The phrase storage networking, or storage network, is used to describe a high-speed network of shared storage devices. The storage network is used by IT departments to connect different types of storage devices with data servers for a larger network of users. As more storage devices are added to the storage network, they too will be accessible from any server in the larger network.  Storage networking is a phrase most commonly associated with enterprises and data centers.
Network storage is not all that much different from networked systems  it provides storage services over a network. Just as you can have as few as two machines hooked together in a networked system, you can have a server and storage connected together in a storage network. Or, you can have hundreds or thousands of machines connected to hundreds or even thousands of storage systems, both locally or over wide area networks (WANs).

Common storage networking systems include the following:

  • Network Attached Storage (NAS)
  • Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE)
  • Storage Area Network (SAN)
  • Small Computer System Interface (SCSI)
  • Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA)
  • Serial Attached SCSI (SAS)
  • Fibre Channel
  • Internet SCSI (iSCSI )
  • Redundant Array of Independent (or Inexpensive) Disks (RAID)