Virtual Storage Area Network

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What Does Virtual Storage Area Network Mean?

A virtual storage area network (VSAN) is a logical partitioning created within a physical storage area network. This implementation model of a storage virtualization technique divides and allocates some or an entire storage area network into one or more logical SANs to be used by internal or external IT services and solutions.

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Techopedia Explains Virtual Storage Area Network

A virtual storage area network is primarily implemented in cloud computing and virtualization environments. A VSAN allows end users and organizations to provision a logical storage area network on top of the physical SAN through storage virtualization. The virtualized SAN can be used to build a virtual storage pool for multiple services; however, it is generally provisioned to be integrated with virtual machines and virtual servers.

A VSAN provides similar services and features as a typical SAN, but because it is virtualized, it allows for the addition and relocation of subscribers without having to change the network’s physical layout. It also provides flexible storage capacity that can be increased or decreased over time.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology Specialist
Margaret Rouse
Technology Specialist

Margaret is an award-winning writer and educator known for her ability to explain complex technical topics to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles in the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret’s idea of ​​a fun day is to help IT and business professionals to learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.