The NAS is the type of the network that is used for extensively in the RAID server networks. The abbreviation of the NAS stands for Network Attach Storage. The Network Attach Storage is the systems that are usually used for the computation and the calculation - storage disk drive devices. These NAS systems can be accessed via a computer network; instead of directly connecting them over a system bus. It should be noted that the networks are generally connected over the network by a bus.

What happens is that the users, more specifically the multiple users who are sharing the systems over the network can also share the same storage device at a given time. This reduces the overhead by managing the hard disks centrally. The most of the Network Attach Storage systems utilizes one or more hard disks, in the other words different storage devices are connected and they can be shared at a time. These Network Attach Storage systems are usually so arranged so that they are according to the logical arrangement of the redundant storage elements; or in short they are the RAID arrays. Hence the NAS or the Network Attach Storage is the main thing used for the purpose of networking system in the RAID storage devices.

Generally the NAS is considered as comparatively equivalent to the SAN. The SAN is the Storage Area Network. Both the types of networks are used for specifically for the RAID storage devices. The NAS may be considered as an alternative to the Storage Area Network. Even it may be considered as an alternative to a specialized network by the SAN. In the specialized version of the SAN the various communication devices can communicate using a protocol called as the Block based SCSI protocol. This is the most important aspect of this network.

The communication is possible over the Fibre Channel. The Fibre Channel may be a dedicated one. More over the communication can is even possible over a dedicated Internet Protocol more popularly known as the IP Network. The RAID devices that are connected over the NAS are generally connected via a Local Area Network or a LAN. Such a thing of connecting the NAS over a LAN minimizes the cost of operation, the cost of installation and the cost of maintenance. But this process at the same time also causes decrement in the speed of the network.

When we talk about any network the protocol associated with that network is mainly responsible for the functionality and the operation of the network. Similarly the protocol used by the Network Attach Storage or the NAS is considered as a file based protocol. The file based protocol is a good example of the files can be accessed, utilized over a network. The examples of the file based protocol are the following as such the NFS and the CIFS. The NFS is the Network File System and the other one that is the CIFS is from the Microsoft Corporation and the abbreviation of the term stands for the Microsoft’s Common Internet File System. This protocol by the Microsoft was developed specifically for the Internet File System.

This is because the Internet has many networks connected over a large network and the different networks may have different operating systems like the Windows or the Linux and the Apple’s OS MAC etc. Hence each of these operating systems has the different file system; so as to bridge this gap the Internet File System is used.

Data Recovery Software - RAID Recovery

More Information
RAID 3
RAID 4
RAID 6
RAID Implementation
RAID Parity
Resizing RAID regions
Testing RAID Drives
General Concept - RAID
Single RAID level
RAID Parity Corruption
Multiple / Nested RAID level
Bunch of Hard Disks
Data Loss from RAID Servers
Serial ATA RAID
RAID Data Recovery
Comparision of RAID Levels
RAID Toolbox
SCSI RAID
RAID Performance
Storage Controllers - RAID
MAC- RAID Installation
RAID Technology
RAID Cost
Windows Server Installation

Related Information
Data Recovery Utility
Search Data Recovery Services
SATA Hard Disk
Forensics Data
Technology Strategies