Fcoe Overview; Storage Area Network; Fc San - HP 5920 series Configuration Manual

FCoE overview

Storage area network

According to the Storage Networking Industry Association dictionary, "a storage area network (SAN) is
any high-performance network whose primary purpose is to enable disk devices to communicate with
computer systems and with each other."
A SAN enables the universal connectivity of servers and disk devices. Compared to the conventional
client/server computer system, a SAN allows the servers to share data and directly access data created
by one another without having to copy it, improves storage scalability, and centralizes the management
of data backup, access, and security.
Most SANs use Fibre Channel (FC) or Ethernet to interconnect devices. An FC SAN uses the FC protocol
suite for communication, and an Ethernet SAN uses the TCP/IP protocol suite for communication.
This document covers only the FC SAN.

FC SAN

As shown in
disk devices) with fibers or copper wires in the following ways:
• Directly connects a server and a disk device, as shown in the point-to-point connection.
Connects servers and disk devices to an FCF switched fabric, as shown in the switched fabric. In a
•
switched fabric, the servers and disk devices are called "nodes." A fabric uses 24-bit addressing
and supports thousands of devices.
Figure 1 FC SAN networking
NOTE:
An FC SAN refers to a network comprising FCF switches and nodes.
•
A fabric refers to a transmission network comprising FCF switches.
•
Figure 1, an FC SAN connects the data sending and receiving entities (network servers and
1