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Network attached storage (NAS)

A network attached storage (NAS) device is a self-contained, intelligent storage appliance that attaches directly to a local area network (LAN) and transfers data typically over network standard protocols. As computers and computer systems have become more and more capable of performing increasingly complicated tasks, the data which they create, the data upon which their tasks depend, and the data which they wish to store has also increased resulting in an expanded need for more data storage space. Networked attached storage (NAS) and storage area networks (SANs) are network storage technologies that attempt to allow computers to access network-connected hard disk drives and other mass storage devices using block-level commands so that the networked storage appears to be accessed as if it were physically attached to the workstation. As a network entity, the NAS device is equally accessible from any computing device on the network thereby greatly increasing the ability to scale and optimize the storage needs of the network. Network attached storage devices allow the decomposition of server networks to storage-only components and diskless server components. This decomposition offers tremendous advantages to system administrators, including ease of deployment, system management, and enhanced scalability and reliability. NAS comprises storage management software, a NAS operating system, a graphical user interface, and various types of hardware (processor, memory, storage interface, network interface, and etc). A computer host system that accesses NAS devices uses a file system device driver to access the stored data. The file system device driver typically uses file access protocols such as network file system (NFS) or common internet file system (CIFS). NAS devices interpret these commands and perform the internal file and device input/output (I/O) operations necessary to execute them.

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