IBM Fibre Channel storage area network product portfolio
This chapter guides you through the IBM storage area network (SAN) components that are offered through IBM marketing channels. The SAN products are either IBM original equipment manufacturer (OEM) products or IBM is an authorized reseller of the products.
This appendix includes the following sections:
Classification of IBM SAN products
To stay competitive in the global marketplace, the right people must have the right access to the right information at the right time to be effective, creative, and highly innovative. IBM offers a comprehensive portfolio of SAN switches, storage, software, services, and solutions to reliably bring information to people in a cost-effective way. IBM provides flexible, scalable, and open standards-based business-class and global enterprise-class storage networking solutions for the on-demand world.
IBM helps you to align your storage investment with the value of the information by using a wide range of tiered storage options, policy-based automation, and intelligent information management solutions. The IBM SAN portfolio offers the broadest range of storage solutions in the industry (including disk, tape, SAN, software, financial, and services offerings). You can use this portfolio to create long-term solutions that can be tailored to your business needs.
IBM SAN tiered disk, tape, and switch solutions provide various choices to align and move data to cost-optimized storage. This process is based on policies that match the storage solution with the service level requirements (SLAs) and the value of the data in growing environments.
You can confidently protect strategic information assets and efficiently comply with regulatory and security requirements with the unrivaled breadth of storage solutions from IBM. IBM SAN directors and routers provide metropolitan and global connectivity between sites.
IBM solutions are optimized for the unique needs of midsize organizations, large enterprises, cloud computing providers, and other businesses. You can get what you need, which saves time and money. A key benefit of selecting IBM for your next information infrastructure project is access to a broad portfolio of outstanding products and services. IBM offers highly rated, patented technology that delivers unique value.
This chapter does not provide an in-depth analysis of all of the technical details of each product. The intention of this chapter is to introduce the principles and basic components of the SAN environments to a reasonable extent in a way that is easy to understand and follow.
The products are characterized in the following groups:
•Entry SAN switches
•Mid-range SAN switches
•Enterprise SAN directors
•Specialty switches
For more information about other IBM storage products, see the IBM System Storage Solutions Handbook, SG24-5250.
For more information about each product and its market position, see this IBM storage website:
SAN Fibre Channel networking
This section describes the IBM products for Fibre Channel-based (optical) data center networking solutions, starting from entry-level SAN switches to midrange switches up to enterprise SAN directors and multiprotocol routers.
For more information about the latest IBM SAN products, see this website:
Entry SAN switches
Entry-level SAN switches represent easy-to-use preconfigured data center networking solutions for small and medium business environments. IBM offers the following products in this category:
•IBM Storage Networking SAN24B-6
•IBM System Storage SAN24B-5
IBM System Storage SAN24B-6
The IBM Storage Networking Gen 6 SAN24B-6 storage switch provides exceptional value in an entry-level switch that is ideal for small to midsized data centers that uses all-flash or flash hybrid arrays. The SAN24B-6 offers Fabric Vision tools for enhanced setup, management, maintenance, and troubleshooting of the storage network including various device and VM/application latency measurements. The switch, typically included with 16 Gbps transceivers, also supports 32 Gbps optics when leading edge performance is required.
The SAN24B-6 (Figure D-1) is easy to use and install, with a point-and-click user interface that simplifies deployment and saves time with the EZSwitchSetup wizard, featuring a simple user interface that reduces deployment and configuration time and steps.
For maximum flexibility, the switch is configurable with Ports on Demand (PoD) for 8, 16, or 24 ports, and supports 4, 8, 16 or 32 Gbps speeds in an efficient 1U package, with an integrated power supply and four built-in fans. The power supply offers real-time, active power monitoring. SAN24B-6 helps to lower costs, too, with low energy consumption (at 0.10 watts per Gbps and 3.2 watts per port).
The SAN24B-6 is ready for cloud and next generation flash storage. The switch supports multi-tenancy in cloud environments through quality of service (QoS) and fabric-based zoning features and today is NVMe-ready, allowing organizations to seamlessly integrate IBM b-type Gen 6 Fibre Channel networks with next-generation NVMe, without a disruptive rip and replace.
