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STORAGE AREA NETWORK
Shyamanta Phukan CS200118268 [2]
Introduction
The Storage Area Network (SAN) technology has
created new methods of attaching storage to servers.
These new methods have enabled great improvements
in both availability and performance of storage devices.
A SAN can be used to bypass traditional network
bottlenecks. It facilitates direct, high speed data transfers
between servers and storage devices.
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STORAGE AREA NETWORK
Shyamanta Phukan CS200118268 [3]
What is a SAN
A SAN is a specialized, high speed network attaching
servers and storage devices.
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STORAGE AREA NETWORK
Shyamanta Phukan CS200118268 [4]
SAN Components
Network Part
Hardware Part
Software Part
Connectivity Part
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STORAGE AREA NETWORK
Shyamanta Phukan CS200118268 [5]
Fabric Operating System Functions

OS Services
FC Services
Simple Name Services
Alias Services
Management Services
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STORAGE AREA NETWORK
Shyamanta Phukan CS200118268 [6]
SAN Configuration
Entry Level
Mid Range:
Production Workloads, Multiple Switches
Enterprise:
Director-level with duplicate paths & Redundancy
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STORAGE AREA NETWORK
Shyamanta Phukan CS200118268 [7]
Hardware Devices
The Fibre Channel Switch
The Fibre Channel standard defines three types of ports:


The F_Port:
Used to attach nodes.

The E_Port:
Used to connect one switch to another switch.

The G_Port:
A generic port that can be presses into service as an F_Port
or as an E_Port depending on the vendors implementation.
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STORAGE AREA NETWORK
Shyamanta Phukan CS200118268 [8]
Hardware Devices
The Fibre Channel Switch (Contd.)
N-Port
N-Port
N-Port N-Port
F-Port F-Port F-Port
F-Port F-Port F-Port
N-Port NL-Port
Disk
Disk Disk
Disk
Disk
FC Switch
Port Configurations
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STORAGE AREA NETWORK
Shyamanta Phukan CS200118268 [9]
Hardware Devices
Storage in SAN
Fibre channel enabled disks comes in two configurations:



JBOD (Just a Bunch Of Disks)


RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks).
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STORAGE AREA NETWORK
Shyamanta Phukan CS200118268 [10]
Hardware Devices
Storage in SAN (Contd.)
JBOD RAID
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STORAGE AREA NETWORK
Shyamanta Phukan CS200118268 [11]
SAN Topologies
The three Fibre Channel topologies are:




Point-to-point


Arbitrated loop


Switched referred to as a fabric
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STORAGE AREA NETWORK
Shyamanta Phukan CS200118268 [12]
SAN Topologies
Arbitrated Loop
Loop protocols
Loop Initialization
Loops
Private Loop
Public Loop
Arbitration
Logins
Port Login
Process Login

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STORAGE AREA NETWORK
Shyamanta Phukan CS200118268 [13]
SAN Topologies
Switched Fabric
Addressing
Fabric Login
Quick Loop
Switching Mechanism
Spanning Tree
Adding new Devices
State Change Notification - SCN Process Login
Registered State Change Notification RSCN
Zoning
Hardware Implemented
Software Implemented

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STORAGE AREA NETWORK
Shyamanta Phukan CS200118268 [14]
SAN Topologies
Switched Fabric (Contd.)
LUN Masking

Cascading

Quick Loop

Hops
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STORAGE AREA NETWORK
Shyamanta Phukan CS200118268 [15]
Conclusion
Network technologies will continue to decouple the traditional computing
configurations into process and storage networks SAN will soon need to
integrate into the continuing evolution of external processing technologies,
such as clustering etc. These technologies will require the SAN to address
the compatibility issues of how the FC network interfaces with these
evolving technologies.

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STORAGE AREA NETWORK
Shyamanta Phukan CS200118268 [16]