.SAN design reference guide Vol. 1-5 785350-001
7 H-series switches and fabric rules
This chapter describes the fabric rules for the HP H-series switches. It describes the following topics:
• “H-series switches” (page 140)
• “Fabric rules” (page 144)
H-series switches
The SN6000 Fibre Channel Switches:
• Can be used as core or edge switches. When configured in a core-edge fabric topology, a
core switch typically connects to other switches in the SAN; an edge switch typically connects
to servers and storage.
• Support multi-switch networks with up to 30 switches and 7 hops.
• Have eight or twenty (all) base 8 Gb ports and four stacking (high speed ISL) 10 Gb ports.
For the switch model with eight 8 Gb ports enabled, you can upgrade to twenty 8 Gb ports
in 4-port increments. You can upgrade the 10 Gb ports to 20 Gb. Using the 10 Gb/20 Gb
ports for ISLs reduces or eliminates the need to use 8 Gb device ports for ISLs, allowing more
device connections to the switch.
• Can make use of the 10 Gb/20 Gb stacking ports to configure up to six switches into a stack
(single manageable unit), resulting in up to 120 usable device ports in a stack.
• Support plug-and-play compatibility.
• Have two hot-swappable power supplies or one replaceable power supply depending on
model.
The 8/20q Fibre Channel Switches:
• Can be used as core or edge switches. When configured in a core-edge fabric topology, a
core switch typically connects to other switches in the SAN; an edge switch typically connects
to servers and storage.
• Support multi-switch networks with up to 30 switches and 7 hops.
• Have 8 or 16 base ports, which you can upgrade to 20 ports in 4-port increments.
• Support plug-and-play compatibility.
The 8 Gb Simple SAN Connection Kit offers:
• Ease of use
• Cost efficiency
The kit includes:
◦ An 8/20q Fibre Channel Switch (8 base ports that can be upgraded to 12, 16, or 20)
◦ (4) 81Q PCI-e FC HBAs
◦ (10) 8-Gb SFP+ transceivers (SFP+ is the expanded standard for 8-Gb Fibre Channel
support.)
◦ (6) Fiber optic cables
• Scalability
You can expand the SAN in four port increments using license keys and additional HBAs and
switches.
140 H-series switches and fabric rules