Important SAN Management Aspects Essay

There several critical aspects in storage area network (SAN) management. These aspects range from changes in every day configurations to physical-asset inventory to historical reporting in the long-term. Perhaps the most important element in SAN management is documentation (Poelkar & Nikitin, 2009). Keeping track of all connections such as the host bus adaptors (HBAs) to the servers can prevent problems of failures in SAN functionalities. There are usually several connections in SAN networking and memorizing all the connections can be challenging. Keeping a record and clear documentation on all the SAN components as well as their status of functioning can solve this problem before things go astray. Documentation will include all software configurations and hardware connections (Poelkar & Nikitin, 2009). Because SAN forms an integral part of computing infrastructure, all procedures and practices employed in tracking network components and severs should be applicable to SAN too. SAN security is another important aspect of SAN management. In order to optimize the overall SAN performance, it is advisable to keep off all the viruses, malaware, hostile and attackers. Integrating powerful antispyware, antivirus, malicious website filters and client firewalls into a single powerful engine will provide robust SAN security and enhance efficiency. The combination of these tools minimizes on system resources and enhances high system performance. Above all, the network is protected. SAN security is critical to SAN management as it avoids loss of sensitive and important data (Poelkar & Nikitin, 2009). The other key management aspect of SAN is the cost of SAN implementation (Norris, 2003). While considering the effectiveness of implementing SAN security, and optimizing the speed and workability of SAN, it is critical to consider tools that can provide the same benefits at a lower price (Norris, 2003). The essence of any business is to make profits. However, since SAN implementation is important, it is necessary to implement but at affordable cost. SAN management is critical to the functioning of SAN and it attempts to address the aspects of security, cost and functionality. SAN software can manage most of the processes and elements needed for proper working of SAN. The SAN management software ensure maximum security and low computer resource usage in terms of random access memory (RAM) thus improving speeds.