IBM z/OS - page 20

FICON cascaded directors have the added value of high

integrity connectivity. New integrity features introduced

within the FICON Express channel and the FICON cas-

caded switch fabric to aid in the detection and reporting

of any miscabling actions occurring within the fabric can

prevent data from being delivered to the wrong end point.

FICON cascaded directors are offered in conjunction with

IBM, CNT, and McDATA directors.

FICON Bridge Channel

Introduced ﬁ rst on the 9672 G5 processors, the FICON

Bridge (FCV) channel is still an effective way to use FICON

bandwidth with existing ESCON control units. FICON

Express LX channel cards in FCV (FICON Converted)

Mode of operation can attach to the 9032 Model 005

ESCON Director through the use of a director bridge card.

Up to 16 bridge cards are supportable on a single 9032

Model 005 with each card capable of sustaining up to

eight concurrent ESCON data transfers. 9032 Model 005

ESCON Directors can be ﬁ eld upgradeable at no charge

to support the bridge cards, and bridge cards and ESCON

cards can coexist in the same director.

FCP Channels

zSeries supports FCP channels, switches and FCP/SCSI

disks with full fabric connectivity under Linux on zSeries

and z/VM Version 4 Release 3 and later for Linux as a

guest under z/VM. Support for FCP devices means that

zSeries servers will be capable of attaching to select FCP/

SCSI devices and may access these devices from Linux

on zSeries. This expanded attachability means that enter-

prises have more choices for new storage solutions, or

may have the ability to use existing storage devices, thus

leveraging existing investments and lowering total cost of

ownership for their Linux implementation.

For details of supported FICON and FCP attachments

access Resource Link at ibm.com/servers/resourcelink

and in the Planning section, go to z890/z990 I/O Connec-

tion information.

The support for FCP channels is for Linux on zSeries and

z/VM 4.3 and later for Linux as a guest under z/VM. Linux

may be the native operating system on the zSeries server

(note z990 runs LPAR mode only), or it can be in LPAR

mode or, operating as a guest under z/VM 4.3 or later. The

z990 now provides support for IPL of Linux guest images

from appropriate FCP attached devices.

Now, z/VM V5.1 supports SCSI FCP disks enabling the

deployment of a Linux server farm running under VM con-

ﬁ gured only with SCSI disks. With this support you can

install, IPL, and operate z/VM from SCSI disks.

The 2 Gbps capability on the FICON Express channel

cards means that 2 Gbps link speeds are available for

FCP channels as well.

Two site non-cascaded director

topology. Each CEC connects to

directors in both sites.

Two Site cascaded director

topology. Each CEC connects to

local directors only.

With

Inter Switch Links (ISLs),

less fiber cabling may be needed

for cross-site connectivity

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