305 lines
9.4 KiB
Plaintext
305 lines
9.4 KiB
Plaintext
/* $FreeBSD$ */
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Hardware that is Known To or Should Work with This Driver
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0. Intro
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This is not an endorsement for hardware vendors (there will be
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no "where to buy" URLs here with a couple of exception). This
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is simply a list of things I know work, or should work, plus
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maybe a couple of notes as to what you should do to make it
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work. Corrections accepted. Even better would be to send me
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hardware to I can test it.
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I'll put a rough range of costs in US$ that I know about. No doubt
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it'll differ from your expectations.
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1. HBAs
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Qlogic 2100, 2102
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2200, 2202, 2204
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There are various suffices that indicate copper or optical
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connectors, or 33 vs. 66MHz PCI bus operation. None of these
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have a software impact.
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Approx cost: 1K$ for a 2200
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Qlogic 2300, 2312
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These are the new 2-Gigabit cards. Optical only.
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Approx cost: ??????
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Antares P-0033, P-0034, P-0036
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There many other vendors that use the Qlogic 2X00 chipset. Some older
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2100 boards (not on this list) have a bug in the ROM that causes a
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failure to download newer firmware that is larger than 0x7fff words.
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Approx cost: 850$ for a P-0036
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In general, the 2200 class chip is to be preferred.
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2. Hubs
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Vixel 1000
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Vixel 2000
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Of the two, the 1000 (7 ports, vs. 12 ports) has had fewer problems-
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it's an old workhorse.
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Approx cost: 1.5K$ for Vixel 1000, 2.5K$ for 2000
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Gadzoox Cappellix 3000
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Don't forget to use telnet to configure the Cappellix ports
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to the role you're using them for- otherwise things don't
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work well at all.
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(cost: I have no idea... certainly less than a switch)
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3. Switches
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Brocade Silkworm II
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Brocade 2400
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(other brocades should be fine)
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Especially with revision 2 or higher f/w, this is now best
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of breed for fabrics or segmented loop (which Brocade
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calls "QuickLoop").
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For the Silkworm II, set operating mode to "Tachyon" (mode 3).
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The web interace isn't good- but telnet is what I prefer anyhow.
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You can't connect a Silkworm II and the other Brocades together
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as E-ports to make a large fabric (at least with the f/w *I*
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had for the Silkworm II).
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Approx cost of a Brocade 2400 with no GBICs is about 8K$ when
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I recently checked the US Government SEWP price list- no doubt
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it'll be a bit more for others. I'd assume around 10K$.
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ANCOR SA-8
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This also is a fine switch, but you have to use a browser
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with working java to manage it- which is a bit of a pain.
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This also supports fabric and segmented loop.
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These switches don't form E-ports with each other for a larger
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fabric.
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(cost: no idea)
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McData (model unknown)
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I tried one exactly once for 30 minutes. Seemed to work once
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I added the "register FC4 types" command to the driver.
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(cost: very very expensive, 40K$ plus)
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4. Cables/GBICs
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Multimode optical is adequate for Fibre Channel- the same cable is
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used for Gigabit Ethernet.
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Copper DB-9 and Copper HSS-DC connectors are also fine. Copper &&
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Optical both are rated to 1.026Gbit- copper is naturally shorter
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(the longest I've used is a 15meter cable but it's supposed to go
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longer).
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The reason to use copper instead of optical is that if step on one of
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the really fat DB-9 cables you can get, it'll survive. Optical usually
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dies quickly if you step on it.
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Approx cost: I don't know what optical is- you can expect to pay maybe
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a 100$ for a 3m copper cable.
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GBICs-
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I use Finisar copper and IBM Opticals.
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Approx Cost: Copper GBICs are 70$ each. Opticals are twice that or more.
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Vendor: (this is the one exception I'll make because it turns out to be
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an incredible pain to find FC copper cabling and GBICs- the source I
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use for GBICs and copper cables is http://www.scsi-cables.com)
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Other:
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There now is apparently a source for little connector boards
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to connect to bare drives: http://www.cinonic.com.
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5. Storage JBODs/RAID
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JMR 4-Bay
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Rinky-tink, but a solid 4 bay loop only entry model.
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I paid 1000$ for mine- overprice, IMO.
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JMR Fortra
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I rather like this box. The blue LEDs are a very nice touch- you
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can see them very clearly from 50 feet away.
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I paid 2000$ for one used.
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Sun A5X00
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Very expensive (in my opinion) but well crafted. Has two SES
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instances, so you can use the ses driver (and the example
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code in /usr/share/examples) for power/thermal/slot monitoring.
