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Storage Networking Boot Camp

SAN Topologies

Module 5

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2INFINITY I/OOutline

Fibre Channel Terminology Point-to-Point Switched Fabric Fibre Channel Ports

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3INFINITY I/OFibre Channel Terminology

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4INFINITY I/O

Server StorageSwitch

Tape device

Nodes

Nodes

Nodes are endpoint devices in a Fibre Channel SAN, the source or destination of data: Servers Storage devices

Nodes do not “understand” Fibre Channel

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5INFINITY I/O

Switch

Ports

Server Storage

HBA Arraycontroller

Tape device

Ports

Ports are intelligent interface points in a Fibre Channel SAN: Embedded in an HBA Embedded in an array or tape controller Embedded in a fabric switch

Ports communicate with other ports

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6INFINITY I/O

Tape device

Links

Server Storage

HBA Arraycontroller

Links

Links are the physical media that connect ports together in a Fibre Channel SAN: Cables and connectors Signal converters (transceivers)

Switch

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7INFINITY I/OOutline

Fibre Channel Terminology Point-to-Point Switched Fabric Fibre Channel Ports

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8INFINITY I/OPoint-to-Point Topology

Dedicated point-to-point connection between two Fibre Channel nodes

This is really a DAS architecture, but offers better performance and flexibility than SCSI

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9INFINITY I/OPoint-to-Point Applications

Some vendors offer “SAN in a can” solutions that use multiple point-to-point connections

Easy to set up Limited scalability

Storage

Server

Point-to-pointconnections

Server

Server

Server

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10INFINITY I/OOutline

Fibre Channel Terminology Point-to-Point Switched Fabric Fibre Channel Ports

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11INFINITY I/OBackend Arbitrated Loop Switches

Arbitrated Loop Switches allow multiple devices to communicate simultaneously

Scaled bandwidth: Each pair of devices has

access to the full link bandwidth

Still uses FC-AL topology: Same limit of 126 addresses Implements a subset of switch

management capabilities

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12INFINITY I/OBackend Arbitrated Loop Switches

Arbitrated Loop Switches can segment the loop to allow private conversations between devices: Creates multiple “looplets” Allows multiple simultaneous conversations

Loop Switch

DR T

CR T

BR T

AR T

Switch Matrix

Nodes

10 8 6 49 7 5 3 2 1

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13INFINITY I/OSwitched Fabric

FC-SW: Fibre Channel Switched Fabric Topology

Scaled bandwidth: Each concurrent

conversation can access the full link bandwidth

Over 16,000,000 available addresses

Management features: Zoning (security) Name Server

(discovery) Multicast and broadcast Management services

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14INFINITY I/OFabric Switches

Maximum resources (concurrent access) 200MB bandwidth available for each device (with 2 Gb/s ports) 16-port switch has up to 3200 MB/s aggregate bandwidth

Active

Active

Active

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15INFINITY I/OSwitch Topology: Generic Model

Fabric environment: Consists of one or more fabric elements Appears as a single entity to nodes Provides a homogenous addressing space

Transparency to ports: Fabric topology Routing path selection

Node

Fabric

Node

Node

Node

NodeNode

Node

Node

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16INFINITY I/OOutline

Fibre Channel Terminology Point-to-Point Switched Fabric Fibre Channel Ports

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17INFINITY I/OFibre Channel Ports

In Fibre Channel terms, port are more than just physical interfaces

Ports are intelligent interfaces to the Fibre Channel network

Ports are responsible for controlling and managing Fibre Channel operations: Transmitting and receiving data Initializing an Arbitrated Loop Logging in to a Switched Fabric

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18INFINITY I/OFabric Ports

Node PortN_Port

N_Port N_Port

N_Port N_Port

Node Node

Fabric Switch

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19INFINITY I/OFabric Ports

Fabric PortF_Port

F_Port F_Port

Node Node

Fabric Switch

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20INFINITY I/OFabric Ports

Extension PortE_Port

E_Port

E_Port

Node Node

Fabric Switch

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21INFINITY I/OFabric Ports

Bridge PortB_Port

E_Port

B_Port

Node Node

WAN gateway

Fabric Switch

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22INFINITY I/OFabric Loop Ports

Fabric Loop PortFL_Port

Fabric Switch

Host Storage

FL_Port

No ports

Loop Hub

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23INFINITY I/ONode Loop Ports

Node Loop PortNL_Port

Fabric SwitchHost Storage

Loop HubNL_Port(public)

NL_Port(public)

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24INFINITY I/OTopology Summary

NodeNode

Node

Node

NodeNode

Node

Node

Node

Node

NodeNode

Node

NodeNode

Node Node

Switched Fabric

Arbitrated Loop

Point-to-Point

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25INFINITY I/OPort Summary

N_Ports F_Ports E_Ports

E_Port

B_Port

NL_Port

No portsFL_Port

Fabric Switch

Loop Hub

WAN gateway

N_Port

NL_Port

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26INFINITY I/OReview Questions

1. Which is not a Fibre Channel Port?

2. Match the SAN topologies to their characteristics. Note that some characteristics may apply to more than one topology.

3. Match the FC ports to their functions.