Figure D-1 IBM System Storage SAN24B-6
The SAN24B-6 includes the following features:
•Gen 6 Fibre Channel technology SAN switch
•Energy-efficient Fibre Channel SAN switch configured with 16 or 32 Gbps performance and up to 24 ports in a 1U form factor
•Ports on Demand (PoD) capability for scaling from 12 ports to 24 ports in 8-port increments
•Autosensing of 4 Gbps, 8 Gbps, or 16 Gbps port speeds when using 16 Gbps transceivers, and 8 Gbps, 16 Gbps, or 32 Gbps when using 32 Gbps transceivers
•Dual functionality as a full-fabric SAN switch or an N_Port ID Virtualization (NPIV)-enabled access gateway
•Integrate next-generation flash storage based on non-volatile memory express (NVMe) flash memory with current and future b-type Gen 6 Fibre Channel networks
IBM System Storage SAN24B-5
The IBM System Networking SAN24B-5 switch features Gen 5 Fibre Channel and Fabric Vision technologies, which provide outstanding price-to-performance value in an entry-level switch. The SAN24B-5 gives organizations the flexibility, simplicity, and enterprise-class functions they need to unleash the full potential of high-density server virtualization, cloud architectures, and next-generation storage.
The switch is configurable in 12 ports or 24 ports, and supports 2 gigabits per second (Gbps), 4 Gbps, 8 Gbps, or 16 Gbps speeds in an efficiently designed 1U form factor. The switch includes a single power supply and integrated fans. A second optional power supply provides more redundancy for increased resiliency.
The SAN24B-5 (Figure D-2) provides a critical building block for today’s highly virtualized, private cloud storage environments. The SAN24B-5 can simplify server virtualization and virtual desktop infrastructure management while it meets the high-throughput demands of solid-state disks (SSDs). The SAN24B-5 supports multi-tenancy in cloud environments through quality of service (QoS) and fabric-based zoning features. It can also help minimize downtime in mission-critical environments by delivering high reliability, availability, and serviceability.
Figure D-2 SAN24B-5
The SAN24B-5 includes the following features:
•Gen 5 Fibre Channel technology SAN switch
•Energy-efficient Fibre Channel SAN switch with 16 Gbps performance and up to 24 ports in a 1U form factor
•Ports on Demand (PoD) capability for scaling 12 ports - 24 ports in 12-port increments
•Autosensing of 4 Gbps, 8 Gbps, or 16 Gbps port speeds.
•Dual functionality as a full-fabric SAN switch or an NPIV-enabled access gateway
•Innovative diagnostic, monitoring, and management capabilities through Fabric Vision technology
For more information about entry SAN switches, see this website:
Midrange SAN switches
The IBM Midrange SAN switches provide scalable and affordable small and medium business and enterprise solutions for storage networking.
The category of midrange SAN switches includes the following products:
•Cisco MDS 9396S 16G Multilayer Fabric Switch
•IBM System Networking SAN96B-5
•IBM Storage Networking SAN64B-6
•IBM System Storage SAN48B-5
•Cisco MDS 9148S 16G Multilayer Fabric Switch for IBM System Storage
Cisco MDS 9396S 16G Multilayer Fabric Switch
The Cisco MDS 9396S 16G Multilayer Fabric Switch for IBM System Storage is the latest generation of the highly powerful, dense, and reliable Cisco MDS Series switches. This switch combines high performance with outstanding flexibility and cost-effectiveness. This robust, compact two rack-unit (2RU) switch scales from 48 to 96 line-rate 16 Gbps Fibre Channel ports.
The Cisco MDS 9396S is excellent for the following functions:
•A stand-alone SAN in large departmental storage environment
•A middle-of-the-row or top-of-the-rack (ToR) switch in medium-sized redundant fabrics
•An edge switch in enterprise data center core-edge topologies
Powered by Cisco NX-OS Software and Cisco Data Center Network Manager (DCNM) software, the Cisco MDS 9396S delivers advanced storage networking features and functions that combine with ease of management and compatibility with the entire Cisco MDS 9000 Family portfolio for reliable end-to-end connectivity. Figure D-3 shows the Cisco MDS 9396S.
Figure D-3 Cisco MDS 9396S
The Cisco MDS 9396S includes the following features:
•“Pay-as-you-grow” scalability in a high-density switch that supports up to ninety-six
16 Gbps Fibre Channel ports in a compact, two rack-unit (2RU) form factor.
16 Gbps Fibre Channel ports in a compact, two rack-unit (2RU) form factor.
•Autosensing Fibre Channel ports are provided that deliver up to 16 Gbps of high-speed, dedicated bandwidth for each port.
