Cisco nexus 5000 series Cli Configuration Manual page 491

Chapter 1 Configuring and Managing VSANs
S e n d f e e d b a c k t o n x 5 0 0 0 - d o c f e e d b a c k @ c i s c o . c o m
Figure 1-2
H2
H1
The four switches in this network are interconnected by VSAN trunk links that carry both VSAN 2 and
VSAN 7 traffic. You can configure a different inter-switch topology for each VSAN. In
inter-switch topology is identical for VSAN 2 and VSAN 7.
Without VSANs, a network administrator would need separate switches and links for separate SANs. By
enabling VSANs, the same switches and links may be shared by multiple VSANs. VSANs allow SANs
to be built on port granularity instead of switch granularity.
of hosts or storage devices that communicate with each other using a virtual topology defined on the
physical SAN.
The criteria for creating such groups differ based on the VSAN topology:
VSANs can separate traffic based on the following requirements:
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VSANs can meet the needs of a particular department or application.
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OL-16597-01
Example of Two VSANs
AS1
H3
FC FC
SA1 SA2 SA3
Link in VSAN 2
Link in VSAN 7
Trunk link
Different customers in storage provider data centers
Production or test in an enterprise network
Low and high security requirements
Backup traffic on separate VSANs
Replicating data from user traffic
AS2 AS3
FC FC
SA4
Figure 1-2
Cisco Nexus 5000 Series Switch CLI Software Configuration Guide
Information About VSANs
Figure 1-2, the
illustrates that a VSAN is a group
1-3