[Gllug] Linux SANs

[Walter Stanish]

> Any unix admin with a bit of experience will be fine with any SAN
> hardware. The general ability and problem solving skills of a unix
> admin should see you through, it's just getting a foot in the door
> that is the problem.

I agree the hardware's not a challenge.  It's speccing out a long
term solution that's appropriate for the current and perceived future
needs of an organisation from the vast array of options that's the
real challenge, and this can be very difficult indeed.  There are
competing factors such as cost, deployment time, flexibility for
changing needs over time, overall capacity, throughput, 
reliability, vendor lock-in, component maturity / expected 
lifetime, maintenance requirements, training requirements, etc... 
it's by no means a simple process.

> 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.

- Walter
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