HP StorageWorks 4000/6000/8000 .HP StorageWorks SAN Design Reference Guide, Pa - Page 35

2 SAN fabric topologies This chapter discusses HP standard SAN fabric topologies. It describes the following topics: • Fabric topologies, page 35 • Routed SAN fabrics, page 36 • FCoE SAN fabrics, page 36 • Single-switch fabric, page 36 • Cascaded fabric, page 37 • Meshed fabric, page 39 • Ring fabric, page 40 • Core-edge fabric, page 42 • Topology data access, page 46 • Topology maximums, page 46 • Routed fabric topologies, page 48 • FCoE fabric topologies, page 52 • Data availability, page 53 • Topology migration, page 58 Fabric topologies A SAN fabric topology defines the arrangement of Fibre Channel switches in a fabric. This section describes the HP-supported SAN fabric topologies. There are three approaches to designing a SAN. You can implement: • An HP standard SAN fabric topology design • A subset or variation of an HP standard SAN fabric topology design • A custom SAN fabric topology design Regardless of which approach you use, the SAN design must adhere to the SAN design rules described in the following chapters: • "H-series switches and fabric rules" on page 83 • "B-series switches and fabric rules" on page 93 • "C-series Fibre Channel and FCoE switches and fabric rules" on page 135 • "M-series switches and fabric rules" on page 157 • "SAN fabric connectivity and switch interoperability rules" on page 167 • "Heterogeneous server rules" on page 185 • "MSA storage system rules" on page 235 • "EVA storage system rules" on page 247 • "XP and VA storage system rules" on page 263 SAN Design Reference Guide 35