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

• Fabric, Virtual Fabric, or VSAN independence
Isolation of fault domains◦
◦ Separate fabric services
• Centralized SAN fabric management
Common fabric management◦
◦ Tape backup consolidation
Fabric, Virtual Fabric, and VSAN independence
Fibre Channel routing identifies data frames in a fabric, Virtual Fabric, or VSAN for transfer to
other fabrics, Virtual Fabrics with IFR, or VSANs with IVR. Only data addressed to a device in
another fabric, Virtual Fabric, or VSAN passes through the router or routing function; therefore, a
disruption of fabric services in one routed fabric, Virtual Fabric, or VSAN is unlikely to propagate
to another.
Fabric services
Fabric services coordinate communication between switches in a fabric, Virtual Fabric, or VSAN.
The fabric services manage:
• Device names and addresses
• Timestamps
• Switch utilities
Routing connects devices in multiple fabrics, Virtual Fabrics, or VSANs without extending fabric
services from one routed fabric to another. Devices in a routed network can communicate across
LSANs, Virtual Fabrics, or VSANs despite having different fabric services configurations.
Worldwide Name
A recognized naming authority assigns each Fibre Channel device a unique identifier, called the
WWN. Use the device WWNs to:
• Assign devices to zones.
• Define devices to export from one fabric, Virtual Fabric, or VSAN to another.
Import and export
Routing creates a Meta SAN, extended Virtual Fabric, or extended VSAN when it connects fabrics,
Virtual Fabrics, or VSANs. Routing exports devices from one fabric, Virtual Fabric, or VSAN to
another. An exported device has an imported address in every destination fabric, Virtual Fabric,
or VSAN to which it has been exported. The address of the exported device in the source fabric,
Virtual Fabric, or VSAN is its exported address.
An imported device is a device as seen in a fabric when using its imported address. An exported
device is a device as seen in the fabric when using its exported address.
Routing table
The routing function reads the fabric address information in each frame that it receives, and then
uses a routing table to determine the destination fabric, destination Virtual Fabric, or destination
VSAN and the address within that fabric, Virtual Fabric, or VSAN. The routing function then
transmits the frame to the address in the destination fabric.
44 Fibre Channel routing