Switch Models; Benefits; Ring Fabric; Isl Connections In A Meshed Fabric - HP StorageWorks 4000/6000/8000 - Enterprise Virtual Arrays Reference Manual

Figure 4 ISL connections in a meshed fabric
.

Switch models

All HP Fibre Channel switches are supported for use in a meshed fabric topology. Meshed fabric
topologies typically use the SN6000 Fibre Channel Switch; the 8/20q Fibre Channel Switch (or the
HP Simple SAN Connectivity Kit); or SAN, Fabric, or Edge switches, which support smaller incremental
growth. To meet higher port-count requirements, use Core or Director switches.

Benefits

The benefits of a meshed fabric include:
Ability to meet multiple data access needs
Multiple paths for internal fabric resiliency
Ease of scalability
Shared backup and management support
Support for a mix of local and distributed data access (see
Less impact on performance due to intraswitch traffic

Ring fabric

A ring fabric is a ring of interconnected switches
of fabric resiliency as the meshed fabric and ensures full fabric connectivity with a minimum of two
paths for each switch.
The ring fabric enables you to:
Scale the fabric in a modular fashion.
Achieve optimum I/O performance by connecting a group of servers and storage to one switch.
40 SAN fabric topologies
"Topology data
(Figure 5). The ring fabric provides a similar level
25092a
access" on page 46)