What exactly is a “Resilient Storage Network?” For that matter, what is a storage network? If you’ve ever accessed (copied, read or written) files that were attached to a file server over a network, then you’ve used a storage network. Many IT professionals use storage networks every day and never give it a second thought. On a Windows PC, a directory at a server can be mapped to a drive letter (e.g. “e:\”) and used as if it were a local disk drive.

So what then is a resilient storage network? It can be defined as an environment where data is always available for the needs of the business. This seemingly simple definition belies a complex storage network that can withstand hardware and software failures. By incorporating redundancy where needed, there is no one point of failure to impede access to storage. Included with these concerns is the need for backup and recovery, ensuring that data can be restored to a prior point in time.