The goal of LAN-free backup is to reduce the load on LAN and reduce the time it takes to complete the backup. It offers an alternative way of backup than a simple data copy to
network-attached storage (NAS) over LAN. It comes in different flavours: • with backup server: in addition to a shared storage device (usually a traditional
tape library), there exists a central server arbitrating access to device (for all the other SAN servers). The central server however, does not handle data stream itself. • without backup server: the storage facility (usually a
virtual tape library, or VTL) is smart enough to handle multiple data accesses without intermediate component. ==See also==