INSPEED™ SAN STORAGE SWITCH MODEL 355 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
USER’S GUIDE
1
CHAPTER 1INTRODUCTION
This guide is designed to provide users with the necessary information to install and manage the
InSpeed™ SAN Storage Switch Model 355 for use in Fibre Channel applications in typical entry-level
Storage Area Networks (SANs).
OVERVIEW
The InSpeed™ SAN Storage Switch Model 355 is designed for entry-level Storage Area Networks
(SANs), which provide the following advantages over direct attached storage:
• Greater application availability
• Higher performance between servers and storage devices
• Improved storage asset utilization
• Lower storage management and support costs
• Incremental scalability to keep up with difficult to estimate storage growth
This switch is ideal for storage pooling and consolidation, high-performance shared tape library backup
and recovery, server clustering, and streaming rich media applications.
Enclosed in a 1U, half-rack form factor enclosure, the switch is built around the InSpeed™ SOC 320 and
is controlled by firmware loaded into the on-board Flash.
The switch is designed as a central interconnect following the ANSI FC-AL standard. Devices are
connected to the switch through Small Form-factor Pluggable (SFP) transceivers and cables. Each
attached node has 1 or 2 Gigabits per second (Gb/s) of Fibre Channel bandwidth. The switch operates
at full switching bandwidth that reaches speeds of 4 Gb/s per port and up to 48 Gb/s of aggregate
bandwidth.
Complete switch configuration and management is available through the intuitive, graphical-based Web
Manager interface. A variety of network configurations are easily established using the switch’s Port
Smart Settings, One-Step Zoning, Automatic Trunking, and Load Balancing features. In addition, the
switch features granular change notification management, retained system configuration parameters,
and a Command Line Interface (CLI) for advanced users.
Overview......................................................................1
Features ......................................................................2
InSpeed™ Technology.................................................2
Switch Applications......................................................3
Note: Important safety, electromagnetic compatibility, and regulatory information is contained in the
Safety & Regulatory Guide
. The installation and use of this product must be i n accordance with
the information provided in that guide.