What process provides data access control to only authorized hosts accessing the LUN?

The process of LUN masking is specifically designed to control access to logical unit numbers (LUNs) in a storage area network (SAN) by allowing only authorized hosts to access specific storage volumes. This is crucial for maintaining data security and ensuring that only designated systems can read from or write to particular LUNs.

LUN masking operates at the storage layer and effectively "hides" LUNs from unapproved hosts. By implementing LUN masking, administrators can enforce security policies, manage storage usage, and mitigate the risks of unauthorized access. Each authorized host can interact with its respective LUNs while any other hosts will be unable to see or access those LUNs entirely.

In contrast, RAID masking, RAID mirroring, and LUN binding do not serve the same purpose. RAID masking pertains more to the configuration of RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) levels and their administration rather than access control for LUNs. RAID mirroring involves duplicating data to ensure redundancy and fault tolerance, but it doesn't restrict access to LUNs. LUN binding, while related to how LUNs are associated with hosts, does not provide the same level of access control that LUN masking does.