Spectra Logic T-Series Spectra T950 User Manual page 16

Fibre Channel and Gigabit Ethernet QIPs
Each Fibre Channel QIP
(F-QIP) and Gigabit Ethernet
QIP (E-QIP) provides
connections to four drives and
has two external ports. The
QIP also provides any-to-any
connectivity, so that every
drive (target) is potentially
visible to servers through both
ports. This permits flexibility
in configuring target visibility:
that is, which servers can see
which drives.
For example, a QIP can be configured so that Drives 1 and 2 are visible through Port A,
and Drives 3 and 4 are visible through Port B. Or, to consolidate port usage on a
switch, all four drives can be accessed through a single port. In a more complex
configuration, a QIP can be configured so that all drives are visible through both ports;
such a configuration is typically used in a shared storage environment or an
environment with failover capabilities. Note that if drives are visible to multiple
servers, your backup software must support this visibility; otherwise server contention
for a single drive can create network and system problems.
Chapter 2. Architecture Overview
Drive 4
Drive 3
Drive 2
Drive 1
Figure 2-1 The F-QIP architecture.
16
Port B
Port A