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Chapter 16
Configuring and Managing VSANs
S e n d d o c u m e n t a t i o n c o m m e n t s t o m d s f e e d b a c k - d o c @ c i s c o . c o m .
Figure 16-2
2 (dashed) and VSAN 7 (solid). VSAN 2 includes hosts H1 and H2, application servers AS2 and AS3,
and storage arrays SA1 and SA4. VSAN 7 connects H3, AS1, SA2, and SA3.
Figure 16-2
H2
H1
The four switches in this network are interconnected by trunk links that carry both VSAN 2 and
VSAN 7 traffic. Thus the inter-switch topology of both VSAN 2 and VSAN 7 are identical. This is not
a requirement and a network administrator can enable certain VSANs on certain links to create different
VSAN topologies.
Without VSANs, a network administrator would need separate switches and links for separate SANs. By
enabling VSANs, the same switches and links may be shared by multiple VSANs. VSANs allow SANs
to be built on port granularity instead of switch granularity.
group of hosts or storage devices that communicate with each other using a virtual topology defined on
the physical SAN.
The criteria for creating such groups differ based on the VSAN topology:
•
•
OL-6973-03, Cisco MDS SAN-OS Release 2.x
shows a physical Fibre Channel switching infrastructure with two defined VSANs: VSAN
Example of two VSANs
AS1
H3
FC
FC
SA1
SA2
Link in VSAN 2
Link in VSAN 7
Trunk link
VSANs can separate traffic based on the following requirements:
Different customers in storage provider data centers
–
–
Production or test in an enterprise network
–
Low and high security requirements
Backup traffic on separate VSANs
–
Replicating data from user traffic
–
VSANs can meet the needs of a particular department or application.
AS2
AS3
FC
FC
SA3
SA4
Cisco MDS 9000 Family Configuration Guide
How VSANs Work
Figure 16-2
illustrates that a VSAN is a
16-3
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