San Infrastructure; Fabrics; San Scaling - HP StorageWorks 4000/6000/8000 - Enterprise Virtual Arrays Reference Manual
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against hardware failure, high-availability topologies connect redundant systems. You can connect
a complex and extensible network across long distances by choosing the required topology and
appropriate components, and then connecting devices with fiber optic cable.
SAN infrastructure
You use fabric switches to create the SAN communication paths. The number of storage systems that
can be connected is determined by the number of ports available and other hardware constraints.
SANs enable expansion by scaling storage capacity across numerous systems and long distances.
Scaling increases the number of devices and connections in a SAN. You can increase the number of
switches in a fabric, or you can use routing technology to connect multiple SAN fabrics or multiple
VSANs.
Fabrics
A fabric is a single switch or a set of switches connected to form a network. Fabric services manage
device names and addresses, timestamps, and other functionality for the switches.
A set of switches can be connected as a single fabric, an interconnected network of independent
fabrics (LSANs for B-series), or partitioned into multiple logical fabrics (Virtual Fabrics for B-series or
VSANs for C-series).
SAN scaling
You can increase SAN connectivity by adding switches to an existing SAN or by using switches with
more ports. When designing a SAN, you must ensure compliance with Fibre Channel standards and
switch specifications. For switch-based scaling, consider the following factors:
Fibre Channel architecture
Fibre Channel supports a maximum of 239 switches in a single fabric. HP specifies support based
on rules for the maximum number of switches and maximum number of ports in a single fabric or
multi-fabric SAN. Using many switches to obtain a high number of ports is unacceptable if the
fabric exceeds the total switch count limit. Likewise, using large-capacity switches can create a
network that exceeds the maximum number of ports.
For the HP-supported switch and port count fabric maximums, see
"H-series switches and fabric
"C-series Fibre Channel and FCoE switches and fabric
"M-series switches and fabric
Supported configurations
Each Fibre Channel switch product line specifies the maximum number of ISLs, user ports, and
hop counts, as well as link distances and other configuration limitations. The supported configura-
tions determine the practical size of a SAN.
Fabric services
Fabric services are distributed throughout the SAN to coordinate functions among all switches in
the fabric. A large SAN requires the management functions provided by high-end switches. Some
low-end switches have a limited capacity for expansion.
Routing technology facilitates SAN expansion beyond the capacity offered by switch-based scaling.
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SAN design overview
rules" on page 83,
"B-series switches and fabric
rules" on page 157.
rules" on page 93,
rules" on page 135, and
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