.Part 1 Architecture HP SAN Design Reference Guide 785351-001

Routed SAN fabrics
HP standard fabric topologies support Fibre Channel routing. Fibre Channel routing enables
connectivity between devices in multiple fabrics, Virtual Fabrics, or multiple VSANs. HP supports
the following routed fabric technologies:
• “B-series Meta SAN” (page 35)
• “C-series VSANs with IVR” (page 36)
• “H-series switches with TR” (page 37)
FCoE SAN fabrics
HP standard fabric topologies can integrate with FCoE technology. FCoE is deployed in existing
Ethernet and Fibre Channel environments providing convergence at the server and fabric edge
using CNAs and FCoE CN switches. See “FCoE fabric topologies” (page 37).
Benefits
With HP standard SAN fabric topologies, you can:
• Create a SAN fabric for each department or application in your organization.
• Perform centralized management and backups.
• Update a SAN fabric to accommodate changing capacity or data access needs. You can
also convert to another SAN fabric topology as needed.
• Connect devices over long distances using extended Fibre Channel or IP connections. See
“SAN fabric connectivity rules” (page 152) and “SAN extension” (page 257).
• Connect multiple SAN fabrics using routing technology. See “B-series Meta SAN” (page 35).
• Deploy multiple logical fabrics using the Virtual Fabrics feature.
• Deploy multiple VSANs. See “C-series VSANs with IVR” (page 36).
• Incorporate a range of SAN availability levels. See “Data availability” (page 38).
Single-switch fabric
A single-switch fabric consists of a Fibre Channel switch, server, and storage system (Figure 1).
This topology forms the basis for all HP standard topologies. For example, you can connect two
single-switch fabrics to create a cascaded fabric. Or, you can connect three or more single-switch
fabrics to create a ring fabric or a core-edge fabric.
Figure 1 Single-switch fabric
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Switch models
For a small, single-switch SAN fabric, use the SN6000 Fibre Channel Switch; the 8/20q Fibre
Channel Switch (or the HP Simple SAN Connectivity Kit); or an HP SAN, Fabric, or Edge switch
(4, 8, 16, or 20 ports). For a larger single-switch SAN fabric, use a SAN, Fabric, or Edge switch
24 SAN fabric topologies