•Availability boost with In-Service Software Upgrades (ISSU), which enable the switch to be upgraded without affecting network traffic.
•Built-in storage network management and SAN plug-and-play capabilities.
•Virtual SAN (VSAN) technology that is used for hardware-enforced, isolated environments within a physical fabric.
•Extensive set of innovative and powerful security features that are provided in the optional Cisco MDS 9300 Family Enterprise Package.
•Up to 96 autosensing Fibre Channel ports can handle speeds of 2 Gbps, 4 Gbps, 8 Gbps, and 16 Gbps, with 16 Gbps of dedicated bandwidth for each port.
•Base switch includes 48 ports that are enabled.
•Dual-redundant hot-swappable power supplies and fan trays, PortChannels, and F_port channeling.
IBM System Networking SAN96B-5
The IBM System Networking SAN96B-5 switch is a high-density, purpose-built, foundational building block for large and growing SAN infrastructures. This switch provides highly resilient, scalable, and simplified network infrastructure for storage. By delivering market-leading, Gen 5 Fibre Channel technology and capabilities with 16 Gbps performance, the SAN96B-5 meets the demands of growing, dynamic workloads; evolving, virtualized data centers; and highly virtualized private and hybrid cloud storage environments (Figure D-4).
Figure D-4 SAN96B-5
The SAN96B-5 includes the following features:
•Enables “pay-as-you-grow” flexibility by using the Ports on Demand (PoD) feature with speeds up to 16 Gbps
•Provides Ports on Demand (PoD) feature capability and can scale from 48 ports to 96 ports in 24-port increments
•Provides data center-to-data center security and bandwidth savings with up to eight in-flight encryption and compression ports
•Helps maximize application uptime and performance while it helps reduce expenses with ClearLink diagnostic technology (D_ports)
•Offers 2 Gbps, 4 Gbps, 8 Gbps, 10 Gbps, or 16 Gbps speed on all ports
•Dual functionality as a full-fabric SAN switch or an NPIV-enabled access gateway
•Multi-tenancy in cloud environments through Virtual Fabrics, Integrated Routing, QoS, and fabric-based zoning features
•Provides two models with different airflow options
IBM Storage Networking SAN64B-6
The IBM Gen 6 Storage Networking SAN64B-6 switch meets the demands of hyper-scale virtualization, larger cloud infrastructures, and growing flash-based storage environments by delivering market-leading Gen 6 Fibre Channel technology and capabilities of up to 32 Gbps and 128 Gbps port speed.
Figure D-5 shows the IBM Storage Networking SAN64B-6 switch.
Figure D-5 IBM Storage Networking SAN64B-6 switch
The SAN64B-6 switch includes the following features:
•Support for both open systems and FICON for IBM Z environments.
•Gen 6 Fibre Channel switch with 48x32 Gbps performance and up to 48 ports in an energy-efficient, 1U form factor.
•8, 16, and 32 Gbps speed on 48 SFP+ ports, and 128 Gbps on four QSFP ports.
•PoD capability for scaling from 24 to 48 ports in 12-port increments and one Q-Flex POD for four 128 Gbps ports.
•Fabric Vision technology capabilities with IO Insight and VM Insight.
•Integrate next-generation flash storage based on NVMe flash memory with current and future b-type Gen 6 Fibre Channel networks.
•Multitenancy in cloud environments through Virtual Fabrics, Integrated Routing, QoS, and fabric-based zoning features.
•In-flight data compression and encryption.
•Provides two models with different airflow options.
IBM System Storage SAN48B-5
The SAN48B-5 switch meets the demands of hyper-scale, private cloud storage environments by delivering 16 Gbps Fibre Channel technology and capabilities that support highly virtualized environments.
The SAN48B-5 delivers SAN technology within a flexible, simple, and easy-to-use solution. In addition to providing scalability, the SAN48B-5 can address demanding reliability, availability, and serviceability (RAS) requirements to help minimize downtime to support mission-critical cloud environments.
Figure D-6 shows the front view of the IBM System Storage SAN48B-5 16 Gbps Fibre Channel switch.
