HP StorageWorks 2/24 FW 07.00.00/HAFM SW 08.06.00 McDATA Products in a SAN Env - Page 125

Planning Considerations for Fibre Channel Topologies 3 10/100 RST TM PWR ERR 10/100 RST TM PWR ERR Fabric "A" TM 10/100 RST TM PWR ERR 10/100 RST TM PWR ERR Fabric "B" TM 10/100 RST TM PWR ERR 10/100 RST TM PWR ERR 10/100 RST TM PWR ERR 10/100 RST TM PWR ERR Interswitch Link Fabric Connection Figure 3-16 Redundant Fabrics Some dual-attached devices support active-active paths, while others support only active-passive paths. Active-active devices use either output path equally, and thus use both fabrics and double the device bandwidth. Active-passive devices use the passive path only when the active path fails. When deploying redundant fabrics, it is not required that the fabrics be symmetrical. As an example, single-attached devices, such as tape drives and noncritical servers and storage, can be logically grouped and attached to one of the fabrics. Fabric Scalability Businesses are experiencing an unprecedented growth of information and the requirement to maintain that information online. To meet these requirements, Fibre Channel SANs provide the theoretical infrastructure to connect thousands of servers to hundreds of storage devices. To provide enterprise-class performance, scalable fabric designs are required. Refer to Chapter 4, Implementing SAN Internetworking Solutions for detailed information. Planning Considerations for Fibre Channel Topologies 3-39