FW V06.XX/HAFM SW V08.02.00 HP StorageWorks SAN High Availability Planning Guide (AA-RS2DD-TE, July 2004)
Table Of Contents
- SAN HA Planning Guide
- Contents
- About this Guide
- Introduction to HP Fibre Channel Products
- Product Management
- Planning Considerations for Fibre Channel Topologies
- Fibre Channel Topologies
- Planning for Point-to-Point Connectivity
- Characteristics of Arbitrated Loop Operation
- Planning for Private Arbitrated Loop Connectivity
- Planning for Fabric-Attached Loop Connectivity
- Planning for Multi-Switch Fabric Support
- Fabric Topologies
- Planning a Fibre Channel Fabric Topology
- Fabric Topology Design Considerations
- FICON Cascading
- Physical Planning Considerations
- Port Connectivity and Fiber-Optic Cabling
- HAFM Appliance, LAN, and Remote Access Support
- Inband Management Access (Optional)
- Security Provisions
- Optional Features
- Configuration Planning Tasks
- Task 1: Prepare a Site Plan
- Task 2: Plan Fibre Channel Cable Routing
- Task 3: Consider Interoperability with Fabric Elements and End Devices
- Task 4: Plan Console Management Support
- Task 5: Plan Ethernet Access
- Task 6: Plan Network Addresses
- Task 7: Plan SNMP Support (Optional)
- Task 8: Plan E-Mail Notification (Optional)
- Task 9: Establish Product and HAFM Appliance Security Measures
- Task 10: Plan Phone Connections
- Task 11: Diagram the Planned Configuration
- Task 12: Assign Port Names and Nicknames
- Task 13: Complete the Planning Worksheet
- Task 14: Plan AC Power
- Task 15: Plan a Multi-Switch Fabric (Optional)
- Task 16: Plan Zone Sets for Multiple Products (Optional)
- Index
Planning Considerations for Fibre Channel Topologies
95SAN High Availability Planning Guide
A modified or partial-mesh fabric is similar to a full-mesh fabric, but each switch
does not have to be directly connected to every other switch in the fabric. The
fabric is still resilient to failure but does not carry a cost premium for unused or
redundant ISLs. In addition, partial-mesh fabrics scale easier than full-mesh
fabrics.
Partial-mesh fabrics are useful when designing a SAN backbone for which traffic
patterns between SAN islands connected to the backbone are well known. If
heavy traffic is expected between a pair of switches, the switches are connected
through at least one ISL; if minimal traffic is expected, the switches are not
connected.
In general, mesh fabrics can be difficult to scale without downtime. The addition
of directors or switches usually involves disconnecting fabric devices and may
involve disconnecting in-place ISLs. As a result, full or partial-mesh fabrics are
recommended for networks that change infrequently or have well-established
traffic patterns.
Core-to-Edge Fabric
A core-to-edge fabric consists of one or more Fibre Channel directors or switches
acting as core elements that are dedicated to connecting other directors and
switches (edge elements) in the fabric. Core directors act as high-bandwidth
routers with connectivity to edge fabric elements. Figure 39 illustrates the
core-to-edge fabric topology with two core directors and fourteen edge directors
and switches (2-by-14 topology).