EMC FC4500, FC5300, FC5700 Fibre Channel Storage Components

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EMCFib re Channel Storage-System Configuration Planning

About Fibre Channel Storage Systems and Networks (SANs)

Fibre Channel Storage Components

A Fibre Channel storage system has three main components:

•Server component (host-bus adapter driver package with adapter

and software)

•Interconnect components (cables based on Fibre Channel

standards, switches, and hubs)

•Storage components (storage system with storage processors —

SPs — and power supply and cooling hardware)

The host-bus adapter driver package includes a host-bus adapter and

support software. The adapter is a printed-circuit board that slides

into an I/O slot in the server’s cabinet. It transfers data between

server memory and one or more disk-array storage systems over

Fibre Channel — as controlled by the support software (adapter

driver).

One or more servers can use a storage system. For high availability —

in event of an adapter failure — a server can have two adapters.

Depending on your server type, you may have a choice of adapters.

The adapter is designed for a specific host bus; for example, a PCI bus

or SBUS. Some adapter types support copper or optical cabling; some

support copper cabling only.

The interconnect components include the cables, Fibre Channel

switch (for shared storage), and Fibre Channel hub (for unshared

storage).

Cables Depending on your needs, you can choose copper or optical cables.

EMC1803

Adapter

Server