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Chapter 1. Introduction
Thank you for purchasing an IBM TotalStorage FAStT product. IBM Fibre Array
Storage Technology (FAStT) solutions are designed to support the large and
growing data storage requirements of business-critical applications. These scalable
FAStT solutions provide data access and protection to meet your existing enterprise
storage requirements and future needs.
Fibre Channel is a technology similar to a high-speed network that connects large
amounts of disk storage to a server or cluster of servers. Fibre Channel technology
helps increase performance, scalability, availability, and the distance that attached
storage subsystems can be from network servers. The IBM FAStT700 Fibre
Channel Storage Server (machine type 1742, models 1RU and 1RX) supports Fibre
Channel disk drives to maximize performance and redundancy.
Fibre Channel technology supports applications that require large amounts of disk
storage shared by two or more servers. With Fibre Channel, higher throughput rates
over longer distances (up to 10 km) are possible than with small computer system
interface (SCSI) or Serial Storage Architecture (SSA) technology.
The IBM FAStT700 Fibre Channel Storage Server (referred to throughout this book
as FAStT700 Storage Server) is a high-performance unit that provides dual,
redundant RAID controllers with Fibre Channel interfaces to both the host and drive
loops. The FAStT700 Storage Server has redundant cooling, redundant power, and
battery backup of the controller cache.
Designed to provide maximum host and drive-side redundancy, the FAStT700
Storage Server supports direct attachment of up to four hosts containing two host
adapters each. Using external Fibre Channel switches in conjunction with the
FAStT700 Storage Server, you can attach up to 64 hosts with two adapters each to
a FAStT700 Storage Server.
This chapter provides descriptions of the primary components of the FAStT700
Storage Server and contains setup instructions. The FAStT700 Storage Server is
used with rack-mounted drive enclosures (also referred to as expansion units).
Figure 1 on page 2 shows the IBM FAStT700 Fibre Channel Storage Server.
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