Figure D-6 IBM System Storage SAN48B-5 fabric switch
The SAN48B-5 includes the following features:
•Support for both open systems and FICON for IBM Z environments
•Performance of 16 Gbps with up to 48 ports in an energy-efficient, 1U enclosure
•Speeds of 2, 4, 8, 10, or 16 Gbps on all ports, producing an aggregate 768 Gbps full-duplex throughput
•In-flight data compression and encryption for efficient link utilization and security
•ClearLink (D_port) feature for physical media diagnostic, troubleshooting, and verification services
•Multi-tenancy in cloud environments through Virtual Fabrics, Integrated Routing, QoS, and fabric-based zoning features
Cisco MDS 9148S 16G Multilayer Fabric Switch for IBM System Storage
The Cisco MDS 9148S 16G Multilayer Fabric Switch for IBM System Storage (Figure D-7) is the latest generation of the highly reliable, flexible, and low-cost Cisco MDS 9100 Series switches. It combines high performance with exceptional flexibility and cost-effectiveness. This powerful, compact one rack-unit (1RU) switch scales from 12 to 48 line-rate 16 Gbps Fibre Channel ports.
The Cisco MDS 9148S is excellent for the following functions:
•A stand-alone SAN in small departmental storage environments
•A top-of-the-rack switch in medium-sized redundant fabrics
•An edge switch in enterprise data center core-edge topologies
Figure D-7 Cisco MDS 9148S for IBM System Storage
The Cisco MDS 9148S includes the following features:
•High performance and flexibility
•High-availability platform
•Up to 48 autosensing Fibre Channel ports that are capable of speeds of 2 Gbps, 4 Gbps, 8 Gbps, and 16 Gbps, with 16 Gbps of dedicated bandwidth for each port
•“Pay-as-you-grow” scalability with 12 - 48 high-performance Fibre Channel ports in a single 1RU switch
•Dual redundant hot-swappable power supplies and fan trays, PortChannels, and F_port channeling
For more information about IBM mid-range SAN switches, see this website:
Enterprise SAN directors
The IBM Enterprise SAN directors provide the data center networking infrastructure with enterprise solutions for the highest availability and scalability.
IBM offers the following enterprise SAN directors through its marketing channels:
•IBM Storage Networking SAN512B-6 and SAN256B-6
•Cisco MDS 9718 Multilayer Director
•Cisco MDS 9710 Multilayer Director
•IBM System Storage SAN768B-2 and SAN384B-2
•Cisco MDS 9706 Multilayer Director for IBM System Storage
IBM Storage Networking SAN512B-6 and SAN256B-6
Designed to meet relentless growth and mission-critical application demands, the IBM Storage Networking SAN512B-6 and SAN256B-6 b-type Gen 6 directors are ideal platforms for large enterprise environments that require increased capacity, greater throughput, and higher levels of resiliency. SAN512B-6 and SAN256B-6 directors with Fabric Vision technology are modular building blocks that combine innovative hardware, software, and built-in instrumentation to ensure high levels of operational stability and redefine application performance.
Fabric Vision technology with Gen 6 features IO Insight and VM Insight enhances visibility into the health of storage environments, delivering greater control and insight to quickly identify problems and achieve critical SLAs.
Breakthrough 32/128 Gbps performance shatters application performance barriers and provides support for more than 1 billion I/O operations per second (IOPS) for flash-based storage workloads.
Figure D-8 shows the SAN512B-6.
Figure D-8 SAN512B-6
Figure D-9 shows the SAN256B-6.
Figure D-9 SAN256B-6
The SAN512B-6 and SAN256B-6 directors include the following features:
•Support for both open systems and FICON for IBM Z environments
•Shatter application performance barriers across 32 Gbps links, and support up to 1 billion IOPS without oversubscription
•Consolidate infrastructure with high-density solutions built with 128 Gbps UltraScale Inter-Chassis Link (ICLs) connectivity for simpler, flatter, low-latency fabrics
•Detect degraded application or device performance with built-in monitoring
•Extend distance and replication with a highly scalable, multiprotocol extension solution
•Integrate next-generation flash storage based on NVMe flash memory with current and future b-type Gen 6 Fibre Channel networks
The IBM b-type Gen 6 Extension Blade includes the following features:
•Accelerates data replication across data centers to meet recovery objectives and secure data flows over distance
•Consolidates Fibre Channel and IP storage replication traffic within a single blade with flexible multiprotocol port connectivity
•Connects more Fibre Channel and IP devices with industry-leading port density and scale-as-you-grow flexibility
•Centralizes management of Fibre Channel and IP extension for storage traffic while extending Fabric Vision technology over distance for greater control and insight
•Extends proactive monitoring and alerting between data centers to automatically detect WAN anomalies and simplify troubleshooting of end-to-end I/O flows over distance, avoiding unplanned downtime
•Provides load balancing and network resilience with Extension Trunking and Adaptive Rate Limiting to increase WAN utilization and protect against WAN link failures
•Achieves always-on business operations with nondisruptive firmware upgrades and maximizes availability with redundant, hot-pluggable chassis components
Cisco MDS 9718 Multilayer Director
Cisco MDS 9718 Multilayer Director for IBM Storage Networking addresses the mounting storage requirements of today’s large virtualized data centers. It has the industry’s highest port density for a SAN director, featuring 768 line-rate 16 Gbps Fibre Channel ports.
