INSPEED™ SAN STORAGE SWITCH MODEL 355 CHAPTER 3 SWITCH MANAGEMENT
USER’S GUIDE
45
Load Balancing
Load balancing builds on the Automatic Trunking functionality by specifying the path that the data uses
to flow between multiple switches. Users can manage the switch’s aggregate bandwidth by manually
distributing traffic across multiple cascade ports as shown below. A cascade port is a port that is
attached to another switch of the same type and configured as a String or Tree Cascade Smart Setting
on the Port Smart Settings page. All data flows through the primary cascade, unless the switch is
configured differently.
In Figure 3-24, host 1 uses cascade port 1, while host 2 uses cascade port 2. All traffic will use the
lowest numbered (primary) cascade port by default but ports may be configured to use other cascades.
Load balancing configuration settings are available on the Web Manager’s Load Balancing page. Before
implementing load balancing on the switch, the automatic trunking settings must be configured. See
“Automatic Trunking” on page 44 for additional information.
To view the Load Balancing page:
Click Advanced Functions > Load Balancing.
Note: Cascade ports must be properly configured before load bal ancing will work.
Note: When tape drives or tape libraries are included in multiple switch configura tions incorporating
multiple trunks, place the tape drive or tape library and any devices that access those devices
on the secondary (duplicate) trunk, not the primary trunk.
Figure 3-24: Load Balancing Across Multiple Cascade Ports