IST 402: Fundamentals of Storage Area Networking

(Spring 2006) 

Instructor Information

 

Instructor:   Brian H. Cameron – Assistant Professor of Information Sciences and Technology

Office:  104L IST Building

Office Hours:  Monday 8:30-10:00 AM, Wednesday 8:30-10:00AM, other times by appointment

Telephone:  865-8713

E-mail:  bcameron@ist.psu.edu 

Course Overview

 

This course is designed to introduce students to storage networking issues and technologies. This course will focus on applying technologies and concepts to real-world problems in the area of storage networking.  Existing partnerships with storage networking consulting firms and storage hardware and software vendors will be leveraged to provide real-world exposure to different storage networking technologies.  A major component of the course will be a team-based project, along with many in-class assignments (often done in a team), so class attendance is mandatory.  

The class meets in room 202 IST, 1:25-4:25, Fridays.

Course Materials (Required)

Additional Course Resources

Safari Tech Books Online  - contains most of the technical books you'd find at the Barnes and Nobel book store - complete text and free to PSU faculty and students.

Follow this URL to find Safari and a wealth of free technical books on-line (full text and code samples)

http://www.lias.psu.edu/alallpsu.html

Scroll down to Safari, select it, the press "go there" button

Consulting Resource Portal – Links to a variety of technical tutorials, white papers, and other resources

Course Objectives

Upon completion of the course, the student will understand:

Course Web Site

 

We will be using ANGEL, Penn State’s online course management system throughout the semester.  It will be the primary mode of communication for this course.  To access IST 402 information online go to the ANGEL Web site http://cms.psu.edu and logon using your PSU username and password.  All necessary updates and/or changes to the course will be reflected in the online course management system.  Detailed instructions on how to use the system will be reviewed in class. 

Evaluation

 
      Assignments & Exams Points (Weight) Description
      Exercise # 1 20 See exercise 1 description
      Exercise # 2 20 See exercise 2 description
      Exercise #3 20 See exercise 3 description
      Final Team Project Deliverables 40 Choose one of two team options
      Final Class Presentation 25 Team project presentation to the class
      Team Member Evaluation 15 Each student will be evaluated by his or her own team members and assigned a grade based on the quality of their participation and contribution to the team’s efforts.
      Class Participation 10 Class participation will be evaluated based on completion of course questionnaires & attendance
      Mid Term Exam 25  
      Final Exam 25  
      Total 200  

Grading Scale

 

A 94-100; A-  93-90; B+ 89-86; B 85-82; B- 81-79; C+ 78-76; C 75-70; D 69-60; F 59-0

 

Course Outline

The course outline is subject to change based on guest lecturer scheduling requirements and other factors.  All students will be notified of updates to the course outline (primarily via Angel e-mail).

 
Week Topic Readings Assignments
1 – 1/13/06 Understanding the storage network market    
2 – 1/20/06 Storage Networking Architectures Online content: Storage Network Architectures  
3 – 1/27/06 Storage Networking Architectures (cont.) Farley, chapters 4 & 5  
4 – 2/3/06 Fibre Channel Technology Online content: Fibre Channel Technology Exercise #1
5 – 2/10/06 Fibre Channel Technology (cont.) Farley, chapters 8 & 9  
6 – 2/17/06 Emerging Storage Networking Alternatives to Fibre Channel Online content: Emerging Technologies Exercise #2
7 – 2/24/06 Storage Networking Applications Online content: Storage Networking Applications Midterm Exam (in-class)
8 – 3/3/06 Lab Time for Group Projects    
9 – 3/10/06 No Class (Spring Break)    
10 – 3/17/06 Storage Networking Applications (cont.) Farley, chapters 10 & 11  
11 – 3/24/06 Storage Management Online content: Storage Management Exercise #3
12 – 3/31/06 Storage Management (cont.) Farley, chapters 12 & 13  
13 – 4/7/06 Storage Networking Maintenance and Optimization Online content: Maintenance and Optimization  
14 – 4/14/06 Maintenance and Optimization (cont.) Farley, chapters 14, 15 & 16  
15 – 4/21/06 The Future of Storage Networking Online content: The Future of SANs Final Proj. Deliverables

Project Presentations

16 – 4/28/06 The Future of Storage Networking (cont.)   Final Exam (in-class)

Team Member Evals.

 
 

Academic Integrity:  According to the Penn State Principles and University Code of Conduct:

Any violation of academic integrity will be investigated, and where warranted, punitive action will be taken.  For every incident when a penalty of any kind is assessed, a report must be filed   This form is used for both undergraduate and graduate courses.  This report must be signed by both the instructor and the student, and then submitted to the Senior Associate Dean. 
 

Affirmative Action & Sexual Harassment:

Americans with Disabilities Act: 

An Invitation to Students with Learning Disabilities: