HP StorageWorks 8/80 HP StorageWorks Fabric OS 6.2 administrator guide (5697-0 - Page 373

A simple metaSAN can be constructed using an FC router to connect two or more separate fabrics. Additional FC routers can be used to increase the available bandwidth between fabrics and to provide redundancy. Figure 61 shows a metaSAN consisting of a host in Edge SAN 1 connected to storage in Edge SAN 2 through a backbone fabric connecting two FC routers. ISL FC router FC router EX_Port EX_Port Backbone fabric IFL IFL E_Port Edge SAN 1 Edge SAN 2 E_Port = LSAN Figure 61 Edge SANs connected through a backbone fabric • Phantom domains A phantom domain is a domain emulated by the Fibre Channel router. The FC router can emulate two types of phantom domains: front phantom domains and translate phantom domains. For detailed information about phantom domains, see "Phantom domains" on page 372. Proxy devices An FC router achieves interfabric device connectivity by creating proxy devices (hosts and targets) in attached fabrics that represent real devices in other fabrics. For example, a host in Fabric 1 can communicate with a target in Fabric 2 as follows: • A proxy target in Fabric 1 represents the real target in Fabric 2. • Likewise, a proxy host in Fabric 2 represents the real host in Fabric 1. The host discovers and sends Fibre Channel frames to the proxy target. The FC router receives these frames, translates them appropriately, and then delivers them to the destination fabric for delivery to the target. The target responds by sending frames to the proxy host. Hosts and targets are exported from the edge SAN to which they are attached and, correspondingly, imported into the edge SAN reached through Fibre Channel routing. Figure 62 illustrates this concept. Fabric OS 6.2 administrator guide 371