Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 31 views

    Juan Ortega 9/23/09 NTW412

    Uploaded by

    PhilipPhan
    1) A block is a sequence of bytes or bits used to store and handle data in storage devices like hard disks. Blocking divides data into blocks to facilitate processing. 2) Blocks have both physical and logical addresses - the physical block number identifies its location on a disk while the logical block number provides a programming view. 3) File systems use blocks to read and write data, with larger block sizes improving performance for large files by reducing disk seeks.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Juan Ortega 9/23/09 NTW412

    Uploaded by

    PhilipPhan
    31 views14 pages
    1) A block is a sequence of bytes or bits used to store and handle data in storage devices like hard disks. Blocking divides data into blocks to facilitate processing. 2) Blocks have both physical and logical addresses - the physical block number identifies its location on a disk while the logical block number provides a programming view. 3) File systems use blocks to read and write data, with larger block sizes improving performance for large files by reducing disk seeks.

    Original Description:

    Document

    Original Title

    Document

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    1) A block is a sequence of bytes or bits used to store and handle data in storage devices like hard disks. Blocking divides data into blocks to facilitate processing. 2) Blocks have both physical and logical addresses - the physical block number identifies its location on a disk while the logical block number provides a programming view. 3) File systems use blocks to read and write data, with larger block sizes improving performance for large files by reducing disk seeks.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pptx, pdf, or txt
    31 views14 pages

    Juan Ortega 9/23/09 NTW412

    Uploaded by

    PhilipPhan
    1) A block is a sequence of bytes or bits used to store and handle data in storage devices like hard disks. Blocking divides data into blocks to facilitate processing. 2) Blocks have both physical and logical addresses - the physical block number identifies its location on a disk while the logical block number provides a programming view. 3) File systems use blocks to read and write data, with larger block sizes improving performance for large files by reducing disk seeks.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pptx, pdf, or txt
    You are on page 1of 14

    Juan Ortega

    9/23/09
    NTW412
    A block is a sequence of bytes or bits having a nominal length (block size).

    Blocking is used to facilitate the handling of the data-stream by the computer


    program receiving the data. Blocked data are normally read a block at a time.

    Blocking is employed in storage devices such as floppy disks, hard disks,


    optical discs, and flash memory.
    The actual arrangement of information on the surface of a disk platter is
    referred to as a physical block. The Physical Block Number (PBN) is an
    address used for identifying a particular block on the surface of the disk.
    (Usually 512 bytes)
    When the blocks on a disk are considered from a programming point of
    view, they are viewed as logical blocks. The address of a logical block
    on a disk is its Logical Block Number (LBN). LBN 0 (zero) is the first LBN
    on a disk. Logical blocks correspond one-for-one to physical blocks, but
    the logical block number might not correspond directly to the same
    physical block numbers.
    The block size specifies size that the filesystem will use to read and write
    data. Larger block sizes will help improve disk I/O performance when using
    large files, such as databases. This happens because the disk can read or
    write data for a longer period of time before having to search for the next
    block.
    On the downside, if you are going to have a lot of smaller files on that
    filesystem, like the /etc , there the potential for a lot of wasted disk space.

    In classical file systems, a single block may


    only contain a part of a single file. This leads
    to space inefficiency due to internal
    fragmentation, since file lengths are often not
    multiples of block size, and thus the last block
    of files will remain partially empty. This will
    create slack space, which averages half a
    block per file. Some newer file systems
    attempt to solve this through techniques
    called block suballocation and tail merging.
    Doing block I/O means that the application or file system is sending
    blocks to the disk drive to be written or asking for blocks using a
    logical block address (LBA).

    File systems turn file requests into block I/O. Applications (including
    databases) can do file I/O or they can bypass the filesystem and do
    block I/O (this is usually called raw I/O).

    Obviously it's easier to do file I/O, and you can do file sharing much
    easier that way. Doing block I/O may have performance advantages
    (in control of the buffering/caching and not having the file system
    overhead).
    NAS does file I/O while SANs typically do block I/O.

    File I/O is referencing data as a file entity from a remote file system. When
    referencing a file, an application uses a "file handle:offset" which really is
    the name of the file and the number of bytes into the file for access to
    data.

    For NAS, a redirector diverts the access from a local file system to a
    remote file system that is accessed across a network usually through
    TCP/IP over Ethernet. The NAS device turns the remote file system
    access into its own local file system access that results in a block I/O
    (raw I/O) to attached devices.
    1) The I/O request is intercepted by a
    network redirector, also referred to simply
    as a redirector, on the local computer.

    2) The redirector constructs a data packet


    containing all of the information about the
    request, and sends it to the server where
    the file is located.

    3) The redirector on the server receives the packet from the client,
    authenticates the access to the file required by the I/O request, and, if
    authenticated, executes the request on behalf of the client. If not, it returns an
    error code to the redirector on the client.

    4) When the request has been executed, the redirector on the server
    sends any data resulting from the I/O request to the redirector on the
    client along with a success notification.
    5) The redirector on the client receives the packet from the server and passes
    the data in the packet to the application along with a success notification.
    For a SAN access, usually a block I/O is done where the application
    will access the file, the file system on the local server will turn that into
    a request for a block on a particular device (LUN - logical unit) and
    then block I/O is done over an interface such as Fibre Channel.

    The bottom line is that file I/O eventually (and always) turns into a
    block I/O -- locally it's done through the file system, for NAS it's
    redirected to a NAS device to do it on a remote system.
    Basically, a SAN does block I/O just like having a disk directly attached
    to a server. A NAS is really remote file system I/O where the file
    request is redirected over a network to a device (really a processing
    entity with its own file system) where the file I/O is actually performed.

    Deciding whether to use a SAN or NAS has many factors to consider


    so there's not a specific answer. In general if your application requires
    block I/O or there is a significant performance requirement, use a SAN.
    If it's file based I/O for the application or you need to share files and
    you want simple administration, use NAS.
    2, 5) Block (data storage). Retrieved September 23, 2009 from Wikipedia Web
    site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Block_(data_storage)

    3, 4) Fragmentation: Chapter 1. Retrieved September 23, 2009 from diskeeper


    Web site: http://www.diskeeper.com/fragbook/chapter1.htm

    6) Kerns, R.(2005). What is block I/O?. Retrieved September 23, 2009 from
    techtarget Web site:
    http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/expert/KnowledgebaseAnswer/0,2896
    25,sid5_gci1135655,00.html

    7, 9) Kerns, R.(2001). Block I/O and I/O transfer. Retrieved September 23,
    2009 from techtarget Web site:
    http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/expert/KnowledgebaseAnswer/0,2896
    25,sid5_gci750396_mem1,00.html

    6) A Windows File system Win32 library functions reference and info used in
    Windows system programming. Retrieved September 23, 2009 from
    tunouk Web site: http://www.tenouk.com/Supplement.html
    10-12) Kern, R.(2005). SAN vs. NAS: A diagram of the differences. Retrieved
    September 23, 2009 from techtarget Web site:
    http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/expert/KnowledgebaseAnswer/0,289625,s
    id5_gci1150562_mem1,00.html

    You might also like

    pFad - Phonifier reborn

    Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.

    Note: This service is not intended for secure transactions such as banking, social media, email, or purchasing. Use at your own risk. We assume no liability whatsoever for broken pages.


    Alternative Proxies:

    Alternative Proxy

    pFad Proxy

    pFad v3 Proxy

    pFad v4 Proxy