If you've been charged with setting up storage area networks for your company, learning how SANs work and managing data storage problems might seem challenging. "Storage Area Networks For Dummies, 2nd Edition" comes to the rescue with just what you need to know.

Whether you already a bit SAN savvy or you're a complete novice, here's the scoop on how SANs save money, how to implement new technologies like data de-duplication, iScsi, and Fibre Channel over Ethernet, how to develop SANs that will aid your company's disaster recovery plan, and much more. For example, you can: Understand what SANs are, whether you need one, and what you need to build oneLearn to use loops, switches, and fabric, and design your SAN for peak performanceCreate a disaster recovery plan with the appropriate guidelines, remote site, and data copy techniquesDiscover how to connect or extend SANs and how compression can reduce costsCompare tape and disk backups and network vs. SAN backup to choose the solution you needFind out how data de-duplication makes sense for backup, replication, and retentionFollow great troubleshooting tips to help you find and fix a problemBenefit from a glossary of all those pesky acronyms

From the basics for beginners to advanced features like snapshot copies, storage virtualization, and heading off problems before they happen, here's what you need to do the job with confidence