Not to pick on Wikipedia, but their definition was the first one I came across. All the others I found were just about as bad when describing storage area networks. According to Wikipedia, "In computing, a Storage Area Network (SAN) is an architecture to attach remote computer storage devices such as disk array controllers, tape libraries and CD arrays to server in such a way that to the operating system the devices appear as locally attached devices…By contrast to a SAN, Network Attached Storage (NAS), uses file-based protocols such as NFS or SMB/CIFS where it is clear that the storage is remote, and computers request a portion of an abstract file rather than a disk block."

What? I think I know less about what a SAN or storage area network is than before I read the definition. I guess there needs to be a special dictionary published just for computer jargon. Especially when they borrow another word commonly used to mean something else. This definition calls a storage area network an architecture. When I think of architecture, I automatically bring to mind a particular building style, like Tudor architecture. Who would have ever guessed you could also use the term architecture to describe how you build a computer system. Would you like your Apple Macbook Pro with Tudor architecture or Victorian architecture? Sorry, but I had to look this term up to find what it meant in computer jargon. Should you have to look up the definition of a definition?

The next thing that bothers me about computer definitions is the number of acronyms they use. If I don't know what something means and have to look up a definition, I probably also don't know what the acronyms stand for. Spell them out, please! For instance, what is NSF? How about SMB/CIFS? For all I know, they're contagious diseases.

I guess it just goes to show there is a part of the brain that thinks like a computer. Like most other talents, you either have it or you don't. While one person can read the definition of a storage area network and come away with a clear idea of what the term means, some of us just can't wrap our brains around the idea.

What I gather from what I have read is that a Storage Area Network is the hardware and software that makes the Storage Area Network architecture work. If you do not configure and connect the SAN properly, there is no connectivity between other systems.

Marvin Cains is the webmaster for Data Management Software, a web site that provides helpful tips and information on data management software. Data Management Software