Buying large storage for each machine is expensive and less secure. A centralized storage solution made much more sense.

NAS vs. SAN: The Basics

When you think of network storage, you’re probably thinking of a NAS, since that’s what most YouTubers show off. But there are actually two different types of network storage:

NAS (Network Attached Storage)

• File-based storage.
• Uses protocols like SMB or NFS.
• Most people and companies rely on SMB because it works across Windows, macOS, and Linux.

SAN (Storage Area Network)

• Block-level storage for direct connections over the local network.
• Typically uses iSCSI over Ethernet or Fiber.
• Not designed for multi-machine file sharing the way SMB is.

My Requirements

I wanted my system to be: