BCSD in A Nutshell - 1 Edition: Objective

BCSD IN A NUTSHELL 1
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2005 Brocade Communications Systems, Incorporated.

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Welcome to our first edition of BCSD in a Nutshell.

Objective: We've put this guide together to help you prepare for the BCSD certification exam
number 143-240. This exam tests SAN design skills using the following Brocade products:
SilkWorm 2000-series switches running Fabric OS v2.6.2
SilkWorm 3200 and 3800 switches running Fabric OS v3.1.2
SilkWorm 3250, 3850, 3900, 12000, and 24000 switches running Fabric OS v4.2.0
SilkWorm Multiprotocol Routers running XPath OS v7.1.0
All licensed (software) features in XPath OS v7.1.0 and Fabric OS v2.6.2, v3.1.2, and v4.2.0

Audience: This self-study guide is targeted for those who have attended the CSD 261 Brocade
Certified SAN Designer web-based training course, and who wish to undertake self-study or review
activities before taking the actual BCSD test. It is also for those individuals who do not have the time
to attend the formal training, but who still wish to be certified as a BCSD. It is not intended as a
substitute for classroom training, and hands-on time. We still highly recommend you attend the CSD
261 Brocade Certified SAN Designer web-based training course.

Usage: This guide summarizes the key topics on the BCSD exam for you in an easy-to-use format.
It is organized closely around the exam objectives. Use the Table of Contents, List of Tables, and
List of Figures to quickly jump to a given area.

We hope you find this guide useful in your journey towards BCSD Certification, and we welcome
your feedback.

Dr. Linda Moss
Director of Education

Joe Cannata
Certification Manager

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
List of Tables............................................................................................................................................. 3
List of Figures............................................................................................................................................ 4
1 Assessing SAN Requirements........................................................................................................... 5
1.1 Addressing Customer Needs with SAN Applications ................................................................. 5
1.2 Collecting Information about the Current SAN Environment ...................................................... 6
1.3 Collecting Information about the Future SAN Environment...................................................... 11
2 Creating the SAN Design................................................................................................................. 13
2.1 Design Techniques for Improved Manageability ...................................................................... 13
2.2 Evaluating Availability............................................................................................................... 15
2.3 Design Techniques for Improved Availability............................................................................ 17
2.4 Evaluating Performance ........................................................................................................... 18
2.5 Design Techniques for Improved Performance........................................................................ 20
2.6 Attaching Devices for Availability and Performance................................................................. 21
2.7 Design Techniques for Improved Scalability ............................................................................ 22
2.8 Evaluating Hop Count Violations.............................................................................................. 24
2.9 Selecting Long-Distance SAN Components............................................................................. 25
2.10 Selecting Brocade Switches.................................................................................................. 28
2.11 Selecting the Zoning Implementation.................................................................................... 31
3 Documenting and Deploying the SAN Design................................................................................. 32
3.1 Defining the Data Center Interface Plan................................................................................... 32
3.2 Integrating the SAN Within the Network Management Infrastructure ...................................... 33
3.3 Implementing the MAN/WAN Infrastructure ............................................................................. 35
3.4 Documenting the Switch and Fabric Configuration .................................................................. 35
3.5 Documenting the Logical SAN Design ..................................................................................... 37
3.6 Documenting the Physical SAN Design ................................................................................... 38
3.7 Creating the SAN Migration Plan.............................................................................................. 39
3.8 Documenting the SAN and Fabric Management Applications ................................................. 41
3.9 Documenting Growth Plans...................................................................................................... 41
4 Optimize and Tune a Deployed SAN Architecture........................................................................... 42
5 Taking the Test ................................................................................................................................ 43
6 Terms and Definitions...................................................................................................................... 46

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LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Collecting Information about the Current SAN Environment Security ................................... 10
Table 2: Edge Switch Selection and Scalability...................................................................................... 29
Table 3: Core Switch Selection and Scalability....................................................................................... 30
Table 4: Rack Layout .............................................................................................................................. 38
Table 5: Wiring Diagram ......................................................................................................................... 39

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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: SAN Design for Effective SAN Management........................................................................... 15
Figure 2: Evaluating Availability Resilient vs. Non-Resilient Fabrics................................................... 16
Figure 3: Evaluating Availability Redundant SAN Example................................................................. 16
Figure 4: Improving Scalability Topology Selection............................................................................. 22
Figure 5: Improving Scalability Wide-Area SANs................................................................................. 23
Figure 6: Evaluating Hop Count Definition........................................................................................... 24
Figure 7: Selecting Long-Distance SAN Components Fibre Channel ................................................. 26
Figure 8: Selecting Long-Distance SAN Components MAN/WAN and Gateway Switches................. 27
Figure 9: Selecting Long-Distance SAN Components MAN/WAN and Multiprotocol Routers ............ 28
Figure 10: Planning a SilkWorm-Populated LAN Reference Architecture (SLRA) ................................. 33
Figure 11: Documenting the Logical SAN Design................................................................................... 37
Figure 12: Introduction Screen................................................................................................................ 43
Figure 13: Non-disclosure Agreement .................................................................................................... 44
Figure 14: Sample Question ................................................................................................................... 45

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1 ASSESSING SAN REQUIREMENTS
1.1 ADDRESSING CUSTOMER NEEDS WITH SAN APPLICATIONS
Fibre Channel-based Storage Area Networks (SANs) have four characteristics suitable to a wide
variety of business applications and initiatives:
1. Improved connectivity better sharing, utilization, and scalability
2. Improved availability better up-times, supports DR
3. Dedicated infrastructure for data movement centralizes management
4. Improved bandwidth better performance and scalability
There are a number of SAN-enabled applications:
Server consolidation - Applications are migrated to fewer, larger, faster servers
Storage applications May include consolidation; also includes improved utilization and data
sharing
Backups - Sophisticated applications move data to tape storage systems using the SAN, not
the LAN/WAN
High-availability applications (clustered servers) - Essential parts of any 24/7/365 solution
o Handles hardware problems cleanly
o Transfers control to still-functioning assets
Disaster tolerance (remote data replication, mirroring) - Keep data not only at a local site, but
also at a remote site
Performance Improve data rates and response times
Security Needs Ensure that specified servers can access specified storage; provide
improved access security
Scalability Allow the solution to add servers and storage over time without having to take
costly downtime for network reconfigurations
SAN-enabled applications leverage the following SAN characteristics:
Server consolidation and storage applications
o Improved connectivity (fan-in)
o Improved FC bandwidth (vs. SCSI)
o Improved availability
o Better utilization of servers
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Backups
o Off-load existing WAN/LAN infrastructure
o Avoid IP stack for better performance
o Provide an infrastructure better suited to large-block I/Os
o Provide long-distance connectivity to facilitate remote site operations
High-availability applications
o Highly-available data network
o Easier sharing of storage
o Better long-distance connectivity for clusters
Disaster tolerance
o Fibre Channel high-availability features
o Longer-distance storage access through the SCSI driver (better performance)
o Can also migrate data through a server between different storage vendor products
Performance
o Improved Fibre Channel bandwidth (vs. SCSI)
o SilkWorm switch features (trunking)
Security needs
o Fabric zoning ensures that servers access only the storage to which they are granted
access
o FC-FC Routing extended device access security across fabrics
o Secure Fabric OS provides physical and management security
Scalability
o High-port-count Fibre Channel directors and switches support expandable fabric
topologies
1.2 COLLECTING INFORMATION ABOUT THE CURRENT SAN ENVIRONMENT
Before creating a SAN design, collect information that details the current SAN environment:
Facilities
Data and Application Availability
SAN Infrastructure
Performance
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SAN-Enabled Applications
