IBM System Storage N Series Author:IBM Redbooks This IBM® Redbooks® publication provides a basic understanding of the IBM System StorageTM N series hardware and software features. It discusses topics such as installation, setup, and administration for both the N series filer and clients and provides example scenarios of some features. — Corporate workgroups, distributed enterprises, and small ... more »to medium-sized companies are increasingly seeking to network and consolidate storage to improve availability, reduce costs, share information, and protect and secure information. These organizations require enterprise-class solutions capable of addressing immediate storage needs cost-effectively while providing an upgrade path for future requirements. IT managers need a maximum degree of flexibility to design the architecture that best supports the requirements of multiple types of data and a broad range of applications. IBM System Storage N series is designed to meet these requirements. It supports Ethernet environments, enabling economical network-attached storage (NAS) and iSCSI deployments. It also functions as a unification engine that is designed to allow you to simultaneously serve both file and block-level data across a single network. These are demanding procedures that, for some solutions, require multiple, separately managed systems. The flexibility of N series allows it to address the storage needs of a wide range of organizations, including distributed enterprises and data centers for midrange enterprises. N series also supports sites with computer-intensive and data-intensive enterprise applications, such as database, data warehousing, workgroup collaboration, and messaging.« less