McDATA 4314 manual Multiple Chassis Fabrics, Optimizing Device Performance

Multiple Chassis Fabrics

Multiple Chassis Fabrics

By connecting switches together you can expand the number of available ports for devices. Each switch in the fabric is identified by a unique domain ID, and the fabric can automatically resolve domain ID conflicts. Because the Fibre Channel ports are self-configuring, you can connect switches together in a wide variety of topologies.

Optimizing Device Performance

When choosing a topology for a multiple chassis fabric, you should also consider the locality of your server and storage devices and the performance requirements of your application. Storage applications such as video distribution, medical record storage/retrieval or real-time data acquisition can have specific latency or bandwidth requirements.

The switch module provides the lowest latency of any product in its class. Refer to “Performance” on page 2-4for information about latency. However, the highest performance is achieved on Fibre Channel switches by keeping traffic within a single switch instead of relying on ISLs. Therefore, for optimal device performance, place devices on the same switch module under the following conditions:

•Heavy I/O traffic between specific server and storage devices.

•Distinct speed mismatch between devices

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McDATA 4314 Fibre Channel Switch Module Installation Guide