HP StorageWorks B-Series Remote Replication Solution Best Practices Guide (5697-6731, June 2007)

Figure 8 Co
ntinuous Access EVA 4–fabric FCIP router configuration
The desig
n of a Meta SAN using FCIP needs to balance the scaling limitations of the backbone fabric with
the disru
ptions an IP network can have on the edge fabric. There are two alternative solutions to overcome
these tw
o issues. The traditional solution has been to create a dedicated replication fabric or fabrics as
showninthefive-fabric, and six-fabric implementations in Figure 9 and Figure 10. The other possible
solution is to use a dedicated backbone fabric solution as shown in the six-fabric with dedicated Backbone
Fabrics implementation in Figure 11.Thisconfiguration is a modification of the four-fabric solution, where
the functionality of the b ackbone fabric is removed from both the local and remote site fabrics and a
new ded
icated fabric is created for the Backbone. Both solutions eliminate the scaling limitations on
both si
tes, and the IP network only affects the replication traffic. The dedicated backbone fabric has
two advantages over the dedicated Replication Fabric solution. It is more scalable and allows devices
other than the EVA storage connected to this dedicated Replication Fabric to communicate if needed.
Figure 9 shows a t ypical 2-port EVA 6000/5000/4000/3000 configuration of a Continuous Access
five-fabric solution. In this config uration, a dedicated fabric is implemented for replication traffic, thus
eliminating the fabric merging issue with a traditional FCIP implementation and the scaling limitation
of an integrated backbone fabric solution. Half the EVA controller ports are connected to a dedicated
replication fabric. Since the only devices in this replication fabric are the replication por ts of the local
andremotesite,FibreChannelRoutingisnotrequired. Thebenefit of the MP Router over traditional
FCIP gateways is that it eliminates the need for a separate Fibre Channel switch, as the MP Router
has
both capabilities in one device.
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Solution setup overview