IBM 86596ry Setup Guide - Page 14

Multiple clusters in a switched fabric environment IBM SAN Fibre Channel switches enable high-performance, highly scalable SAN with multiple clusters to be created. The following illustration shows a SAN with four-port grouping (for redundancy) supporting a two-node cluster that enables the configuration to accommodate multiple clusters. This type of configuration helps reduce downtime and enables unencumbered access to storage through partitioning. Use of 16-port switches (versus the 8-port displayed in the figure) can increase port count and the number of servers or FAStT500 RAID storage. FC host adapter FC host adapter FC switches FC host adapter FC host adapter FAStT500 RAID controller unit Host side Drive side Mini-hub Ctrl Mini-hub A Mini-hub Ctrl Mini-hub B Mini-hub Mini-hub Mini-hub Mini-hub EXP500 Loop1 Loop2 IN OUT IN OUT IN OUT Loop1 IN OUT Loop2 Figure 5. Multiple clusters in a switched fabric environment Note: Each group of four ports on the switches (gray dash box) can support one cluster element (black dash box). Storage partitioning is used to separate clusters. Sixteen port switches enable more clusters, provided this fits within performance needs and available partitions. 6 IBM Fibre Channel: Basic SAN Configuration Setup Guide