Fibre Channel Defined; Product Updates - IBM TotalStorage DS4000 EXP700 Installation, User's, And Maintenance Manual

You can intermix DS4000 EXP700s with FAStT EXP500s in a fibre channel loop.
You cannot intermix DS4000 EXP710s with FAStT EXP500s in a fibre channel loop.
When you attach DS4000 EXP710 storage expansion enclosures, you must remove
any 1 Gb/s FAStT EXP500 storage expansion enclosures from the drive loop and
you must set the fibre channel speed of the drive loop to 2 Gb/s. See "Connecting
storage expansion enclosures in a loop with FAStT EXP500s (DS4000 EXP700
only)" on page 50.
You can intermix DS4000 EXP100s with DS4000 EXP700s or DS4000 EXP710s in
the same DS4000 Storage Server configuration. You must purchase the FC/SATA
Enclosure Intermix premium option to combine DS4000 EXP100s with DS4000
EXP700s or DS4000 EXP710s in the same storage server configuration. To attach
DS4000 EXP100s or DS4000 EXP710s storage expansion enclosures to a storage
server, the storage server controller firmware must be at version 06.xx.xx.xx or
higher. In addition, the minimum ESM firmware requirement for intermixing DS4000
EXP700s or DS4000 EXP710s with DS4000 EXP100s is version 9554. See
"Intermixing DS4000 EXP700s or DS4000 EXP710s with DS4000 EXP100s in the
same loop" on page 52

Fibre channel defined

Fibre channel technology is outlined in the SCSI-3 Fibre Channel Protocol
(SCSI-FCP) standard. Fibre channel is a high-speed data transport technology used
for mass storage and networking.
Using a Fibre Channel Arbitrated loop (FC-AL), more than 100 fibre channel
devices can be supported, compared to 15 small computer system interface (SCSI)
devices.
The DS4000 EXP700 and DS4000 EXP710 are 2 Gb/s fibre channel devices that
support data transfer rates up to 200 MB per second half-duplex and 400 MB per
second full-duplex on optical interfaces.

Product updates

Download the latest version of the DS4000 Storage Manager host software and the
any appropriate DS4000 product series firmware at the time of the initial installation
and when product updates become available.
To be notified of important product updates, you must first register at the IBM
Support and Download Web site:
www.ibm.com/support/us/
Go to the Personalized Support section of the web page and click My support.
On the next page, if you have not already done so, register to use the site by
clicking register now.
Perform the following steps to receive product updates:
Important
In order to keep your system up to date with the latest firmware and other
product updates, use the information below to register and use the My
support web site.
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Chapter 1. Introduction