Brocade Communications Systems 5300 manual Enterprise-Class Availability For Business Continuance

have deployed virtual server environments require higher levels of connectivity for consolidation and higher levels of performance to cost-effectively meet the demands of virtual data centers.

The Brocade 5300 utilizes ASIC technology featuring eight 8-port groups. Within these groups, an Inter-Switch Link (ISL) trunk can supply up to 64 Gbit/sec of balanced data throughput. In addition to reducing congestion and increasing bandwidth, enhanced Brocade ISL Trunking utilizes ISLs more efficiently to preserve the number of usable switch ports.

The density of the Brocade 5300 uniquely enables fan-out from the core of the data center fabric with less than half the number of switch devices to manage compared to traditional 32- or 40-port edge switches (see Figure 1). When deployed as a core SAN fabric switch, the 80-port Brocade 5300 provides a single-switch core footprint that is ideal for SAN fan-out using lower- density Brocade switches. This single- domain solution enables highly efficient server and storage consolidation, reducing the total number of domains to manage in the fabric.

ENTERPRISE-CLASS AVAILABILITY FOR BUSINESS CONTINUANCE

The Brocade 5300 provides a reliable SAN foundation by employing enterprise-class availability features such as hot-swappable, redundant fan and power supply assemblies. Moreover, hot code load and activation help maximize application uptime with faster system upgrades and maintenance to reduce the dependency on scheduled outages. Combined with a wide range of diagnostic and monitoring functions, these capabilities help provide a highly available SAN environment.

To support SAN extension, the Brocade 5300 enables servers and storage devices to reside up to 600 kilometers apart, allowing organizations to create highly available, high-performance clustered systems that support the most sophisticated business continuance and disaster recovery initiatives.

ADAPTIVE NETWORKING SERVICES

The Brocade 5300 utilizes Brocade Adaptive Networking services, a suite of tools for optimizing fabric behavior and ensuring ample bandwidth for mission-critical applications. These tools currently include QoS, Ingress Rate Limiting, Traffic Isolation, and Top Talkers.

By assigning zones a high, medium, or low priority, QoS allocates bandwidth in the event of congestion to expedite high-priority traffic and keep all traffic flowing. Ingress Rate Limiting restricts data flow from less- critical hosts at preset bandwidths. Traffic Isolation assigns high-bandwidth data flows to specific ISLs. And Top Talkers measures the top bandwidth-consuming traffic in real time for a specific physical or virtual device, or end to end across the fabric.

SUPERIOR ROI AND

INVESTMENT PROTECTION

The Brocade 5300 enables organizations to use 4 Gbit/sec SFPs today and upgrade to

8 Gbit/sec SFPs, so they can fully leverage their existing IT resources and seamlessly incorporate new capabilities as necessary. To protect investments in operational training and management, organizations can monitor and manage the Brocade 5300 with fabric-wide applications such as Brocade Data Center Fabric Manager (DCFM™).

INTEGRATED ROUTING

As an option for connecting switches in a fabric, the Brocade 5300 provides Fibre Channel Integrated Routing capabilities. Integrated Routing leverages the latest generation of Brocade ASICs to provide native Fibre Channel Routing on a per-port basis rather than limiting routing to special-purpose routing switches. Integrated Routing uses EX_Ports to import/export devices between fabrics, enabling selective device sharing while maintaining remote fabric isolation for higher levels of scalability and fault isolation.

OPEN SAN MANAGEMENT

By networking Fibre Channel switches such as the Brocade 5300 under a common platform, Fabric OS simplifies management through standard interfaces and support for third-party management applications. The Brocade 5300 supports switch management through a command line interface, Brocade Web Tools, or Brocade DCFM.

To facilitate deployment, the Brocade 5300 integrates easily into heterogeneous environments with operating systems such as Windows, UNIX, Linux, Solaris, and AIX, as well as virtual server environments. It is also designed to provide FICON support on a flexible port-by-port basis in IBM System z environments. FICON-ready capabilities include FICON intermix modes, cascaded FICON fabrics, and CUP support for monitoring tools.

HIGHER FABRIC SECURITY FOR CRITICAL INFORMATION

The Brocade 5300 is designed for the highest level of fabric security to help organizations safeguard their critical information. It utilizes Brocade Advanced Zoning as well as advanced port and switch Access Control Lists (ACLs) to simplify administration and significantly increase control over data access. To simplify management access security, the Brocade 5300 supports Active Directory with LDAP.

MAXIMIZING INVESTMENTS

To help optimize technology investments, Brocade and its partners offer complete solutions that include education, support, and services. For more information, contact a Brocade sales partner or visit www.brocade.com.