Security
Servers
LAN Infrastructure
Disk Storage
Multiprotocol Infrastructure
Tape Storage
For each SAN in the current environment, collect the following facilities information:
Customer Info
o Customer name and location
o Technical contact (SE, support)
o Region
Environmental
o Power
o Cooling
o Rack space
Geographic requirements (per location)
o Data center(s) and distances between them
o Cage(s), Communication closet, nearby Fibre Channel rings/pulls/patch panels (as
needed)
o Long-distance communication components, protocols and topologies
For each fabric in the current environment, collect the following SAN infrastructure information:
Number of user ports
Number of total ports
Switch types and counts
Fabric OS revision(s)
Topology (Core/Edge, Mesh, etc.)
Maximum hop count
SilkWorm feature licenses
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For each SAN in the current environment, collect the following SAN infrastructure information:
Number of fabrics in SAN
Number of sites in environment
Expected growth rate
For each SAN in the current environment, document the SAN-enabled applications:
Server consolidation
Storage consolidation and storage utilization
High availability
Backup Needs
Disaster tolerance
Performance
Security Needs
Scalability
For each server in the current environment, collect the following information:
Server system: Name, manufacturer, and model
Operating system: Type, revision level (including patches, service packs, etc.)
Ethernet: Requirements with I/O Profile
Host bus adapters (HBAs): Quantities, manufacturer, model, driver revision and I/O Profile
Software applications
Disk storage: Storage source, amount, growth rate, connection points, disk/LUN/volume count
Tape storage: Selected library and drive(s), speed
SAN issues: Multi-pathing, SAN security
Physical location
For each disk storage system in the current environment, collect the following information:
Storage system: Name, manufacturer, and model
Connections: Count, media (Cu/SW/LW/ELW), connector (SC/LC/HSSDC2), type
(loop/fabric), I/O profile
Storage capacity: Usable capacity, capacity in use
SAN issues: Remote mirroring, SAN security
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Physical location
If possible, obtain the server-to-storage map (LUNs in use)
For each tape storage system in the current environment, collect the following information:
Storage system: Name, manufacturer, and model
Drives: Count, type, media (Cu/SW/LW/ELW), connector (SC/LC/HSSDC2)
Storage capacity: Tape capacity
Physical location
Backup software and architecture
Backup hardware: Manufacturer, SCSI-to-FC bridges, tape capacity
Backup schedule: Full/incremental, timing, duration, data quantities (per server, per backup)
Storage support: Live data volumes? Snapshots or split mirrors?
If possible, obtain the server-to-storage map (tape drives in use)
For each SAN in the current environment, document the data access requirements:
Downtime maximums Both for unplanned and planned downtime
Datapath definitions Resilient (multi-path per fabric) or Redundant (multi-fabric per SAN)
If applicable, Service Level Agreement (SLA) requirements
For each application in the current environment, document the uptime/downtime, and maintenance
window requirements
For each SAN in the current environment, collect the following performance information:
Bandwidth Maximum data rate through a device
o Best-suited for measuring large I/O application performance
I/Os per second Proxy of transactions per second
o Best-suited for measuring small I/O application performance
SAN Latency Time to move data through a SAN
o Includes switch latencies (2 s or less) and cable latencies (5 ns per meter or less)
o Does not include latencies in servers or storage systems
o Best suited for measuring long-distance SAN solution performance
Response Time Total time to fetch data to a user
o Equals SAN latency plus latencies in server hardware, storage system, operating
system, and application
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o Best suited for measuring small I/O applications performance
Identify peak and sustained performance thresholds
o Peak: Driven by end-of-cycle, Web events, etc.; usually the worst-case scenario
o Sustained: Often far lower than the peak; average-case scenario
Collect the current SAN performance data in a table
o When will the peak(s) occur?
o Backups usually create peaks
o Allow more bandwidth in proportion to increasing numbers of simultaneously occurring
peaks
o Changing peak times can better distribute required peak performance, reducing the
final cost of the solution
For each SAN in the current environment, collect the following security-related information:
Volume Management
Multipathing
Host Level
HBA Drivers (persistent binding)
Hard Zoning
Fabric Level
Secure Fabric OS
Selective LUN Presentation
Storage Level
LUN Security

