

Conversely, using NAS to handle large volumes of streaming media files requires larger capacity disks, more memory and more powerful network processing.Īt home, people use a NAS system to store and serve multimedia files and to automate backups. Sharing Microsoft Excel spreadsheets or Word documents with co-workers is a routine task, as is performing periodic data backup. The applications to be used determine the type of HDD selected for a NAS device. With a NAS system, distributed work environments can easily access files and folders from any network-connected device. Newer systems use faster flash storage, either as a tier alongside HDDs or in all-flash configurations. Input/output ( I/O) contention can occur when too many users overwhelm the system with requests at the same time. Network-attached storage relies on hard disk drives (HDDs) to serve data. While collaboration is a virtue of NAS, it can also be problematic. In addition, most NAS vendors partner with cloud storage providers to give customers the flexibility of redundant backup.

Appliances are also clustered together for scale-out storage. To expand storage capacity, NAS appliances are outfitted with more or larger disks, known as scale-up NAS. Prior to NAS, enterprises had to configure and manage hundreds or even thousands of file servers. Enterprise NAS gear is designed with more high-end data features to aid storage management and usually comes with at least four drive bays. Devices usually contain at least two drive bays, although single-bay systems are available for noncritical data. Others are for home offices or small businesses. Some NAS products are designed for use in large enterprises. Organizations commonly deploy a NAS environment as the foundation for a personal or private cloud. NAS connects to a wireless router, making it easy for distributed workers to access files from any desktop or mobile device with a network connection. It is useful to distributed teams that need remote access or work in different time zones. The purpose of NAS is to enable users to collaborate and share data more effectively. What is network-attached storage used for? SANs are designed primarily for block storage inside databases, also known as structured data. NAS handles unstructured data, such as audio, video, websites, text files and Microsoft Office documents. NAS and storage area networks ( SANs) are the two main types of networked storage. The devices consolidate storage in one place and support a cloud tier and tasks, such as archiving and backup.

NAS stands out for its ease of access, high capacity and low cost. Each NAS resides on the LAN as an independent network node, defined by its own unique Internet Protocol ( IP) address. NAS devices typically do not have a keyboard or display and are configured and managed with a browser-based utility. Users on a local area network ( LAN) access the shared storage via a standard Ethernet connection. Network-attached storage (NAS) is dedicated file storage that enables multiple users and heterogeneous client devices to retrieve data from centralized disk capacity.
