Vsan Advantages - Cisco MDS 9000 Series Configuration Manual

VSAN Advantages

• VSANs can meet the needs of a particular department or application.
VSAN Advantages
VSANs offer the following advantages:
• Traffic isolation—Traffic is contained within VSAN boundaries and devices reside only in one VSAN
• Scalability—VSANs are overlaid on top of a single physical fabric. The ability to create several logical
• Per VSAN fabric services—Replication of fabric services on a per VSAN basis provides increased
• Redundancy—Several VSANs created on the same physical SAN ensure redundancy. If one VSAN fails,
• Ease of configuration—Users can be added, moved, or changed between VSANs without changing the
Up to 256 VSANs can be configured in a switch. Of these, one is a default VSAN (VSAN 1), and another is
an isolated VSAN (VSAN 4094). User-specified VSAN IDs range from 2 to 4093.
VSANs Versus Zones
You can define multiple zones in a VSAN. Because two VSANs are equivalent to two unconnected SANs,
zone A on VSAN 1 is different and separate from zone A in VSAN 2.
, on page 10
Table 2: VSAN and Zone Comparison
VSAN Characteristic
VSANs equal SANs with routing, naming, and zoning protocols.
—
VSANs limit unicast, multicast, and broadcast traffic.
Membership is typically defined using the VSAN ID to Fx ports.
An HBA or a storage device can belong only to a single
VSAN—the VSAN associated with the Fx port.
VSANs enforce membership at each E port, source port, and
destination port.
VSANs are defined for larger environments (storage service
providers).
VSANs encompass the entire fabric.
Cisco MDS 9000 Series Fabric Configuration Guide, Release 8.x
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ensuring absolute separation between user groups, if desired.
VSAN layers increases the scalability of the SAN.
scalability and availability.
redundant protection (to another VSAN in the same physical SAN) is configured using a backup path
between the host and the device.
physical structure of a SAN. Moving a device from one VSAN to another only requires configuration at
the port level, not at a physical level.
lists the differences between VSANs and zones.
Table 2: VSAN and Zone Comparison
Zone Characteristic
Routing, naming, and zoning protocols are not available on a
per-zone basis.
Zones are always contained within a VSAN. Zones never span
two VSANs.
Zones limit unicast traffic.
Membership is typically defined by the pWWN.
An HBA or storage device can belong to multiple zones.
Zones enforce membership only at the source and destination
ports.
Zones are defined for a set of initiators and targets not visible
outside the zone.
Zones are configured at the fabric edge.
Configuring and Managing VSANs