Why NAS is usually used in WAS?

Question

I am wondering why NAS(Network Attached Storage) is usually used in WAS(Web Application Server)/AS(Application Server). Is there a benefit to use NAS better than DAS(Direvt Attached Storage) or SAN(Storage Area Network)? Does it related with NAS's characteristic which can share file system?

Answer 1

I have no statistic about DAS/NAS/SAN usage, but I suppose the main reason is in the balance between prize and ability of the storage system to consolidate data for multiple servers on it. Between, DAS is a usual acronym of Direct-Attached Storage.

Answer 2

You would think about it from the differences/benefits between the NAS and the other two storage technologies:

For NAS:

1. It's file-level storage.

2. It focuses on data share, data access from different users or different platforms.

So, it's more flexibility for scaling out and this is a very important feature for WAS/AS but the other two storage technologies don't have.