Table 1: Collecting Information about the Current SAN Environment Security
For each SAN in the current environment, collect the following LAN infrastructure information:
Management
o Reserved IP addresses for SAN-attached devices
o Are these addresses on a separate VLAN or subnet?
o Application bandwidth needs
Data
o Connectivity needs for SAN gateway switches or FCIP
o Speed and distance requirements over the MAN and WAN
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For each metaSAN in the current environment, collect the following multiprotocol infrastructure
information:
FCIP Tunneling Service
o IP addresses
o Distances
o MAN/WAN connection details
iSCSI Gateway Service
o iSCSI hosts and FC storage
o LAN interface
o Application and performance information
FC-to-FC Routing
o Number of front domains per edge fabric
o Number of translate domains per edge fabric
o Number of real domains (i.e. switches) per edge fabric
o Number of total domains per edge fabric (physical domains + front domains + translate
domains)
o Number of local and remote devices per edge fabric
o Number of imported devices per edge fabric
o Number of edge fabrics connected to a routed fabric
o Number of Fibre Channel routers per routed fabric
o Maximum number of hops between switches
1.3 COLLECTING INFORMATION ABOUT THE FUTURE SAN ENVIRONMENT
For the future SAN environment, collect the same information as for the current SAN environment:
Facilities
SAN Infrastructure
SAN-Enabled Applications
Servers
Disk Storage
Tape Storage
Data and Application Availability
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Performance
Security
LAN Infrastructure
Multiprotocol Infrastructure
In addition to collecting information on these familiar topics, collect information on two new
categories for each SAN in the future environment:
Growth and Future Initiatives
o Time interval for changes: Next 12 months, the next 12-24 months
o Maximums:
Server count
Site-to-site connections
Storage capacity (disk and tape)
o When changes will be made during maintenance windows only, or at any time?
o Physical planning: In each rack, how much space is dedicated to future cabling?
Planning Details
o Customer schedule: target time for pilot, first implementation, any information relating
to the timeline of the SAN project
o Switch vendor and SAN partners: identifies potential component, firmware conflicts
o Support providers for all components
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2 CREATING THE SAN DESIGN
2.1 DESIGN TECHNIQUES FOR IMPROVED MANAGEABILITY
Follow these SAN design techniques to improve the physical manageability of the implemented
SAN:
Determine whether you plan to design for high locality or low locality
o High locality: Pre-allocate ports on a quad basis for ISLs, servers, and storage; not
easy to maintain over time
o Low locality: Attach devices to physically-local switches
As port counts rise, consider using switches with greater port density
o Pro: Reduces rack space
o Con: Cable management is important
In dual-fabric SANs, attach servers, storage, switches, and Multiprotocol Routers
symmetrically
o Same ports on similar switches in each fabric
o Make long-term growth easier to plan and manage
To ensure effective cable management, follow these best practices:
Label each end of the cable with a removable label that identifies the source and destination
Bundle cables together in groups of four whenever possible to simplify physical management:
o Bundle the cables with wraps, wire ties, or Velcro every 18 to 24 inches
o Can vastly improve the ability to isolate a bad cable and remove it with minimal impact
In a high-density environment, use a combination of thinner patch cables, patch panels,
and bundled cables:
o Can be effective in a static environment
o Do not design a dynamic high-density system
Use the correct length cable to avoid overbending a fibre optic cable past the minimum
recommended bend radius
Try to separate ISL cables and device cables
Use horizontal guides or cable trays to route cables to the edge of a rack:
o Cable guides are available in a variety of heights (0U, 1U, and 2U)
o Minimum: one set of cable guides per pair of switches/servers/storage systems
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o When installed, the cable guide should not hinder the removal of a device
Use vertical guides or cable trays to route cables to the correct height
When using cable guides, make sure to feed the cable into the guide properly
In multi-mode applications, do not mix 50 micron and 62.5-micron cables
Keep patch panels clean and all ports capped
Unused cables should be bagged and capped to protect them
To ensure effective cable management, follow these SilkWorm Director-specific techniques:
Leave at least one meter of slack for each fiber optic cable:
o Provides room to remove and replace the port card
o Allows for inadvertent movement of the rack
o Prevents cables from being bent to less than the minimum recommended bend radius
Route cables down along the front of the card to which they are connected:
o Prevents having to disconnect them when neighboring cards are replaced
o Do not route across adjacent cards or in front of the power supplies
Use the Cable Pillars provided with the rack kits to bundle the fiber optic cables from each
quad of ports:
o Help keep individual ports accessible by keeping the cables evenly spaced
o Also help to provide clearance for the replacement of a port card or CP card
Use Velcro wraps (not tie wraps) to bundle the cables on a per-card basis
Use the cable management tray to route the bundled fiber optic cables, Ethernet cables, and
any serial cables down the front of the chassis
The power cord requires a minimum service loop of six inches at the switch
Route the power cables to each side of the switch instead of through the cable
management tray
Keep the chassis door closed to protect cables from inadvertent movement
To ensure effective long-term SAN maintenance, designate one switch as the Primary
Management Switch:
All fabric management performed on this switch
In a fabric using Secure Fabric OS, this switch is the Primary FCS; in a non-secured fabric,
select the Core switch
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To ensure that the Primary Management Switch is also the Principal Switch, designate it as a
Preferred Principal Switch with the fabricprincipal switch
Designate one or more additional switches as Preferred Principal Switches to create Backup
Management Switches

