HP StorageWorks 4000/6000/8000 .HP StorageWorks SAN Design Reference Guide, Pa - Page 63

SAN scaling and routing This section describes two methods for increasing the size of SANs: • Increase the Fibre Channel switch capability within a fabric. • Connect independent fabrics using a Fibre Channel router, Virtual Fabrics with IFR, or VSANs with IVR. Switch scaling The switches that make up fabrics define the fabric limits. This section describes the relationship between switches. Switch scaling limits Adding ports to a fabric means increasing the number of switches in the fabric or increasing the number of ports per switch. For large fabrics, adding ports may not be possible unless the limits for total port count and total switch count are increased. Each Fibre Channel switch product line has its own limits for total port count and switch count. You must ensure that a new or modified SAN design complies with these limits. NOTE: Other limits, such as hop counts and link distances, also apply. For more information, see: • "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 For a SAN design to meet the total port count and total switch count limits, the following configuration restrictions are enforced: • The fabric size limit for total port or total switch count must not be exceeded. • The use of several small switches to reach a high total port count number is not acceptable if the design exceeds the total switch count limit. • The use of several high-port-count switches is not acceptable if the design exceeds the total port count limit. For fabric configurations, HP defines the maximum supported port and switch counts. Fabric services limits Fabric services provide coordination between all switches in a fabric. Increasing fabric size increases the overhead associated with coordination. Fabric services include: • Fabric Login Server • State Change • Notification Server • Name/Directory Server • Zone Server • Key Server SAN Design Reference Guide 63