermely glad this book came out when it
did, it steered me clear of several bad choices
based on marketing material and a lack of
concrete information from vendors.

Unix Backup & Recovery Review
1999-08-06 00:00:00 Robert Fisher


I've heard it often enough that the principle
virtue of a System Administrator is laziness.

Thus it's no surprise that the three cardinal
rules of System Administration are:

1: Backup
2: Backup

Unix Backup & Recovery Review
1999-05-05 00:00:00 Rob Worman


I have had occasion to work with Curtis in the past, and let me say "this guy lives and breathes backups"

this book will be a must for the O'Reilly bookshelf!

Unix Backup & Recovery Review
1998-12-07 00:00:00 Martin Backe


How I wish I had this book when first establishing backup procedures for some Sun machines. It confirms that I actually did it right!

If nothing else, after reading the various anecdotes of 'horror' stories, you'll be convinced that you haven't been doing proper backups (and testing the recovery process). Fortunately, you'll have the book to teach you how to do it right.

This is a must read for any administrator (one system or many) that wants to do things right. I sure learned a lot.

Media Reviews

"If terabytes and petabytes of information fall under your care, Curtis Preston is the author with the expertise to help you back them up and restore them successfully...If you have only one Unix server under your care, you will want to read this book, because it explains utilities like tar and cpio in a language more accessible than the online manual 'man.' If you are responsible for a complex library or archival automation network, running one of the major database management systems described, you will appreciate the clear thinking involved even more highly."
--Christopher Brown-Syed, Library and Archival Security, Vol 17, Number 1, 2001

"the book is complete coverage of Unix backup and recovery. Huh. Truth in advertising. Whodathunkit--With many years' worth of practical experience, several specialist contributors, and dozens of technical reviewers, this book leaves few stones unturned. No matter how experienced you are at managing backups, you could probably learn at least a few tricks from Curtis Preston and his crew. Normally discussions about backups are relegated to, at best, a single chapter in a Unix administration book. 'Unix Backup & Recovery' is the first title I've ever seen that covers this territory in full detail. In fact, even if you aren't specifically a Unix administrator, the discussion of topics like the most common causes of system failure and how to pitch a more reliable backup scheme to management are very cross-platform. They're worth reading no matter what type of computer system you rely upon...rating 10 of 10"
--Greg Smith, slashdot.org, April 2000

"The word "backup" can elicit more fear and resolutions than any other word systems administrators hear. Usually, it is after a system failure when them administrator discovers how good his backup procedure really is. A new O'Reilly classic will help you find out how well your process works. 'UNIX Backup & Recovery' is one of the most essential reference and resource books written for systems administrators that I have read. Preston demonstrates the necessity of thorough backup plans and illustrates what can happen when some aspect of a backup is overlooked. He discusses both hardware and software issues and illustrates how each can be backed up and, more importantly, restored to its prior state. (The most precise and complete backups aren't worth anything if they cannot be restored.) The author's plentiful examples and informal writing style make the book interesting, readable, and valuable. Preston has written the resource that he would have wanted to read. Every UNIX system administrator needs this extraordinary book now. Tomorrow may be too late."
--Elizabeth Zinkann, Sys Admin, March 2000

"Buy this book. Now. Do not pass "Go", do not let your hard drive crash. A soon as you have the book in hand (expresso optional), read Section I break out the CD-Rom and see what's on it. Read Chapter 8 "Bare-Metal Backup and Recovery Methods for Linux". Then, do what the man says Highly recommended. The job you save may be your own."
--Charles Curley, Linux Journal, Oct 2000