Designed to support multiprotocol workloads, MDS 9718 enables SAN consolidation and collapsed-core solutions for large enterprises, reducing the number of managed switches and leading to easy-to-manage deployments. By reducing the number of front-panel ports used on ISLs, it also offers room for future growth.
As a director-class SAN switch, MDS 9718 uses the same operating system and management interface as other Cisco data center switches. It brings intelligent capabilities to a high-performance, protocol-independent switch fabric, delivering uncompromising availability, security, scalability, simplified management, and the flexibility to integrate new technologies. MDS 9718 lets you transparently deploy unified fabrics with Fibre Channel and FCoE connectivity to achieve low total cost of ownership (TCO).
For mission-critical enterprise storage networks that require secure, robust, cost-effective business-continuance services, the Fibre Channel over IP (FCIP) extension module delivers outstanding SAN extension performance. It provides features that reduce latency for disk and tape operations with FCIP acceleration, including FCIP write acceleration and FCIP tape write and read acceleration.
Figure D-10 shows the MDS 9718.
Figure D-10 MDS 9718
The MDS 9718 includes the following features:
•Enables up to 1.5 Tbps of Fibre Channel front-panel bandwidth per module and 768 full line-rate (2/4/8/16 Gbps) autosensing Fibre Channel ports in a single chassis
•Provides up to 768 full line-rate (10 Gbps) autosensing Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) ports in a single chassis
•Provides up to 384 full line-rate (40 Gbps) FCoE ports in a single chassis
•Provides 16 Gbps line rate, non-blocking, and predictable performance across all traffic conditions for every port in the chassis
•Enables large and scalable deployment of SAN extension solutions through the SAN extension module
•Offers nondisruptive software upgrades, stateful process restart and failover, and full redundancy of major components
•Enables migration from SAN islands to enterprise-wide storage networks through virtual SAN (VSAN) technology, access control lists for hardware-based intelligent frame processing, and fabric-wide QoS
•Provides virtual machine transparency
•Provides deterministic hardware performance and a comprehensive feature set that allows virtual machines to have the same SAN attributes as a physical server
•Cisco Data Center Network Manager (DCNM) for SAN provides end-to-end visibility from the virtual machine down to storage
•Supports a comprehensive security framework
•Provides unified SAN management
•Includes built-in storage network management with all features available through a command-line interface (CLI) or DCNM
•Provides sophisticated diagnostics
•Provides intelligent diagnostics, protocol decoding, and network analysis tools; and it provides integrated Call Home capability for added reliability, faster problem resolution, and reduced service costs
•Reduces total cost of ownership
•Accommodates future mission-critical applications, massive amounts of data, and cloud environments
•Features multiprotocol intelligence
•Enables a consistent feature set over a protocol-independent switch fabric
Cisco MDS 9710 Multilayer Director
Cisco MDS 9710 Multilayer Director for IBM System Networking is a director-class SAN switch designed for deployment in large-scale storage networks to enable enterprise clouds and business transformation. Layering a comprehensive set of intelligent features onto a high-performance, protocol-independent switch fabric, Cisco MDS 9710 Multilayer Director for IBM System Networking addresses the rigorous requirements of large, virtualized data-center storage environments. It does so with high availability, scalability, flexibility, security, ease of management, and transparent integration of new technologies.
