Users Guide

Chapter 12 Installing, Removing, and Replacing
Cabling the Library
Dell PowerVault ML6000 User’s Guide 229
For information on installing FC I/O blades, see Adding, Removing, and
Replacing FC I/O Blades on page 359.
Cabling may be affected by partitioning or zoning changes made as part
of configuration. When cabling to drives, ensure that they are cabled to
the correct hosts for the defined partitions. If the FC I/O blades have
active channel zoning, ensure that the drives are attached to ports that are
accessible to the defined zone. For information on partitioning,
configuring FC I/O blade ports, channel zoning, and host mapping, see
Chapter 5, Configuring Your Library.
Details about cabling FC I/O blades include:
• Each 9U Library Expansion Module can support up to two FC I/O
blades. A maximum of four FC I/O blades can be present in any
library configuration. A maximum of four FC drives can be
connected to one FC I/O blade.
• Ports 1 and 2 on each FC I/O blade are reserved for connection to
hosts. Ports 1 and 2 are always in target mode. The other four ports
(3, 4, 5 and 6) are always in initiator mode. See Figure 28.
• Ideally, an installed tape drive should be cabled to a port on the
nearest FC I/O blade to eliminate the need to manage excessively
long cables. The nearest FC I/O blade is usually located in the same
9U Library Expansion Module as the tape drive.
Caution: LTO-5 Fibre Channel tape drives can be configured for
speeds of up to 8 GB per second and support auto-
negotiation to 8 Gb/s, 4 Gb/s, and 2 Gb/s. If they are
configured for 8 Gb/s, you should connect them directly
to a host or switch and not to an FC I/O blade, because the
FC I/O blade only allows speeds up to 4 Gb/s. If you
connect an LTO-5 Fibre Channel tape drive to an FC I/O
blade, the speed will autonegotiate to 4 Gb/s (see Setting
Tape Drive Parameters on page 84). Speeds less than 2
Gb/s are not supported.
Note: See Cable Management Guidelines on page 237 for best-
practice guidelines for cabling a library.