Customer Reviews

Building Storage Networks

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Building Storage Networks is a very complete reference into storage. This book covers it all. If you know nothing about storage, by the time you get through the 590 pages you will have a complete knowledge of storage.

The 'Blueprint' section is somewhat confusing, especially if you are not storage savvy. I have been building storage systems for several years now and had to read the blueprints several times to fully understand them. They could have been done better.

Overall the book is good reference material, but it was not what I was expecting. To me, it appears the author started out with good intentions, but could not decide what 'extra' information could/should be left out. He could have just summarized some topics. There are numerous books on RAID, SCSI, etc that the author should have just referenced at the end of each chapter. This would have cut the size of book down considerably.

Where does one get started in understanding the impact of storage area networks on conventional direct attach and network attach storage architectures? How are they similar, can they be combined, or are they different all together? As a professional in the storage industry with responsibility for answering these questions to those around me, I have found this book to be the ultimate resource. Not only does it describe in detail what today defines a storage area network, but it also fills in areas relating to network topologies, protocols, and general server I/O while giving a complete context in which decisions can begin to be formed.If you are in any way responsbile for storage infrastructure, or in planning products to enable networked storage, this is the first book you should buy. It has the breadth to provide your foundation, and suffucient depth to allow questions to be asked. You'll read other books, but like a good textbook, this is the reference you want on your shelf while you explore this complex and rewarding topic.Mike HardyVP Business DevelopmentChaparral Network Storage

The storage industry is colliding with the networking industry. And while the collision is providing lots of opportunity for both industries, it's also leaving much confusion in its wake. For example, What's the difference between SAN and NAS? What is the role of Fibre Channel? How does Ethernet fit into storage networks?

I found that Marc Farley's Building Storage Networks provides answers to these questions. The book is written for IT administrators, and covers such additional topics as network I/O, RAID, and network backup.

The book is half resource manual and half textbook, meaning that certain topics can be looked up in the index--like a resource manual. At the same time, the book can be read like a textbook, with the reader moving from point to point without becoming completely baffled by jargon.

I would say that anyone interested in building and maintaining storage networks should read this book.

Mike Downing, Editor, Mass Storage News

Nicely written material for the beginner to the SAN and NAS areas, but ultimately falls short of the depth that I was looking for in understanding SAN and NAS technologies. Covers the networking, protocols, and basic SAN and NAS architectures well. If you have a fairly good idea of the SAN and NAS solutions available today, than this book doesn't provide anything you haven't already been exposed. If your looking for a book that explains how and where SAN and NAS solutions might fit into your organization, than this is the book for you.

Every storage, SAN, and NAS executive, engineer, marketeer, sales person, administrator, Wall Street analyst, and investor should read this book. It is easy to read and comprehend while conveying remarkable depth of knowledge. The reader need not have a EE degree to understand how this technology works and is applied. The illustrations are crisp, clear, and easy to follow. Marc Farley cuts through the market hype and clearly articulates the facts about storage networking. "Building Storage Networks" is an outstanding resource for both the novice and the expert. I strongly recommend this book!

It seems like too many technical books, especially those that
cover leading hot topics are rush rush rushed... This is
another one.

The book is full of errors, omitions, redundant verbiage,
dis-organized presentations etc. Overall the book has the
feeling of one of those heavy PC/Windows "throw-away", books
that you see street vendors sell for $1-2 a book after awhile.

Although there are valid and pertinent points in the book, I
found it very troubling to read as you never know what is
verifibly correct and what could be just another mistake or
error ! (Nothing like spending your time learning someone
else's mistakes...)

This level of quality is particularly galling considering
that this is supposidly a "second edition". Perhaps it's
no surprise that there is no information on how to reach
the author. If he did then maybe the suckered masses could
have written him email pointing out all the problems, something
the editor should have done but obviously not in this case.

Advice: wait for the 3rd or 4th "edition", the "second edition"
should have been called a draft...

This is the first book I've seen that addresses the topic of modern storage in a manner that allows both the layperson and the skilled professional to understand the issues involved. The key word here is BUILDING, the first word in the book's title.

Storage has long been an important topic, but it used to be adequate to depict a storage subsystem as simply a series of boxes attached to a host computer. "Subsystem" is now an antiquated term when it comes to describing modern storage systems. The term "network" is often more apropos, and this book delves into what it takes to create such a network.

What is so valuable about this book is that it provides both an overview of various storage topics (disk partitioning, RAID, Storage Area Networks, Network Attached Storage, SCSI, Fibre Channel, caching, etc., etc.) as well as in-depth discussion of the kinds of issues that system architects must address to effectively create a modern storage network.

The modern age of storage involves many more complex issues to insure that storage does not become an overall system bottleneck. Mr. Farley's book is an essential guide to allow system architects to effectively create high-bandwidth systems, whether they be for today's internet applications, for intranets, for enterprise systems or for workgroups.

While there is a lot of industry hype abouts SANs, NAS and related technology, there is little hard information. Mr. Farley's book cuts through the marketing dross and gives a reader the "skinny" on what's real, what's possible, and what you need to do now to control storage in the future. If this isn't the Bible of the storage industry, it's at least the New Testament.

With Storage Area Networks becoming so important to Enterprise computing, it is amazing that there are so few good books for systems integrators and administrators. This book is the first truly comprehensive book on the subject of SANs. It is a must read for IT professionals, especially if you are thinking that there is a SAN in your future.

Farley crisply defines terms, explains concepts, and walks the reader safely through the complex maze of storage networking. The pacing and tone makes it easy to move from basics to complex theory without bogging down or losing interst. Despite the formidable size of the book, I digested most of it in a seven hour flight to Europe.

A must for IT managers, interesting reading for anyone remotely involved with storage issues.