SAN Solution Installation Guide

Topologies and Components
Components
Chapter 11-6
• Multi-Port Hub - consists of 6 to 16 ports (copper or optical GBICs),
network management software, and supports Fibre Channel
Arbitrated Loop (FC-AL).
Switches
Switches are intelligent devices that are able to interconnect individual
nodes, arbitrated loops, and other switch elements. Switches provide full
bandwidth per port and high-speed routing of data via link-level
addressing, as well as the following:
• 8 to 16 ports (possibly more)
• Copper or optical GBICs
• Fast, non-blocking, dedicated bandwidth
• Special services (time, name, etc.)
• Integrated Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) and
Management Information Base (MIB)-compliant management for
remote management
• Configuration management tools and utilization monitoring
• Automated port isolation and device failover for fault-tolerance, along
with N+1 hot-swappable components
• Port Bypass Capability enables switches to deactivate bad ports
Bridges
The bridge provides connectivity between FC switched fabric or FC-AL to
devices without FC ports. Bridges enable SCSI-based devices to be
connected to FC SANs.
FC-to-SCSI bridges are typically used to connect SCSI tape libraries and
autoloaders to the SAN. A bridge can also be used to connect servers or
workstations to the SAN in “initiator” mode. The FC specification allows
for a 10km maximum end-to-end distance. A bridge may also provide:
• Mapping of SCSI devices to units of a single AL-PA
• A configurable mapping table
• SNMP management
• Extenders allow FC connections greater than 10km