Direct Attached Storage (DAS), Network Attached Storage (NAS), and Storage Area Network (SAN) are the three main types of data storage commonly used today. Similar to a tool, each has its advantages given a specific application. DAS is typically suited for the local data sharing typical of a small to medium size business. DAS incurs lower startup costs than SAN or NAS but scalability is limited and costly. NAS is suited for small, medium, and enterprise size business applications. NAS offloads the File serving and storage functions while working nearly independently in the background. This results in a slightly more complex setup that can still be simple to manage. SANs are well suited for the enterprise environment of medium to large businesses. They are high performance storage networks that move data in blocks between servers and storage devices independent of the local area network (LAN). SANs are also well suited for critical data applications and large data bases.

Considerations for selecting a storage solution:

• Budget
• Performance - I/O and throughput requirements
• Data Size - Is data (file level or block level)? How much?
• Data Security - Backup and recovery requirements
• System Scalability – Long term data size requirement
• Data Availability and Reliability
• Support resources available

ESA offers high value DAS, NAS, and SAN solutions to fit your application. Use our configurator to fine-tune your system.