Figure 1: SAN Design for Effecti ve SAN Management
2.2 EVALUATING AVAILABILITY
The following concepts are used to evaluate the availability of a Fabric:
Single point of failures (SPOFs): Any component (hardware or software) that, if failed, results
in server(s), storage, and/or switch(es) disconnected from the fabric
o ISLs, ports, switches, HBAs, storage ports, fabric itself
Resilient Fabrics: A Fibre Channel fabric in which there are no SPOFs
o Implication always at least two paths between any two switches
Comparing a resilient fabric with a non-resilient fabric:
The fabric on the left is resilient, as no switch or ISL is a SPOF
The fabric on the right is non-resilient, as Switch B is a SPOF for traffic flowing between
Switch A or C and Switch D
Primary
Management
Switch
Backup
Management
Switch
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Figure 2: Evaluating Availability Resilient vs. Non-Resilient Fabrics
A Redundant SAN is a SAN comprised of two resilient fabrics, with the following characteristics:
No SPOFs: Each server has at least 2 HBAs; each storage system has at least 2 storage
ports; each server and storage system is connected to both fabrics
Essential for long-term maintenance test new actions of one fabric while maintaining data
access through the second fabric
Makes each fabric resilient to survive hardware, software, user, site failures
Important even with highly-available SilkWorm Directors (12000 and 24000)

