Fibre Channel Connection - HP StoreOnce B6000 Series Planning And Preparation Manual

4 Fibre Channel connection

The physical FC connection to the HP B6200 Backup System is straightforward; there are two FC
ports per node. However, care must be taken to ensure there is no single point of failure in switch
or fabric zoning that will negate the failover capabilities of the HP B6200 Backup System and its
autonomic restart ability.
Conformance to the following rules will help to ensure successful failover
Fibre Channel switches used with HP StoreOnce must support NPIV. The preferred topology
uses NPIV (N_Port ID Virtualisation) Direct attach (private loop) and direct attach (point to
point) topologies are not supported. For a full list see http://www.hp.com/go/ebs.
Use WWPN zoning (rather than port based). This keeps the backup/restore environment
simple and less susceptible to the effects of changing or problematic SANs.
Ensure that there are two switches in each fabric.
In a single fabric configuration ensure the equivalent FC ports from each B6200 node in a
couplet are presented to the same FC switch.
In a dual fabric configuration ensure the equivalent FC ports from each B6200 node in a
couplet are presented to the same fabric. They should present to separate switches within the
fabric.
Ensure the D2D diagnostic device WWNs (these will be seen in the switch name server and
are associated with the physical ports) are not included in any fabric zones and, therefore,
not presented to any hosts.
Please see the HP B6200 Backup System Recommended Configuration Guidelines for further
information and configuration examples.
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