Unit 6 Research Paper 1: Network Attached Storage
UNIT 6 RESEARCH PAPER 1: NETWORK ATTACHED STORAGE NT 1110 WAYNE HOVIS PART 1
What is a NAS device?
A network-attached storage (NAS) device is a server that is dedicated to nothing more than file sharing. NAS does not provide any of the activities that a server in a server-centric system typically provides, such as email, authentication or file management. NAS allows more hard disk storage space to be added to a network that already utilizes servers without shutting them down for maintenance and upgrades. With a NAS device, storage is not an integral part of the server. Instead, in this storage-centric design, the server still handles all of the processing of data but a NAS device delivers the data to the user. A NAS device does not need to be located within the server but can exist anywhere in a LAN and can be made up of multiple networked NAS devices.
What is the speed of the network adapter available on a NAS device?
The speed is usually 1GB Ethernet connection but it can be changed to multiple Gb, 10Gb, fiber optic by adding a PCIe network card(s). It depends on the NAS device. Most newer ones will have Gigabit ethernet, very cheap or old ones may only be 100Mbit and high end ones may have 2 separate gigabit ethernet connections.
What is the capacity range?
Depending on the type and volume of content you plan to store, there's a choice of capacities available all the way up to huge multiple TB (Terabyte) versions. A 160GB capacity for example would be enough storage for around 40,000 average audio tracks or up to 200 hours of video content. If you'll be using your NAS device to store masses of content, including High Definition content, or indeed backing up multiple user's PCs, you'll need a bigger capacity.
