What is the "real" difference between a NAS and NFS? Or, why pick a NAS device over "mere" NFS?

Posted by warren on Server Fault See other posts from Server Fault or by warren
Published on 2010-04-21T15:31:52Z Indexed on 2010/04/21 19:14 UTC
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storage

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nas

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nfs

From an end-user perspective, what is the difference between a NAS device and using NFS exports from a file server?

They seem to accomplish the same end result.

The difference between a SAN and other file storage is related (in my experience) to how they are connected to the server infrastructure.

However, the difference between a NAS, connecting over a standard ethernet port, and NFS (sharing storage off specific servers, also over the network), seems more nebulous.

Is there a good reason to pick a NAS filer over just running NFS on servers?

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