.SAN design reference guide Vol. 1-5 785350-001

SAN platform rules
Table 76 (page 166) describes SAN platform rules for all SAN server configurations.
Table 76 General SAN platform rules
SAN platform configuration
Rule
number
Any combination of heterogeneous clustered or standalone servers with any combination of storage
systems is supported. The configuration must conform to requirements and rules for each SAN component,
including:
1
• Operating system
• Fabric
• Storage system
• Mixed storage system types
All HP and multivendor hardware platforms and operating systems that are supported in a homogeneous
SAN are also supported in a heterogeneous SAN.
2
In a heterogeneous SAN, define zones by operating system. Storage systems can be in multiple operating
system type zones.
Servers can connect to multiple fabrics. The number of supported fabrics per server depends on the
maximum number of Fibre Channel HBAs supported for the server. See “EVA single-server maximum
configurations” (page 225).
3
For cabling options for platforms that support high-availability multipathing, see “Cabling” (page 231).
Heterogeneous storage system support
HP supports HP storage products on shared hosts and HBAs in HP fabric environments that also
have third-party storage products. A third-party cooperative support agreement between HP Services
and the third party is required if HP will provide a single support point of contact that includes the
third-party storage. HP provides technical support for its products and cooperates with the third
party's technical support staff, as needed.
HP provides best-practices recommendations for connecting devices in the SAN. See “Best practices”
(page 383). These rules apply to configurations that include HP SAN storage products and
heterogeneous third-party SAN storage products:
• Use zones to isolate HP storage ports from third-party storage ports.
• HP storage zones are governed by HP product-specific configuration guidelines. See the
following HP storage system chapters:
◦ “MSA storage system rules” (page 211)
◦ “P6000/EVA storage system rules” (page 221)
◦ “P9000/XP storage system rules” (page 235)
◦ “SVSP storage system rules” (page 242)
◦ “3PAR StoreServ storage rules” (page 249)
• Overlapping zones with multiple multi-vendor storage ports are not supported.
• Third-party storage zones are governed by product-specific configuration guidelines (see the
third-party product documentation).
For third-party fabric and switch support, see “Third-party switch support” (page 162).
For storage system coexistence support, see “Heterogeneous SAN storage system coexistence”
(page 208).
166 Heterogeneous server rules