Owner's manual
Fibre Optic Fibr
e Channel cables
The Enterprise Virtual Array uses orange, 50-m, multi-mode, fiber optic cables for connection to the
SAN. The fiber optic cable assembly consists of two, 2–m fiber optic strands and small form-factor
connectors on e
ach end. See Figure 14.
To ensure optim
um operation, the fiber optic cable components require protection from contamination
and mechanical hazards. Failure to provide this protection can cause degraded operation. Observe the
following precautions when using fiber optic cables.
• To avoid breaking the fiber within the cablet:
•Donotkinkth
e cable
• Do not use a cable bend-radius of less than 30 mm (1.18 in)
• To avoid deforming, or possibly breaking the fiber within the cable, d o not place heavy objects
on the cable
.
• To avoid contaminating the optical connectors:
• Do not touch the connectors
•Neverleave
the connectors exposed to the air
• Install a dust cover on each transceiver and fiber cable connector when they are disconnected
If an open conne ctor is exposed to dust, or there is any doubt about the cleanliness of the connector,
clean the c
onnector as described in Handling fiber optic cables.
CXO7972
A
Figure 14 Fibre Optic Fibre C hannel cable
Copper Fibre Channel cables
The Enterprise Virtual Array Fibre Channel 10 0 00 -Series implementation uses copp er Fibre Channel
cables to connect the drive enclosures to each other, or to the loop switches and to the HSV controllers.
The cables are available in 0.6–meter and 2.0–meter lengths. Copper c ables provide per formance
comparable to fiber op tic cables. Copper cable connectors differ from fiber optic sma ll form-factor
connectors (see Figure 15).
8164A-ST
Figure 15 Copper Fibre C hannel cable
Fibre Channel disk drives
The Fib
re Channel disk drives are hot-pluggable and include the following features:
• Dual-ported 2–Gbps Fibre Channel drive enclosure interface that allows up to 120 disk drives to
be supported per Fibre Channel drive enclosure pair.
• Compa
ct, direct-connect design for maximum storage densit y and increased reliability and
signal integrity.
• Both online high-performance disk drives and FATA disk drives in a variety of capacities a nd
spind
le speeds.
• Better vibration damping for improved performance.
Up to 14 disk drives can be installed in a drive enclosure.
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