EMC FC4700 About Switched Shared Storage and SANs (Storage Area Networks)

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About Switched Shared Storage and SANs (Storage Area Networks)
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About Fibre Channel FC4700 Storage Systems and Storage Networks
About Switched Shared Storage and SANs (Storage Area
Networks)
This section explains the features that let multiple servers share
disk-array storage systems on a SAN (storage area network).
A SAN is one or more storage devices connected to servers through
Fibre Channel switches to provide a central location for disk storage.
Centralizing disk storage among multiple servers has many
advantages, including
•highly available data
•flexible association between servers and storage capacity
•centralized management for fast, effective response to users’ data
storage needs
•easier file backup and recovery
An EMC SAN is based on shared storage; that is, the SAN requires
EMC Access Logix to provide flexible access control to
storage-system LUNs. Within the SAN, a network connection to each
SP in the storage system lets you configure and manage it.
Figure1-8 Components of a SAN
Fibre Channel switches can control data access to storage systems
through the use of switch zoning. With zoning, an administrator can
specify groups (called zones) of Fibre Channel devices (such as
EMC1810
Adapter Adapter
Server
Adapter Adapter
Server
Adapter Adapter
Server
Storage system
SP A SP B
Storage system
SP A SP B
Path 1
Path 2
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