McDATA Sphereon 4300 Specifications download pdf (Page 104)

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McDATA Products in a SAN Environment - Planning Manual

Planning Considerations for Fibre Channel Topologies

• Heterogeneous fabric - Vendor interoperability in the fabric

environment is supported; therefore, fabric elements can include

directors, fabric switches, and open-fabric compliant products

supplied by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). To

determine if interoperability is supported for a product or if

communication restrictions apply, refer to the supporting

publications for the product or contact McDATA.

• Number of ISLs - The Intrepid 6064 Director supports 48 ISLs.

The Intrepid 6140 Director supports 140 ISLs. The Intrepid 10000

Director supports seven ISLs per optical paddle pair. Sphereon-

class switches support a maximum ISL count equal to half the

number of Fibre Channel ports available on the product. For

redundancy, at least two ISLs should connect any pair of

director-class fabric elements.

• Hop count - The Fibre Channel theoretical limit of ISL

connections traversed (hop count) in a single path through the

fabric is seven. The tested and verified hop count limit is three.

NOTE: The hop count is equal to the number of ISL connections

traversed in a single path, not the total number of ISL connections

between devices. As shown in Figure 3-11, the number of ISL connections

between switch S1 and S2 is four, while the number of hops is one.

Factors to Consider

When Implementing

a Fabric Topology

Director and switch-based fabrics offer scalable, high-performance,

and high-availability connectivity solutions for the enterprise. To

enable a multiswitch fabric, all fabric elements must be defined to the

SAN management application and must be physically cabled to form

the requisite ISL connections. In addition, it is recommended that

each director or switch in the fabric be assigned a unique preferred

Domain_ID. When planning to implement a fabric topology, consider

the following connectivity and cabling best practices:

• Physical characteristics and performance objectives - Most

enterprises have unique configurations determined by the

characteristics of end devices, fabric elements, cost, and the

installation’s performance objectives (such as high data transfer

rate or high availability). These factors, along with nondisruptive

growth and service requirements, must be evaluated when

planning an initial fabric. For additional information, refer to

General Fabric Design Considerations.

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