Fibre Channel Connectivity, Native FICON Channels

Fibre Channel Connectivity

The on demand operating environment requires fast data access, continuous data availability, and improved ﬂ exibil- ity all with lower cost of ownership. zSeries Fibre Channel Connectivity can help you achieve these goals.

Native FICON Channels

Native FICON channels and devices can help to reduce bandwidth constraints and channel contention to enable easier server consolidation, new application growth, large business intelligence queries and exploitation of e-business.

Currently, the IBM Enterprise Storage Server® (ESS) models F20 and 800 have two host adapters to support native FICON. These host adapters each have one port per card and can either be FC 3021 for long wavelength or FC 3032 for short wavelength on the F10/F20 or FC 3024 for long wavelength and 3025 for short wavelength on the 800. All three models can support up to 16 FICON ports per ESS. The Model 800 is 2 Gb link capable. The IBM TotalStorage® Enterprise Tape Controller 3590 Model A60 provides up to two FICON interfaces which can coex- ist with ESCON on the same box. The IBM TotalStorage Enterprise Tape Controller 3592-J70 which provides up to four FICON interfaces which can exist with ESCON on the same box. The 3592-J70 is designed to provide up to 1.5 times the throuput of the Model A60. Customers can utilize IBM’s highest capacity, highest performance tape drive to support their new business models.

Many Fibre Channel directors provide dynamic connec- tivity to native FICON control units. The IBM 2032 models 001, 064 and 140 (resell of the McDATA ED-5000, and Intrepid 6000 Series Directors) are 32-, 64- and 140-port high availability directors. The IBM 2042 models 001, 128

and 256 (resell of the CNT (FC/9000 Directors) are 64-, 128- and 256-port high availability directors. All have fea- tures that provide interface support to allow the unit to be managed by System Automation for OS/390. The McDATA Intrepid 6000 Series Directors and CNT (FC/9000 Direc- tors) FC/9000-001/-128/-256 support 2 Gbps links as well.

The FICON Express features support attachment to the IBM M12 Director (2109-M12). The IBM M12 Director sup- ports attachment of FICON Express channels on the z890 via native FICON (FC CHPID type) and Fibre Channel Protocol (FCP CHPID type) supporting attachment to SCSI devices in Linux environments.

Wave Division Multiplexor and Optical Ampliﬁ ers that sup- port 2 Gbps FICON Express links are: Cisco Systems ONS 15530 and 15540 ESP (LX, SX) and optical ampliﬁ er (LX, SX), Nortel Networks Optera Metro 5100, 5200 and 5300E and optical ampliﬁ er, ADVA Fiber Service Platform (FSP) 2000 system, and the IBM 2029 Fiber Saver.

The raw bandwidth and distance capabilities that native FICON end-to-end connectivity has to offer makes them of interest for anyone with a need for high performance, large data transfers or enhanced multi-site solutions.

FICON CTC function

Native FICON channels support CTC on the z990, z900, z890 and z800. G5 and G6 servers can connect to a zSeries FICON CTC as well. This FICON CTC connectivity will increase bandwidth between G5, G6, z990, z900, z890 and z800 systems.

Because the FICON CTC function is included as part of the native FICON (FC) mode of operation on zSeries, FICON CTC is not limited to intersystem connectivity (as