SAN Storage Solutions
Enterprise block storage for mission-critical databases and virtualization.
We help you choose, configure, and deliver the right system. No obligation.
Configuration at a Glance
Tailored per engagement. Full technical overview below.
Overview
SAN Storage Solutions provide the high-performance, highly-available block storage that mission-critical databases and large virtualization estates depend on. Nexus Compute designs and sources enterprise SAN (vendor-neutrally) sized to your performance, capacity, and availability requirements. Block storage is bought for two properties that file storage does not offer in the same way: predictable low latency under load, and the ability to lose a controller without losing access. Both have to be designed for rather than assumed. A dual-controller array only survives a controller failure if either controller alone can carry the whole workload, and the hosts only survive it if their paths are cabled and configured so no single switch, adapter, or cable is the sole route to the data. Sizing follows the same discipline: we size against the peak the workload actually produces, not the average, and against what happens when several systems are busy at the same moment. Where a SAN backs an AI or analytics platform, the flash tier in front of the capacity is what keeps compute from waiting, and it is sized with the systems it serves, including the GPU servers at /products/gpu-servers.
Who This Solution Is For
Business Benefits
Always-available data
Dual-controller, redundant designs keep critical data online through component failures.
Performance for databases
All-flash SAN delivers the low latency transactional databases require.
Consolidated and efficient
Centralized block storage with deduplication and thin provisioning improves utilization.
Vendor-neutral design
We recommend the right SAN platform for your needs, not a single brand.
Typical Business Use Cases
Block storage for mission-critical databases
Shared datastores for virtualization at scale
High-availability storage for core applications
Storage consolidation onto an enterprise SAN
A flash tier in front of bulk capacity for data-intensive platforms
Replacing direct-attached storage that has become impossible to protect
Industry Applications
Technical Overview
Enterprise SAN arrays with dual active-active controllers, all-flash or hybrid media, Fibre Channel and/or iSCSI connectivity, and data services such as snapshots, replication, deduplication, and thin provisioning. Designed vendor-neutrally to your requirements. The design has four parts that are frequently underestimated. Controller sizing, because active-active only protects you if one controller can serve the full load during a failure or a firmware upgrade. Host connectivity, where the number of paths, the fabric switches, and the multipathing configuration on each host decide whether a cable pull is an event or a non-event. Data services, since deduplication, compression, and thin provisioning change both the effective capacity and the load on the controllers, and the savings vary enormously by data type, because databases and virtual machine images behave very differently from media files. And tiering, where a flash tier absorbs the active working set and bulk media holds the rest; that only works if the working set genuinely fits the flash, which is a measurement rather than a guess. We also specify the growth path, because a SAN that has to be replaced rather than expanded is a migration project as well as a purchase.
| Architecture | Dual active-active controllers |
| Media | All-flash or hybrid |
| Connectivity | Fibre Channel and/or iSCSI |
| Data Services | Snapshots, replication, dedup, thin provisioning |
| Availability | High-availability, no single point of failure |
| Vendors | Vendor-neutral (Dell, HPE, Pure, NetApp, others) |
| Engagement | Design, sourcing, and delivery |
Specifications are indicative and configured to each engagement. Request a quote for a configuration tailored to your requirements.
Warranty, Support & Fulfillment
Every system ships from an authorized channel, configured and tested, with the documentation enterprise buyers need: genuine product, backed by the full manufacturer warranty.
Enterprise Warranty
Full manufacturer warranty with optional on-site, next-business-day support and extended coverage.
Authorized Channel
Sourced through Tier-1 distribution and OEM partners (never grey market). Asset & warranty records included.
Lead Time & Deployment
48-hour quotes, then configured, burn-in tested, and delivered on a committed schedule.
Nationwide Fulfillment
Coordinated logistics, rack-and-stack, and delivery wherever your infrastructure lives.
Frequently Asked Questions
SAN or NAS: which do we need?
SAN (block) suits databases and virtualization requiring low latency and high availability; NAS (file) suits shared files and backups. Many organizations use both. We help you choose per workload. The short test is who owns the filesystem. Block storage hands the host a raw volume and the host formats it, which is what databases and hypervisors want; file storage owns the filesystem and shares it, which is what users and applications want when several machines need the same files at once.
Which SAN vendor do you recommend?
We are vendor-neutral and recommend based on your performance, availability, and budget, across Dell, HPE, Pure Storage, NetApp, and others. What usually decides it is not the array specification but the surrounding facts: what your team already operates, what your hypervisor and backup software integrate with cleanly, the support model in your region, and the cost over the years you intend to keep it including the support renewals. We put those side by side rather than comparing datasheets.
Can you ensure zero-downtime operation?
We design dual-controller, fully-redundant SANs so component failures do not interrupt access. We also design the replication strategy for site resilience. Being precise about what that covers: a redundant array survives a controller, drive, port, or power supply failure, and it survives a firmware upgrade without an outage. It does not by itself survive the loss of the site or a logical error such as deleted or encrypted data; those are what replication, snapshots, and backup are for, and they are designed together.
How do you size a SAN for our workload?
From peak behavior rather than averages. The numbers that matter are the concurrent load at your busiest moment, the read-to-write mix, and the latency your applications will tolerate before users notice: a database that is fine at an average figure can be unusable during a nightly batch that lands on the same array. We also ask what else will share it over the next few years, since consolidation is usually the reason a SAN is bought and the reason it later runs out.
Fibre Channel or iSCSI?
Fibre Channel gives you a dedicated storage network with its own hardware and its own skills, which many teams running critical databases still prefer for exactly that separation. iSCSI runs on the Ethernet you already have and the team you already have, and it performs well when it is given dedicated links and configured properly. The failure mode to avoid is iSCSI sharing congested general-purpose links, where storage latency becomes a function of whatever else is on the network that afternoon.
What does a migration onto a new SAN involve?
More planning than hardware. The volumes have to be moved with the applications either online or in agreed windows, host multipathing has to be reconfigured, and the old array usually stays powered until everyone is confident. We plan the cutover per workload, keep a rollback available, and sequence it so the highest-risk systems move when the team is fresh rather than last on a Sunday night.
Hardware Assistance
Configure the SAN Storage Solutions with Nexus Compute
Tell us your requirements and a hardware specialist will help you specify, configure, and quote the right system, typically within two business days. No obligation.