Q-Logic 16HA user manual Choosing a Topology

Introduction

Choosing a Topology

The topology you choose depends on the following major fabric requirements:

•The size of the fabric (number of user ports required),

•The amount of latency the users can tolerate (number of chassis hops and interconnection media delay between the source port and the destination port),

•The bandwidth between chassis (the number of T_Port paths between inter- connected chassis),

•The physical distances required between users in a “campus” distributed fabric verses a centrally located fabric.

•MKII compatibility. SANbox switch fabrics support MKII switches as IO/T chassis in mesh and Multistage topologies.

These topics are discussed for each topology later in this section.

NOTE:

In order to set up a multi-chassis fabric you are required to select a topology, cable the chassis together, and configure each chassis.

Configuration consists of assigning a stage type to a chassis which tells it which function it is to perform (IO/T or CC). In the case of a Cascade or Mesh topology, all chassis are the default stage type (IO/T). A Multistage switch consists of IO/T and CC chassis. For addressing purposes, you must also assign a Chassis Number to each chassis.

Refer to“Cascade Topology” on page 5-5,“Mesh Topology” on page 5-9, and “Multistage Topology” on page 5-12for information about choosing a fabric topology. After choosing the fabric topology, refer to “Cabling” on page 5-17and “Chassis Configuration” on page 5-18for the remaining instructions.

SANbox-16HA Fibre Channel Switch		Multi-Chassis Fabrics 5-3
Installer’s/User’s Manual	59005-03 Rev. A