Brocade Isl
SAN Design: March 29, 2001 3:18 pm
Building and Scaling BROCADE©
SAN Fabrics: Design and Best
Practices Guide
53-0001575-01
BROCADE Technical Note
Page: 1 of 31
BROCADE SAN Integration and Application Department
Last Updated
March 29, 2001 3:18 pm
Design and Best Practices Guide
This document contains BROCADE© recommendations and guidelines for configuring a Storage Area Network (SAN). The document includes several reference topologies and also provides pointers to products/solutions from BROCADE partners that can be used to implement the target configuration/solution. This information is for reference only and is meant to provide some ideas and starting points for a SAN design. Brocade provides more in depth training courses on SAN design. See the Brocade web site www.brocade.com to sign up for these courses where this information is covered in more depth.
1.0
Introduction
This document details SAN topologies supported by Brocade SilkWorm 2x00 switch fabrics and provides guidance on the number of end user ports that can reliably be deployed based on testing done to date. Exceeding these port count guidelines may have unpredictable results on fabric stability.
BROCADE is providing this document as a starting point for users interested in implementing a Storage Area Network (SAN). The target users of this document are individuals who are responsible for developing a SAN architecture on behalf of a client user or an end user who desires information to aid in developing a SAN architecture. Section 1describes SAN topologies and maximum size configurations supported as of the publication of this document. Section 2 presents information that is related to SAN Design and that should prove helpful when designing and implementing a SAN. These relate to cabling, inter-switch links, switch counts, and fabric management options. BROCADE is working with OEMs and integrators exploring fabric solutions of 15, 20, and 30 or more switches.
Building and Scaling BROCADE©
SAN Fabrics: Design and Best
Practices Guide
53-0001575-01
BROCADE Technical Note
Page: 1 of 31
BROCADE SAN Integration and Application Department
Last Updated
March 29, 2001 3:18 pm
Design and Best Practices Guide
This document contains BROCADE© recommendations and guidelines for configuring a Storage Area Network (SAN). The document includes several reference topologies and also provides pointers to products/solutions from BROCADE partners that can be used to implement the target configuration/solution. This information is for reference only and is meant to provide some ideas and starting points for a SAN design. Brocade provides more in depth training courses on SAN design. See the Brocade web site www.brocade.com to sign up for these courses where this information is covered in more depth.
1.0
Introduction
This document details SAN topologies supported by Brocade SilkWorm 2x00 switch fabrics and provides guidance on the number of end user ports that can reliably be deployed based on testing done to date. Exceeding these port count guidelines may have unpredictable results on fabric stability.
BROCADE is providing this document as a starting point for users interested in implementing a Storage Area Network (SAN). The target users of this document are individuals who are responsible for developing a SAN architecture on behalf of a client user or an end user who desires information to aid in developing a SAN architecture. Section 1describes SAN topologies and maximum size configurations supported as of the publication of this document. Section 2 presents information that is related to SAN Design and that should prove helpful when designing and implementing a SAN. These relate to cabling, inter-switch links, switch counts, and fabric management options. BROCADE is working with OEMs and integrators exploring fabric solutions of 15, 20, and 30 or more switches.
Links: Page: 22 of 31 SAN Design: March 29, 2001 3:18 pm