Cisco Systems manual SN 5428-2 Storage Router Overview

Chapter 1 Before Configuring SN 5428-2 Storage Router Software

SN 5428-2 Storage Router Overview

SN 5428-2 Storage Router Overview

The Cisco SN 5428-2 Storage Router provides universal access to storage over IP networks. The storage router software controls the operation of the Cisco SN 5428-2 Storage Router. You can configure the software to provide the following types of access to storage over IP networks:

•SCSI routing only

•Transparent SCSI routing only

•FCIP only

•SCSI routing and FCIP

•Transparent SCSI routing and FCIP

SCSI routing provides IP hosts with access to Fibre Channel (FC) storage devices, using iSCSI protocol. The iSCSI protocol is an IETF-defined protocol for IP storage (ips).

Note For more information about the iSCSI protocol, refer to the IETF standards for IP storage at http://www.ietf.org.

With SCSI routing, storage device access is managed primarily in the SN 5428-2. (See Figure 1-1.)

Figure 1-1 SCSI Routing

FC storage devices

IP hosts

Cisco SN 5428-2

IP

Storage access is managed

in the SN 5428-2.

85720

Transparent SCSI routing provides IP hosts with transparent access to intelligent storage arrays using iSCSI protocol; that is, each IP host is presented as an FC host to an intelligent storage array. With transparent SCSI routing, availability of storage devices is managed primarily in the intelligent storage array. (See Figure 1-2.)

Figure 1-2 Transparent SCSI Routing
IP hosts	Intelligent storage
Cisco SN 5428-2	array
IP	FC

The SN 5428-2	Storage access is
presents each IP host	managed in the
as an FC host to the	storage array.
storage array.

85721

Cisco SN 5428-2 Storage Router Software Configuration Guide

1-2 OL-4691-01