Attaching Isls For Availability - Brocade Communications Systems SilkWorm 12000 Design, Deployment And Management Manual

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SilkWorm 12000 Based SAN Designs
Figure 3-2

Attaching ISLs For Availability

There are two strategies to ISL attachment for the SilkWorm 12000:
1. For highest availability, spread ISLs across cards.
2. For best performance, concentrate multiple ISL connections between any two SilkWorm 12000 or
3000series switches onto a single quad on a single card and enable trunking. If using SilkWorm
2000 series switches, this does not apply since SilkWorm 2000 series switches are not trunk capable.
In this case, use strategy #1 exclusively. When connecting SilkWorm 12000 switches together by
multiple ISLs, spread these ISLs across all 16-port cards for availability. Once each 16-port card has
a trunk connection to the other SilkWorm 12000 switches, connect additional ISLs on the same quad
to form trunks for increased bandwidth. For example, when connecting a SilkWorm 12000 to a
SilkWorm 12000, this means using four x 2-ISL trunks instead of two x 4-ISL trunks.
First make sure that ISLs connected to a SilkWorm 12000 are spread across two different 16-port cards.
If using only two ISLs, availability becomes the overriding criteria. If using more ISLs, then spread them
across the remaining 16-port cards. Additional ISLs between the switches should be placed on the same
quads, thus maximizing trunking. These concepts are depicted in Figure 3-3.
3-6
Distribute High Port Count Devices, Such
as Arrays or Tape Libraries Across
Multiple Blades
Attaching Devices For Availability
ISLs ISLs
Hosts Hosts
Tape Tape
Storage Storage
Distribute Devices Across Blades
Publication Number 53-0000251-02