By adding enterprise connectivity options that support IBM FICON connectivity, MDS 9710 delivers a high performing and reliable FICON infrastructure that supports fast and scalable IBM Z servers. The MDS 9700 platform provides multiprotocol flexibility for SANs delivering 16 Gbps Fibre Channel, 10 Gbps Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE), 40 Gbps FCoE, and 1/10 Fibre Channel over IP (FCIP) capabilities.
This switch enables the transparent integration of new technologies into the data center to provide highly flexible SAN solutions (see Figure D-11).
Figure D-11 MDS 9710
The MDS 9710 includes the following features:
•Delivery of up to 24 Tbps of Fibre Channel backplane bandwidth
•16 Gbps line-rate, non-blocking, and predictable performance across all traffic conditions for every Fibre Channel and FCoE port in chassis
•Deterministic hardware performance and features that allow virtual machines to have the same SAN attributes as physical servers
•Enablement of outstanding levels of availability and reliability
•Comes mainframe-ready, with full support for IBM Z FICON and Fibre Channel protocol (FCP) environments
•Modular, multilayer, highly available, dual supervisor modules with six fabric slots and eight module slots (14RU)
•384 full line-rate (2/4/8/16 Gbps and 10 Gbps) autosensing Fibre Channel ports in single chassis for deployment in both open systems and FICON environments
•384 full line-rate (10 Gbps) autosensing FCoE ports in a single chassis
•192 full line-rate (40 Gbps) autosensing FCoE ports in a single chassis
•48-port 16 Gbps Fibre Channel switching module
•48-port 10 Gbps FCoE switching module
•24-port 40 Gbps FCoE switching module
•24/10-port SAN extension module
•Hot-swappable switching modules, supervisor modules, fans, power supplies, and small form-factor pluggables
•Front-to-back airflow
IBM System Storage SAN384B-2 and SAN768B-2
The IBM System Storage SAN768B-2 and IBM System Storage SAN384B-2 fabric are b-type Gen 5 Fibre Channel directors, highly robust network switching platforms for evolving enterprise data centers.
Built for large enterprise networks, the SAN768B-2 has eight vertical blade slots to provide up to 512 16-Gbps FC device ports. The SAN384B-2 is ideal for midsize core or edge deployments. The SAN384B-2 fabric backbone provides four horizontal blade slots and up to 256 16-Gbps FC device ports. The flexible blade architecture also supports in-flight data compression and encryption, SAN extension advanced functionality for high-performance servers, I/O consolidation, data protection, and disaster recovery solutions.
SAN768B-2 and SAN384B-2 has these characteristics:
•The IBM System Storage Gen 5 Fibre Channel b-type SAN products offer additional advantages beyond performance.
•Low latency and high I/O operations per second (IOPS) performance maximize the number of virtual hosts for each physical server.
•Integrated ISL data compression and encryption offer bandwidth optimization and data protection.
•Compatibility with existing infrastructure minimizes the need to “rip out and replace” equipment.
•Low overhead and low latency eliminate I/O bottlenecks and unleash the full performance of Flash, SSD, and 16 Gbps-capable storage.
•UltraScale chassis connectivity enables higher density and simpler fabrics that reduce network complexity and cost.
•Fabric Vision technology maximizes uptime, optimizes application performance, and simplifies SAN management through innovative diagnostic, monitoring, and management technology.
The SAN768B-2 and SAN384B-2 are efficient at reducing power consumption, cooling, and the carbon footprint in data centers. Although these switches provide exceptional performance and scale, these networking backbones use less than 0.2 watts/Gbps.
Figure D-12 shows the directors.
Figure D-12 IBM System Storage SAN384B-2 (left) and SAN768B-2 (right)
The following blades are available for both models:
•16 Gbps 32-port, 48-port, and 64-port FC switching blades
•Enhanced Extension blade that supports twelve 8-Gbps FC ports and ten 1-Gbps Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) ports, or two optional 10-Gbps GbE ports
The SAN768B-2 and SAN384B-2 include the following features:
•Autosensing 16 Gbps, 8 Gbps, 4 Gbps, and 10 Gbps E_port Fibre Channel ports.
•16 Gbps, 8 Gbps, and 4 Gbps FICON interfaces, FICON with control unit port (CUP) capability.
•One GbE and 10 GbE Fibre Channel over Internet Protocol (FCIP) Ethernet interfaces for Channel Extension.
•Advanced Extension support for FCIP Trunking and Adaptive Rate Limiting.
•FICON Acceleration for XRC (Extended Remote Copy) and Tape R/W pipelining over FCIP.
