User guide

21
Learn about Xsan hardware and software requirements,
and about planning guidelines and performance tips that
can help you design a SAN to meet your needs.
This chapter contains:
Xsan hardware and software requirements (page  21)
SAN planning guidelines (page  25)
Hardware and Software Requirements
Your SAN environment must satisfy requirements in these areas:
Supported computers Â
Supported storage devices Â
Fibre Channel fabric, adapters, and switches Â
Ethernet network Â
Directory services (optional) Â
Outgoing mail service (optional) Â
Supported Computers
To join an Xsan 2.2 SAN, computers must meet the following minimum requirements.
Base Systems
Clients and controllers must be Mac Pro or Xserve computers with Intel processors. Â
(Client computers with PowerPC G5 processors running Xsan 2.1.1 can join a
SAN hosted by Xsan 2.2 controllers, to access volumes that don’t use extended
attributes.)
2
Planning a Storage Area Network