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

Figure 6 Ring fabric with satellite switches
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Switch models
All HP Fibre Channel switches are supported for use in a ring fabric topology. Ring 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 ring fabric include:
• Modular design and ease of scalability by adding a switch and other devices
• Multiple paths for internal fabric resiliency
• Support for a mix of local data access and occasional centralized data access
Core-edge fabric
HP recommends using a core-edge fabric wherever possible.
A core-edge fabric has one or more Fibre Channel switches (called core switches) that connect to
edge switches in the fabric (Figure 7). The core switches provide high bandwidth and redundant
connectivity to the edge switches. The edge switches provide user ports for servers and storage.
You can also connect centralized storage (disk or tape) to the core switches if centralized access
is required.
The core-edge fabric is optimal for:
• Many-to-many connectivity environments that require high performance
• Unknown or changing I/O traffic patterns
• SAN-wide storage pooling
Core-edge fabric 29