Security Solutions

4 IRF usage with storage
The HP FlexFabric 5900CP switch supports IRF for use with Ethernet and storage networks. For
Ethernet networks, you can configure up to nine HP FlexFabric 5900CP switches in a single IRF
domain. For storage networks, including FCoE, you can configure up to two switches per fabric
in an IRF domain. When using IRF, NIC teaming is supported and is utilized for LAN traffic.
For more information about IRF, see the HP 5900 switch series documentation available on the
HP Networking website at http://h17007.www1.hp.com/us/en/networking/products/switches/
HP_5900_Switch_Series/index.aspx#.UwuBMU2A1aQ.
For Ethernet/FCoE/FC storage network environments, the following HP FlexFabric 5900CP
storage-IRF deployment scenarios are supported:
1. Dual-redundant fabric SAN with no IRF— Traditional Fibre Channel high availability
no-single-point-of-failure (NSPOF) configuration. See Figure 15 (page 20).
• Provides physically separate redundant fabrics with failover capabilities for high availability
with storage.
Considerations
• Highly available, NSPOF configuration
• Firmware updates are considered partially disruptive, requiring fabric failover. See
“Software and Firmware update process” (page 28)
Figure 15 Dual-redundant storage fabric configuration, no IRF
5900CP4B
FC Storage
Server/HBA Server/CNA
5900CP
Switches
Fabric-BFabric-A
2. Dual-redundant fabric SAN with 2-switch IRF for Ethernet—Implemented with two HP FlexFabric
5900CP switches configured in an IRF domain across both the fabrics, with one switch from
each fabric. See Figure 16 (page 21).
• Provides logically separate redundant fabrics with failover capabilities for high availability
with storage
• Requires two VSANs to prevent storage traffic across the IRF link
20 IRF usage with storage