•Integrated Fibre Channel routing (FCR).
•In-Flight Encryption and Compression at line rate for both FC and FICON E_port links.
•UltraScale Inter-Chassis Links (ICL) that provide up to 64-Gbps Chassis-to-Chassis Optical backplane ports. The SAN768B-2 has 32 x 64 Gbps ICL ports and the SAN384B-2 has 16 x 64 Gbps ICL ports.
Cisco MDS 9706 Multilayer Director for IBM System Storage
Cisco MDS 9706 Multilayer Director for IBM System Storage is a director-class SAN switch that is designed for deployment in small to midsized storage networks that can support enterprise clouds and business transformation (see Figure D-13). It layers a comprehensive set of intelligent features onto a high-performance, protocol-independent switch fabric.
MDS 9706 addresses the stringent requirements of large virtualized data center storage environments. It delivers uncompromising availability, security, scalability, ease of management, and transparent integration of new technologies for extremely flexible data center SAN solutions. It shares the same operating system and management interface with other Cisco data center switches. MDS 9706 lets you transparently deploy unified fabrics with Fibre Channel, FICON, FCoE, and Fibre Channel over IP (FCIP) connectivity for low total cost of ownership (TCO).
For mission-critical enterprise storage networks that require secure, robust, cost-effective business-continuance services, the FCIP extension module delivers outstanding SAN extension performance. It reduces latency for disk and tape operations with FCIP acceleration features, including FCIP write acceleration and FCIP tape write and read acceleration.
Figure D-13 MDS 9706
The Cisco MDS 9706 includes the following features:
•Delivery of up to 12 Tbps front-panel Fibre Channel switching bandwidth
•16 Gbps line-rate, non-blocking, and predictable performance across all traffic conditions for every Fibre Channel and FCoE port in chassis
•Integrated mainframe support
•Deterministic hardware performance and features that allow virtual machines to have the same SAN attributes as physical servers
•Enablement of outstanding levels of availability and reliability
•Modular, multilayer, highly available, dual supervisor modules with six fabric slots and four module slots (9RU)
•192 full line-rate (2/4/8, 4/8/16 Gbps, and 10 Gbps) autosensing Fibre Channel ports in single chassis for deployment in open systems
•192 full line-rate (10 Gbps) autosensing FCoE ports in a single chassis
•96 full line-rate (40 Gbps) autosensing FCoE ports in a single chassis
•48-port 16 Gbps Fibre Channel switching module
•48-port 10 Gbps FCoE switching module
•24-port 40-Gbps FCoE switching module
•24/10-port SAN extension module
•Hot-swappable switching modules, supervisor modules, fans, power supplies, and small form-factor pluggables
•Front-to-back airflow
For more information, see this website:
Specialty switches
The following IBM specialty switches are available:
•IBM System Storage SAN42B-R
•Cisco MDS 9250i Multiservice Fabric Switch
•IBM System Storage SAN06B-R
IBM System Storage SAN42B-R
IT organizations continually face two key issues: The unrelenting growth of data being transferred between data centers and the changes driven by virtualized application workloads within Fibre Channel and FICON storage environments. Also, faced with rising SLA requirements and recovery expectations, enterprise data centers need their disaster-recovery infrastructure to help ensure fast, continuous, and simple access to mission-critical data from anywhere in the world.
The IBM System Storage SAN42B-R extension switch (Figure D-14) is a purpose-built extension solution that securely moves more data faster over distance, while minimizing the impact of disruptions. With enhanced extension capability and Fabric Vision technology, SAN42B-R delivers outstanding performance, strong security, continuous availability, and simplified management. These features enable it to handle the unrelenting growth of data traffic between data centers in Gen 5 and Gen 6 Fibre Channel and FICON storage environments.
In addition, SAN42B-R helps storage administrators replicate and back up large amounts of data over wide area network (WAN) quickly, securely, reliably, and simply while minimizing operational and capital expenses.
