Network administrator
Student’s Name
Affiliation
Course
Date
Abbreviations
NAS –Network Area Storage
SAN- Storage Area Network
IP-Internet Protocol
TCIP-Transit Communication Interface Profiles
Introduction
The primary function of the server is to store, retrieve and send files and data to other computer on its network. The servers run on client server architecture and are programs set to run for serving the requests of other programs. The growth rate was mostly influenced by the smooth run of the available database servers and storage space. Increase in student growth is directly proportional to increase in Network Attached Storage space thus need be to redesign the system as a whole. There are various factors that affect the database management of a computer operation system with many servers. These issues are usually caused by rapid growth of storage in this case student enrollment which will clog the system. (Hunt, 1998)
Primary problems
The NAS head handles traffic between network computers and server storage. It handles the management of network storage, sharing of files and access priority issues that occur. This is an advanced file –server that supports multiple network file systems that operate on Ethernet networks using TCIP/IP which makes it somewhat inefficient.
The server maybe overwhelmed by different administrators at the same time and can be caused by limited bandwidth. NAS is shared storage which without enforcing quotas can cause a hog in all the storage at expense of others (Gary Shelly, Misty Vermaat, 2008) .The solution could be more processing power or change network to allow greater bandwidth. The IP Network might get congested if operations like huge data backup are done during business hours. This can always be resolved by a Storage Area Network that uses its own protocols that is meant for huge enterprises and data centers where volume of data stored is huge.
Centralized storage is easier and cheaper to maintain, back up and administer. The centralized point makes it more expensive than local byte costs basis. The NAS could also be inefficient if it is a central data storage unit in the organization and the best solution would be mirroring the information to multiple units. Routines of back up would also be an ideal way to curb the single failure point.
NAS servers use small specialized and proprietary operating systems in an organization it would be efficient to use a server that can in compose Operating Systems (OS) such as UNIX and Windows NT. Growth can be made efficient by SAN which operates on data as a block rather than file. The architectural design is based on gigabit Ethernet equipment as opposed to the present 100 terabytes used.
The use of a Network Area Storage of 100 terabytes is effective since it is a standalone file server and can free up other servers to run applications and can be administered remotely which will assisted in managing the database. The disadvantage of using of NAS is less effective than traditional servers since most database systems are blocked based and are therefore incompatible with file based server. (Hunt, 1998)
Recommendations
Increase in growth means an increase in data distributed through the network and this means the network system has to be upgraded. The NAS server was effective in that network documents, work files and other data were stored on the NAS server linked to network. This had the advantage of not using up hard drive space for computers for the data that was available.
The best solution to assist in the situation would be to acquire a storage application that would meet the storage requirement. It should have a high performance and should be blocked based to increase performance as well as offload main communications. It should be reliable and should unapproved access to the data by an unauthorized user. The only set back if we implement the SAN would be cost of installing maintenance and implementing. This back end storage networks can be geographically distributed over vast area and operate at gigabyte speeds. It is appropriate for data transfer applications and for storing large amounts of data. (Gary Shelly, Misty Vermaat, 2008)
In text we can also use Jumbo Frames instead of normal Ethernet frame to communicate with storage device. This method reduces the number of packets that need to be processed resulting in higher efficiency and effective throughput.
It is also depends on the universities available budget, data security requirements, network infrastructure, data availability requirements. Upgrading will be preferred when growth occurs and the server will get slower, and then the server will eventually become noisy and if more time is spent on dealing with server problem much money will be spent doing so. It is usually much less risky proposition.
Reference
Gary Shelly, Misty Vermaat. (2008). Discovering computers. (pp. 475-503). New York:
Cengage Learning.
Hunt Craig (1998). Windows nt tcp/ip network administration. (pp. 12-69). California: “O’Reilly Media, Inc.”.
