HP StorageWorks 2/24 FW 07.00.00/HAFM SW 08.06.00 McDATA Products in a SAN Env - Page 97

Planning Considerations for Fibre Channel Topologies 3 Planning for Fabric-Attached Loop Connectivity Public arbitrated loop topology supports the connection of workgroup or departmental FC-AL devices to a switched fabric through any 4300 and 4500 Fabric Switch port active as an E_Port. This topology is well-suited to: • Providing connectivity between a workgroup or departmental SAN and a switched fabric, thus implementing connectivity of FC-AL devices to fabric devices at the core of the enterprise. • Consolidating low-cost Windows NT or Unix server connections and providing access to fabric-attached storage devices. • Consolidating FC-AL tape device connections and providing access to fabric-attached servers. NOTE: For the Sphereon 4300 Switch, E_Port connectivity is not standard and must be configured through an optional product feature enablement (PFE) key Connecting FC-AL Devices to a Switched Fabric Sphereon 4300 and 4500 Fabric Switches provide dynamic connectivity between FC-AL devices and directors or switches participating in a switched fabric. This function allows multiple low-cost or lowbandwidth departmental or workgroup devices to communicate with fabric-attached devices through a high-bandwidth link and provides connectivity as required to an enterprise SAN environment. This approach provides: • Cost-effective FC-AL device connectivity to a switched fabric. A loop switch provides fabric connectivity without incurring true switched fabric costs. • Improved access and sharing of data and computing resources throughout an organization by connecting isolated departmental or workgroup devices to the core data center. Fabric-to-loop connectivity ensures edge servers have access to enterprise storage, and edge peripherals have access to enterprise computing resources. Planning Considerations for Fibre Channel Topologies 3-11