Storage Use-Cases - HP flexfabric 5900cp Solutions Configuration Manual

3 Storage use-cases

The HP FlexFabric 5900CP switch supports several converged Ethernet/FCoE and Fibre Channel
storage configurations. To simplify understanding and implementation of these configurations, a
set of use-case topology designs are defined. The use-cases describe recommended ways to use
the HP FlexFabric 5900CP switch, switch modes, and port types in different server-storage
deployment scenarios. Some of the use-cases show multiple types of connectivity within the same
configuration. This is meant to show the different connection options available. Your design might
use one or more of these options, but not necessarily all as shown.
HP recommends that all storage configurations implement dual-redundant fabrics for high availability.
All HP FlexFabric 5900CP switch use-cases for storage described here implement dual-redundant
fabrics for high availability.
NOTE: The IRF feature of the HP FlexFabric 5900CP switch can be implemented in dual-redundant
fabric designs with storage, but has implications that must be considered. For more information
about using IRF in a storage configuration, see
Figure 3 (page 8)
implementation based on the hardware being utilized for servers and storage. All use-cases show
a single layer or single tier of HP FlexFabric 5900CP switches, also referred as East-West fabric
topology, with variations for use-case 2 and use-case 3. Use-case 2 shows dual-hop on the server
side and use-case 3 shows additional fabric connectivity on the storage side to other HP Fibre
Channel/FCoE switch series fabrics via 5900CP NPV gateway mode.
Figure 3 HP FlexFabric 5900CP major use-case scenarios
Table 2 (page 9)
variant column are links to the figures which describe the variant connectivity options in detail.
8 Storage use-cases
provides three major use-case scenarios, each describing a different
describes the HP FlexFabric 5900CP use-cases in detail. The items listed in the
"IRF usage with storage" (page 14)