A storage area network or SAN is a logical computer network that provides remote access to unified, consolidated, block-level data storage over a local network. SANs are used primarily to access data storage devices like disk arrays and tape drives from multiple servers, so the devices seem to the operating system like directly attached storage. The network has features such as virtualization, address management, and policy-based routing, all of which allow different devices in the same network to operate in different ways. For example, while one disk drive in a local network may be connected to several other drives in a different network, a SAN has virtual networking between them. The physical address of a networked SAN is given by the manufacturer of the SAN device.

There are three basic types of SANs: enterprise, consumer, and central. An enterprise network has some storage-oriented servers that are connected through the network …