McDATA StorageWorks 2/140 - Director Switch Planning Manual page 131

Planning Considerations for Fibre Channel Topologies
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SANtegrity Binding
McDATA offers a SANtegrity Binding feature (including both fabric
binding and switch binding) that allows the creation of reliable SAN
configurations and provides a mechanism for attached devices to
query the user-configured security level employed in a SAN. The
feature significantly reduces the impacts of accidental or operator-
induced errors.
Fabric binding defines the directors and switches allowed to
participate in a fabric, thus preventing accidental fabric merges.
Switch binding defines the devices allowed to connect to directors
and switches in a fabric, thus providing additional security in SAN
environments that must manage a large number of devices. For
additional information, refer to SANtegrity Binding.
FICON Cascading
FICON is most often deployed in SANs that have high data integrity
and reliability standards. However, the initial FICON architecture
was limited to one domain (i.e. a single-switch fabric), which creates
severe distance and connectivity limitations. These data standards
and the requirement for FICON fabrics in SANs led to protocol
changes that support FICON cascading.
FICON cascading allows an IBM eServer zSeries processor to
communicate with other zSeries processors or peripheral devices
(such as disks, tape libraries, or printers) through a fabric consisting
of two or more FICON directors or switches. Cascaded FICON fabrics
also provide high end-to-end data integrity to ensure changes to a
data stream are always detected and rectified and that data is always
delivered to the correct fabric end point. For additional information,
refer to FICON Cascading.
A related feature to consider is the announcement of FCP support for
IBM eServer zSeries processors. This development accelerates the
requirement for intermix protocol fabrics, since primary processors
now support both FICON and FCP.
Protocol Intermixing The Element Manager graphical user interface (GUI) provides an
Best Practices
open systems or FICON management style. Users can toggle between
management styles with the director or switch online.
Planning Considerations for Fibre Channel Topologies
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