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Introduction to McDATA Multi-Protocol Products
1
SAN Routers
McDATA Products in a SAN Environment - Planning Manual
1-20
The switch rear panel provides a 9-pin DSUB maintenance port for
connection to a local terminal or remote terminal. Although the port
is typically used by authorized maintenance personnel, operations
personnel can use the port to configure switch network addresses.
The Fibre Channel protocol was designed for high-performance
channel and storage applications within the limited confines of a data
center. However, the protocol is not suited for long-distance
applications between multiple, geographically-dispersed SANs or
data centers. Conversely, transmission control protocol/Internet
protocol (TCP/IP) is well suited to provide dynamic routing for
complex, geographically-dispersed networks.
SAN routers provide multi-protocol solutions to this problem by
unifying storage (FCP) and networking (TCP/IP) architectures. These
protocols include metropolitan Fibre Channel protocol (mFCP),
Internet Fibre Channel protocol (iFCP), and Internet small computer
systems interface (iSCSI), provided at up to Gigabit Ethernet (GbE)
bandwidth. SAN routers are low port count, high-bandwidth
products that provide extended distance and multi-protocol access to
Fibre Channel SANs, and should be installed to:
•
Perform SAN routing functions - SAN routers provide FCP-
protocol, router port (R_Port) connectivity between local Fibre
Channel fabrics (SAN routing). A SAN routing solution provides
interoperable FCP connectivity and consolidates IT resources but
ensures a disruption in one fabric remains isolated and does not
propagate to other fabrics. Refer to
information.
•
Perform mSAN routing functions - Multiple SAN routers
interconnect with GbE bandwidth links that employ the user
datagram protocol (UDP)-based mFCP protocol. These routers
connect local Fibre Channel fabrics into a metropolitan storage
area network (mSAN) and perform mSAN routing functions. An
mSAN routing solution provides a low-latency, high-bandwidth
alternative to traditional FCP connectivity. Refer to
for detailed information.
SAN Routing
for detailed
mSAN Routing
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