Compaq Parallel Database Cluster Model PDC/O2000 for Oracle8i and Windows 2000 Administrator Guide

Cluster Architecture 2-9
Fibre Channel Cables
Shortwave (multi-mode) fibre optic Fibre Channel cables are used to connect
the nodes, the Storage Hubs, FC-AL Switches, or Fibre Channel SAN
Switches, and RA4000/RA4100 Arrays in a PDC/O2000 cluster.
I/O Path Configurations for Redundant
Fibre Channel Fabrics
Overview of Fibre Channel Fabric SAN Topology
Fibre Channel standards define a multi-layered architecture for moving data
across the storage area network (SAN). This layered architecture can be
implemented using the Fibre Channel Fabric or the Fibre Channel Arbitrated
Loop (FC-AL) topology. The PDC/O2000 supports both topologies.
A redundant Fibre Channel Fabric is two to four Fibre Channel SAN Switches
installed between Fibre Host Adapters in a PDC/O2000’s cluster nodes and the
array controllers in the shared storage subsystems. These hardware
components cannot be shared by other redundant Fibre Channel Fabrics or
redundant Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loops in the cluster.
Fibre Channel SAN Switches provide full 100 MBps bandwidth per switch
port. Whereas the introduction of new devices to FC-AL Storage Hubs further
divides their shared bandwidth, adding new devices to Fibre Channel SAN
Switches increases the aggregate bandwidth.
Redundant Fibre Channel Fabrics
A redundant Fibre Channel Fabric refers to the redundant hardware
implemented to connect Fibre Host Adapters to a particular set of shared
storage devices in a PDC/O2000 that uses Fibre Channel SAN Switches. Each
redundant Fibre Channel Fabric consists of the following hardware:
■ Two or more Fibre Host Adapters in each node
■ Two to four Fibre Channel SAN Switches