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

• No SAN management from the BladeSystem enclosure once the initial connections have been
configured
• No direct storage attachment (requires at least one external Fibre Channel switch)
• Lacks Fibre Channel embedded switch features (ISL Trunking, dynamic path selection, and
extended distances) with external links from AG to core switches
• Managed separately from the BladeSystem, but if used with B-series switches, uses common
Fabric OS
• Cannot move servers without impacting the SAN (Virtual Connect feature not available)
AG mode connectivity guidelines
AG-based solutions are best suited for B-series-only fabrics where you want multivendor switch
interoperability through N_Ports instead of E_Ports. Figure 60 (page 172) shows an AG with dual
redundant fabrics.
Figure 60 Access Gateway with dual redundant fabrics
N_Ports (NPIV) (uplinks)
Blade
enclosure
with
16 servers
Server Bay 1 Server Bay 2
Server Bay 3
Server Bay 4
Server Bay 5
Server Bay 6
Server Bay 7 Server Bay 8 Server Bay 9
Server Bay 10 Server Bay 11
Server Bay 12
Server Bay 13 Server Bay 14 Server Bay 15 Server Bay 16
Access Gateway Access Gateway-
Blade
enclosure/
Server
management
SAN/
Storage
management
25317d
FC Fabric (B-series,
C-series, and H-series)
(with NPIV F_Port support)
FC Fabric (B-series,
C-series, and H-series)
(with NPIV F_Port support)
NOTE: The N_Ports in Figure 60 (page 172) are not host N_Ports and cannot be connected directly
to storage.
Configuration highlights for Figure 60 (page 172) include:
• Redundant SANs, with each server connecting to one fabric through one AG module
• Ability to connect to B-series, C-series, and H-series fabrics
• Support for up to six AGs per blade enclosure
BladeSystem with Cisco N_Port Virtualization mode
NPV mode is a software-enabled feature available on the Cisco MDS 9124e Fabric Switch for HP
c-Class BladeSystem with SAN-OS 3.2(1a) (or later). NPV mode does not require the purchase of
additional hardware or software.
NPV is available only if the Cisco MDS 9124e is in NPV mode; if the fabric switch is in switch
mode, NPV is not supported. To use NPV, the end devices connected to a switch in NPV mode
must log in as N_Ports. All links from the end switches in NPV mode to the core switches are
established as NP_Ports, not E_Ports for ISLs.
172 Heterogeneous server rules