Qlogic SANbox 9200 Supplementary Manual
Qlogic sanbox 9200: supplementary guide
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Also See for SANbox 9200:
- Supplementary manual (13 pages) ,
- Frequently asked questions manual (9 pages) ,
- Competitive comparison (2 pages)
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Extending the SAN for SANbox 9000
Core Switches
QLogic Intellegent Storage Routers
Executive Summary
A new challenge faces IT professionals, dubbed the corporate
"extrastructure." This includes devices and technologies outside
the IT department's direct control, but are vital to the proper
operation of dispersed SANs and data resources. For example,
most corporations rely on third-party vendors for the bandwidth
and connectivity technology outside of the brick-and-mortar
confines. Since implementing a private global WAN would be cost
prohibitive, the company needs to bridge data centers without
sacrificing the benefits of a single-site operation.
The best way to mitigate the limitations of a decentralized data
environment is to create a core-to-core bridging strategy using
standard, proven technologies. Core-to-core bridging is the
QLogic term for linking the core networks between data centers.
Data center switches, such as the SANbox 9200, can access
remote SAN islands with the proper deployment of gateway
routers. The SANbox 6142 Intelligent Storage Router can bridge
core switches across the WAN with fast and efficient Layer 3
routing. The routing can even be easily implemented across core
switching technologies from other vendors, for example Brocade
and Cisco.
Extending the SAN Beyond the Data Center
Mission critical applications, such as data migration, replication,
and disaster recovery, can now be integrated across multiple
sites for better utilization, higher levels of protection, and faster
recovery times.
Key Findings
The SANbox product family can implement a cost-effective and
efficient data center core-to-core bridging strategy to achieve the
following solutions:
•
Greater resource utilization in SAN islands
•
Higher data protection levels with off-site migration,
replication, and disaster recovery
•
Better operational efficiencies
•
Faster gateway bridging across homogeneous and
heterogeneous SAN fabrics
•
Easier management of remote data resources
•
Core-to-core fabrics can be bridged without merging SANs
W H I T E P A P E R
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Summary of Contents for Qlogic SANbox 9200
- Page 1 Core-to-core bridging is the QLogic term for linking the core networks between data centers. Data center switches, such as the SANbox 9200, can access remote SAN islands with the proper deployment of gateway routers. The SANbox 6142 Intelligent Storage Router can bridge core switches across the WAN with fast and efficient Layer 3 routing.
- Page 2 Extending the SAN for SANbox 9000 Core Switches Introduction The corporate infrastructure has evolved over the past few decades to the point where “infrastructure” no longer provides an adequate definition. With global offices, remote locations, and a dispersed sales force, the computing environment now requires an “extrastructure” to provide data when and where it’s needed.
- Page 3 Issues with FC Core Bridging The core of the FC fabric is built around high-end director class switches, such as the QLogic SANbox 9200. This switch provides solid and proven technology for sustaining storage area networks. However, expanding the enterprise usually leads to multiple SAN cores and a patchwork architecture.
- Page 4 The router can also use Ethernet ports to bridge across the WAN to the remote SAN island. The SANbox 6142 provides this type of routing capability. The QLogic SANbox 6142 Intelligent Storage Router leverages N_ports for simplified connection to the SANbox 9200 switch and gigabit Ethernet ports for communication across the LAN or WAN.
- Page 5 Distribution switches, such as the SANbox 600, provide flexible and expandable fabric services in locations with medium-duty data traffic. Therefore, various combinations of the SANbox 9200, 600, and 6142 can meet the changing needs of the corporation, without an over- investment in SAN hardware.
- Page 6 Extending the SAN for SANbox 9000 Core Switches Furthermore, this type of routing can extend the SANbox 9200 beyond QLogic-based networks. As described earlier, the gateway router uses N_ports to connect into the SAN. Therefore, core switches from other vendors can be bridged with the SANbox core. This can even be expanded to multiple sites, each based on a different vendor, as shown below.
- Page 7 Extending the SAN for SANbox 9000 Core Switches FCIP – Layer 2 Routing The SANbox 6142 supports FCIP to provide maximum compatibility with replication and WAN applications. However, FCIP has some inherent limitations. The standard FCIP protocol uses many remote procedure calls (RPCs) to move data across the network.
- Page 8 Extending the SAN for SANbox 9000 Core Switches For example, transferring 64KB across the WAN would take over 300ms. Larger data blocks on the order of megabytes would consume an unacceptable amount of time. This is a direct result of FCIP using Layer 2 routing.
- Page 9 Extending the SAN for SANbox 9000 Core Switches First, SmartWrite can understand the total transfer size to go over the WAN. This enables SmartWrite to tell the receiving router how many transfers to expect over the WAN. For example, a source router (located in New York) can tell the destination (located in London) that it will receive only a write and how many transfers to expect before completing the file.
- Page 10 Extending the SAN for SANbox 9000 Core Switches Core-to-Core Applications With the creation of a bridged core-to-core topology, several mission-critical functions can now be easily implemented across the extrastructure. Across the globe, changes in regulatory requirements from most governments place greater demands on businesses. Although these regulations affect data that is often outside the data center, the IT department still needs to protect, secure, and make the data accessible globally.
- Page 11 Extending the SAN for SANbox 9000 Core Switches If the RPO is for a snapshot minutes or hours ago, the company may consider using asynchronous replication to the hot-site. This reduces the cost and complexity of the total solution, but still delivers an acceptable level of protection.
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Page 12: Summary And Conclusion
As we have seen, the SANbox 9200 core switch can leverage the following benefits of the SANbox 6142 Intelligent Storage Router: •... - Page 13 Extending the SAN for SANbox 9000 Core Switches References Websites of QLogic, Brocade, SNIA, IETF, IBM, Cisco Trademarks • Brocade is a registered trademark of Brocade Corporation. • Cisco is a registered trademark of Cisco Systems • Powerpath, RepliStor, Open Replicator, MirrowView, SAN Copy, and Networker are trademarks of EMC Corporation •...
- Page 14 Disclaimer Reasonable efforts have been made to ensure the validity and accuracy of these comparative performance tests. QLogic Corporation is not liable for any error in this published white paper or the results thereof. Variation in results may be a result of change in configuration or in the environment.