Figure D-14 SAN42B-R
The SAN42B-R includes the following features:
•Leading throughput performance and port density required for maximum application throughput over wide area network (WAN) links
•Support for Fibre Channel, IBM FICON, and IP storage traffic over IP links allowing hardware consolidation for open-systems, mainframe, storage, and tape extension solutions
•“Pay-as-you-grow” scalability with capacity-on-demand upgrades
•Extension Trunking for improving load balancing and network resilience against WAN link failure
•Non-disruptive firmware upgrade
•Advanced performance and network optimization features including data compression, disk protocol acceleration, QoS, and storage optimized TCP
•Outstanding insight and visibility across the storage extension network through Fabric Vision technology
•Twenty-four 16 Gbps Fibre Channel ports
•Sixteen 1/10-Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) ports
•Two 40-Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) ports
•Base configuration including a comprehensive set of advanced services and IBM Network Advisor
Cisco MDS 9250i Multiservice Fabric Switch
The Cisco MDS 9250i Multiservice Fabric Switch for IBM System Storage is an optimized platform for deploying high-performance SAN extension solutions, distributed intelligent fabric services, and cost-effective multiprotocol connectivity for open systems and mainframe environments. With a compact form factor and advanced capabilities that are normally available on director-class switches only, the MDS 9250i is an ideal solution for departmental and remote branch-office SANs and large-scale SANs with the Cisco MDS 9710 Multilayer Director.
The MDS 9250i (Figure D-15) offers up to forty 16 Gbps Fibre Channel ports, two 1/10 Gigabit Ethernet IP storage services ports, and eight 10-Gigabit Ethernet FCoE ports in a fixed, two-rack-unit (2RU) form factor. The MDS 9250i connects to native Fibre Channel networks, which protects your current investments in storage networks.
Figure D-15 MDS 9250i
The MDS 9250i includes the following features:
•Hardware-based virtual fabric isolation with VSANs and FC routing with Inter-VSAN Routing (IVR).
•Enterprise-class availability features for departmental SANs.
•Intelligent network services and advanced traffic management capabilities.
•Industry-leading SAN security to support compliance and regulatory requirements.
•Fixed configuration with up to 40 ports of 16-Gbps Fibre Channel and 10 ports of 1/10-Gigabit Ethernet.
•Four-Gbps, 8-Gbps, and 16-Gbps autosensing, optionally configurable port speed.
•Up to 256 buffer-to-buffer credits can be assigned to a single Fibre Channel port to extend storage networks over long distances.
•Hot-swappable, 2+1 redundant power supplies and fans.
IBM System Storage SAN06B-R
The IBM System Storage SAN06B-R extension switch uses advanced Fibre Channel and Fibre Channel over IP (FCIP) technology to provide a fast, highly reliable, cost-effective network infrastructure for remote data replication, backup, and migration. Whether it is configured for simple point-to-point or comprehensive multi-site SAN extension, the SAN06B-R extension switch addresses the most demanding business continuity, compliance, and global data access requirements.
Up to sixteen 8-Gbps Fibre Channel ports and six 1-Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) ports provide the Fibre Channel and FCIP bandwidth, port density, and throughput that are required to help maximize application performance over WAN links (Figure D-16).
Figure D-16 SAN06B-R
The SAN06B-R includes the following features:
•High performance design with up to 8 Gbps Fibre Channel ports and hardware-assisted traffic processing for up to 1 Gbps line-rate performance across GbE.
•Intranet, IP-based metropolitan area network (MAN), or WAN infrastructures for metro and global SAN extensions can be used for business continuity solutions.
•Integrated IBM System Storage SAN b-type switch management helps simplify installation and administration and helps provide fabric investment protection.
•One-unit (1U) 19-inch packaging that is designed for rack mount or tabletop.
•Up to 8 Gbps Fibre Channel ports and up to 1 GbE port.
•Support for 8-Gbps, 4-Gbps, and 2-Gbps Fibre Channel link speeds or 4-Gbps, 2-Gbps, and 1-Gbps Fibre Channel link speeds.
•Speed autosensing capabilities provide compatibility with an earlier version with 4-Gbps, 2-Gbps, and 1-Gbps Fibre Channel links.
•Shortwave and longwave small form-factor pluggables can be intermixed in the same router to meet your unique requirements.
•Full Fabric operation and Universal Port Operation are available on all ports.
•Optional inter-switch link (ISL) trunking is supported on all active ports.
•Hardware-based compression.
•Extensive buffering.
•Integrated routing services.
•SAN isolation from internet, WAN, or MAN failures.
•Scalable remote-site fan-in.
•Hardware-based encryption.
•Internet Protocol Security (IPSec).
•Write acceleration for fast replication performance.
For more information about these products, see this website:
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