Storage area network applications
Casimer M. DeCusatis · 2002
A complimentary approach to SANs known as network attached storage (NAS) relies on IP protocols like Gigabit Ethernet to interconnect application servers with storage appliances. NAS does not segregate storage traffic from other types of IP data, and is typically optimized for smaller data packet transfers, using file protocols rather than block protocols (the maximum data block size for Gigabit Ethernet is 9 kilobytes using jumbo frames). The principle benefit of NAS is its flexibility and ease of installation; storage appliances are designed to "plug and play" on existing local area networks (LANs) with a minimum of effort.