[Gllug] Linux SANs

[Geoff Wright]

On Fri, Aug 21, 2009 at 9:49 AM, Walter
Stanish<walter.stanish at saffrondigital.com> wrote:

>
>> I would consider a strong SAN admin to have a pretty in depth
>> knowledge of the FC protocol, FC networks and troubleshooting.
>
> This is based on two assumptions that are incorrect, at least for
> our scenario.  First, FC is not necessarily a component of all
> storage solutions.  Second, not all organisations want to or can
> justify the expense of adding a dedicated member of staff simply
> for storage administration.
>

True, FC is not always the basis of a SAN. Replace FC with gigE/iSCSI
and you still need someone with good networking knowledge. In my
experience the actual storage side is less important, its the network
between the storage and initiator that is the bit that most people get
wrong.

In nearly all situations a dedicated staff member shouldn't be
necessary. A competent network engineer should be able to add it to
their repertoire as could a competent unix admin. Unfortunately some
storage vendors still steer companies along the path of needing
dedicated resource for dealing with their kit, even though this is
only likely to be needed with a large SAN.
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