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Approx Cost: The last I saw for a price list item on this was 22K$
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for an unpopulated (no disk drive) A5X00.
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DataDirect E1000 RAID
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Don't connect both SCSI and FC interfaces at the same time- a SCSI
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reset will cause the DataDirect to think you want to use the SCSI
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interface and a LIP on the FC interface will cause it to think you
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want to use the FC interface. Use only one connector at a time so
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both you and the DataDirect are sure about what you want.
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Cost: I have no idea.
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Veritas ServPoint
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This is a software storage virtualization engine that
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runs on Sparc/Solaris in target mode for frontend
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and with other FC or SCSI as the backend storage. FreeBSD
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has been used extensively to test it.
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Cost: I have no idea.
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6. Disk Drives
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I have used lots of different Seagate and a few IBM drives and
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typically have had few problems with them. These are the bare
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drives with 40-pin SCA connectors in back. They go into the JBODs
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you assemble.
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Seagate does make, but I can no longer find, a little paddleboard
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single drive connector that goes from DB-9 FC to the 40-pin SCA
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connector- primarily for you to try and evaluate a single FC drive.
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All FC-AL disk drives are dual ported (i.e., have separte 'A' and
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'B' ports- which are completely separate loops). This seems to work
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reasonably enough, but I haven't tested it much. It really depends
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on the JBOD you put them to carry this dual port to the outside
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world. The JMR boxes have it. The Sun A5X00 you have to pay for
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an extra IB card to carry it out.
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Approx Cost: You'll find that FC drives are the same cost if not
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slightly cheaper than the equivalent Ultra3 SCSI drives.
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7. Recommended Configurations
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These are recommendations that are biased toward the cautious side. They
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do not represent formal engineering commitments- just suggestions as to
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what I would expect to work.
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A. The simpletst form of a connection topology I can suggest for
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a small SAN (i.e., replacement for SCSI JBOD/RAID):
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HOST
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2xxx <----------> Single Unit of Storage (JBOD, RAID)
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This is called a PL_DA (Private Loop, Direct Attach) topology.
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B. The next most simple form of a connection topology I can suggest for
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a medium local SAN (where you do not plan to do dynamic insertion
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and removal of devices while I/Os are active):
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HOST
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2xxx <----------> +--------
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| Vixel |
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| 1000 |
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| +<---> Storage
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| +<---> Storage
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| +<---> Storage
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--------
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This is a Private Loop topology. Remember that this can get very unstable
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if you make it too long. A good practice is to try it in a staged fashion.
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It is possible with some units to "daisy chain", e.g.:
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HOST
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2xxx <----------> (JBOD, RAID) <--------> (JBOD, RAID)
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In practice I have had poor results with these configurations. They *should*
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work fine, but for both the JMR and the Sun A5X00 I tend to get LIP storms
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and so the second unit just isn't seen and the loop isn't stable.
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Now, this could simply be my lack of clean, newer, h/w (or, in general,
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a lack of h/w), but I would recommend the use of a hub if you want to
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stay with Private Loop and have more than one FC target.
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You should also note this can begin to be the basis for a shared SAN
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solution. For example, the above configuration can be extended to be:
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HOST
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2xxx <----------> +--------
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| Vixel |
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| 1000 |
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| +<---> Storage
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| +<---> Storage
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| +<---> Storage
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HOST | |
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2xxx <----------> +--------
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However, note that there is nothing to mediate locking of devices, and
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it is also conceivable that the reboot of one host can, by causing
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a LIP storm, cause problems with the I/Os from the other host.
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(in other words, this topology hasn't really been made safe yet for
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this driver).
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D. You can repeat the topology in #B with a switch that is set to be
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in segmented loop mode. This avoids LIPs propagating where you don't
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want them to- and this makes for a much more reliable, if more expensive,
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SAN.
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E. The next level of complexity is a Switched Fabric. The following topology
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is good when you start to begin to get to want more performance. Private
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and Public Arbitrated Loop, while 100MB/s, is a shared medium. Direct
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connections to a switch can run full-duplex at full speed.
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HOST
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2xxx <----------> +---------
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| Brocade|
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| 2400 |
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| +<---> Storage
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| +<---> Storage
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| +<---> Storage
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HOST | |
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2xxx <----------> +---------
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I would call this the best configuration available now. It can expand
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substantially if you cascade switches.
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There is a hard limit of about 253 devices for each Qlogic HBA- and the
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fabric login policy is simplistic (log them in as you find them). If
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somebody actually runs into a configuration that's larger, let me know
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and I'll work on some tools that would allow you some policy choices
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as to which would be interesting devices to actually connect to.
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