Which shared storage option is low cost but often inflexible due to physical node distance?

Which shared storage option is low cost but often inflexible due to physical node distance?

• A. iSCSI
• B. SAS
• C. Cluster Shared Volume
• D. Fiber Channel

Answer: (B)

When evaluating shared storage, you weigh cost against how easily multiple servers can access the data from different physical locations. SAS is typically cheap because it uses direct-attached storage with simple SAS cabling and controllers. However, that direct attach nature makes it inflexible for shared access across multiple servers or for placing nodes at a distance from the storage; sharing SAS storage usually requires bringing servers very close together or adding more complex SAS fabrics, which limits scalability and distance. In contrast, iSCSI runs over standard Ethernet, allowing servers to be geographically spread out and still share storage, usually at a modest cost. Fibre Channel provides high performance and long-distance capability through a dedicated fabric but at a higher price due to specialized hardware. Cluster Shared Volume is a Windows feature for accessing the same volume from multiple nodes and relies on the underlying storage transport (which could be iSCSI, FC, or SAS), so its distance flexibility depends on that underlying transport rather than CSV itself. So the option that is low cost but often inflexible due to physical node distance is SAS.

When evaluating shared storage, you weigh cost against how easily multiple servers can access the data from different physical locations. SAS is typically cheap because it uses direct-attached storage with simple SAS cabling and controllers. However, that direct attach nature makes it inflexible for shared access across multiple servers or for placing nodes at a distance from the storage; sharing SAS storage usually requires bringing servers very close together or adding more complex SAS fabrics, which limits scalability and distance.

In contrast, iSCSI runs over standard Ethernet, allowing servers to be geographically spread out and still share storage, usually at a modest cost. Fibre Channel provides high performance and long-distance capability through a dedicated fabric but at a higher price due to specialized hardware. Cluster Shared Volume is a Windows feature for accessing the same volume from multiple nodes and relies on the underlying storage transport (which could be iSCSI, FC, or SAS), so its distance flexibility depends on that underlying transport rather than CSV itself.

So the option that is low cost but often inflexible due to physical node distance is SAS.