Which storage configuration is directly attached to a network?

• A. NAS
• B. DAS
• C. SAN
• D. USB Drive

Answer: (A)

The key idea is how storage is shared over connections. A NAS, or Network Attached Storage, is designed to plug into a network and provide file-level access to many clients over that network using standard file-sharing protocols like SMB/CIFS or NFS. That setup makes it directly connected to the network, enabling shared access from multiple devices.

Direct Attached Storage (DAS) sits on a single computer; it isn’t exposed to the network for general access. A Storage Area Network (SAN) is a dedicated network for block storage used mainly by servers, presenting storage as raw blocks rather than regular files to endpoints. A USB drive is a portable storage device attached to one computer via USB, not to a network at all.

So, the configuration directly attached to a network is NAS.