SAN design and management: an ongoing process
Author: Computer Technology Review

Many organizations today still approach SAN design and management like a one-time event: once it's done, it's done. The problem with that approach, however, is that businesses aren't static. Data is continually growing. New regulations affect how data is handled. Storage needs change. And the SAN has to change to meet those needs.

The Evolution of Storage Management

Of course, being able to change a SAN design in response to shifting business requirements assumes that some kind of design even exists, and historically that hasn't always been the case. Much like the adoption of the LAN in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the adoption of the SAN was slower than anticipated. While pioneers and pundits in the storage industry heralded each passing year as the "Year of the SAN," their lofty, extensive vision of SANs did not really materialize as predicted. Instead, the real-life problems of the data center and ever-shrinking budgets for new technologies required pragmatic, tactical solutions.

Initial storage solutions tended to be simple and piecemeal. Long SCSI, technology bridging, fabric conversion and server consolidation solutions solved a problem for IT and were not encumbered by overly optimistic expectations, but they were limited by their lack of interoperability and extensibility. In addition, lack of standards and dueling standards slowed the adoption of new technologies, as did the volatility of the competing storage hardware and software vendors. With no clear leader in the field, various manufacturers came and went or were absorbed by other companies, contributing to the lack of clear direction in the storage market.