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Network Direct Attached Storage

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Network Direct Attached Storage (NDAS) is a proprietary storage area network system, originally patented by Ximeta, for connecting external digital storage devices such as hard-disks, flash memory and tape drives via the Ethernet family of computer networks. Unlike other more common forms of networked storage, NDAS does not use TCP/IP to communicate over the network. Instead a Lean Packet Exchange (LPX) protocol is used. NDAS also supports RAID, aggregation and mirroring.

History

  • 2001 - Patent applied for the "Disk system adapted to be directly attached to network" using the NAD architecture.
  • 2002 - Sale and implementation of the NetDisk (up to 80GB) as a low cost alternative to full computer based network storage options.
  • 2004 - Applied for patent to allow multiple client write access to the share block storage device.
  • 2008 - NDAS Device created by Co-World Cs in Germany briefly holds the title of world's fastest network storage device.
  • 2011 - IOCELL Networks takes ownership of the NDAS system and NetDISK patents.

Benefits

  • NDAS Hardware is typically faster to set up and use, particularly when a unit is purchased with a disk installed.
  • The disk drive can be used via multiple interfaces (typically eSATA, USB or Ethernet) though not concurrently, as USB and eSATA allow access by only one host.
  • The disks do not require special formatting so they can be treated as external disks and used on a wide variety of computers.
  • Performance (speed vs. cost) is still better than similarly priced storage devices that implement a Linux based computer.
  • NDAS Devices are inherently safer from external network discover since the protocol is not visible through a router.

Drawbacks

  • The LPX Protocol is not routable, thus limiting access to the local LAN. (Uses with VPN or FTP access to a computer on their network can locate the NDAS drive via that host.)
  • Some firewall programs block the LPX Protocol by default. It required tech support to learn how to open the way for their protocol signature 0x88AD

Issues

  • Drivers required to operate NDAS devices over a network are not shipped with operating systems. The devices are usually accompanied with client driver software for Microsoft Windows operating systems.
  • Drivers for Linux based operating systems (e.g. Fedora, Ubuntu and Debian GNU/Linux) are available from the manufacturer. The Linux connection package does have a shared read and write access mode, however it must be used with a multi-client file system. See Using NDAS with RedHat GFS and Sharing NDAS drives using OCFS2 from Oracle
  • Also, environments in which multiple machines wish to access the networked device or in a RAID configuration can result in data loss or corruption.
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