Figure 3: Evaluating Availability Redundant SAN Example
SPOF =
Switch B
Switch D
Switch A
Switch C
Resilient Fabric
Non-Resilient Fabric
Switch 4 Switch 3
Switch 2 Switch 1
Switch 2A
Switch 4A
Switch 1A
Switch 3A
Resilient Fabric A
Switch 2B
Switch 4B
Switch 1B
Switch 3B
Resilient Fabric B
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2.3 DESIGN TECHNIQUES FOR IMPROVED AVAILABILITY
To improve SAN availability, follow these basic techniques:
A well-connected SAN should avoid single points of failures (SPOFs)
o Ensures that single hardware or software faults do not cause the SAN to fail
Create a redundant SAN solution, comprised of two resilient fabrics
o No SPOFs: Each server has at least 2 HBAs; each storage system has at least 2
storage ports; each server and storage system is connected to both fabrics
o Essential for long-term maintenance test new actions of one fabric while maintaining
data access through the second fabric
o Makes each fabric resilient to survive hardware, software, user, site failures
o Important even with highly-available SilkWorm Directors (12000 and 24000)
To improve SAN availability, use these additional SilkWorm director-specific techniques:
With dual-fabric designs that include the SilkWorm 12000, ensure best availability by designing
for only one Fabric per SilkWorm 12000 chassis
o Better ability to survive environmental hazards
o Protects against propagation of firmware faults and chassis-level operator errors
Two fabrics per chassis should be considered only on an exceptional basis
o Single-chassis SilkWorm Directors offer the highest availability; examples:
o The SilkWorm 24000 as one logical 128-port switch
o One logical SilkWorm 12000, or two logical SilkWorm 12000s connected by ISLs
The most highly-available topology is a dual-core Core/Edge fabric
o Each Core is a SilkWorm 24000 Director
o Each SilkWorm 24000 Director deployed in a separate chassis
A Core/Edge topology with only one Core Director is more likely and acceptable
o Should be deployed in a redundant SAN
o Not recommended for single-fabric SANs
To improve metaSAN availability, use these additional techniques:
Attach each fabric in a redundant fabric SAN to a separate Backbone Fabric in a redundant
Routed Fabric
o Corollary: Avoid attaching both fabrics in a redundant fabric SAN to the same
Backbone Fabric
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Attach each Edge Fabric resiliently to the Backbone Fabric, with more than one IFL
o Ensures that an IFL failure does not impact fabric-to-fabric routing
o For the highest levels of availability, create redundant Routed Fabrics
Use two Backbone Fabrics per Routed Fabric
o Attach each Edge Fabric to each Backbone Fabric with at least one IFL
2.4 EVALUATING PERFORMANCE
The Brocade method for quantifying the potential for network contention within a fabric is the ISL
oversubscription ratio:
For each switch, the ratio of the bandwidth needed by HBAs to the bandwidth available on the
ISLs
With all 2 Gbit/sec devices and switches, (# servers attached to the switch) / (# ISLs)
A more qualitative SAN performance measure is device locality:
Local A server is connected to the same switch as the storage that it accesses
o Can be achieved with careful planning
o Not realistic to maintain over time
o Focus on servers that need highest-levels of performance
Remote A server is connected to a different switch as the storage that it accesses
o Simplifies current and future planning
o Need techniques to monitor ISL contention over time
To manage traffic flowing between SilkWorm switches and Directors, follow these basic
techniques:
Load sharing If there are two or more equal-cost paths between Brocade switches, each
server is assigned one of the equal-cost paths
o Is done at the server level, not the frame level
o Can result in overloaded or underloaded paths in a fabric
o Available on all Brocade switches
Trunking - If there are two or more equal-cost paths between switches, each frame is routed
to the first available equal-cost path
o Requires 2 Gbit/sec SilkWorm switches, special licenses, specific port selections
o Up to four ISLs per trunk up to 8 Gbit/sec per trunk
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To measure SAN performance, there are these additional quantitative measures; each is best
suited to evaluate different performance conditions:
Bandwidth Maximum data rate through a device
o Best-suited for measuring large I/O application performance
I/Os per second Proxy of transactions per second
o Best-suited for measuring small I/O application performance
SAN Latency Time to move data through a SAN
o Includes switch latencies (2 s or less) and cable latencies (5 ns per meter or less)
o Does not include latencies in servers or storage systems
o Best-suited for measuring long-distance SAN solution performance
Response Time Total time to fetch data
o SAN latency plus latencies in server hardware, storage system, operating system, and
application
o Best-suited for measuring small I/O applications performance
To measure metaSAN performance, use these basic techniques, both based on SAN performance
techniques:
The Brocade method for quantifying the potential for network contention within a metaSAN is
the IFL oversubscription ratio
o Similar to the ISL oversubscription ratio used in evaluating SAN performance
o Used in fabric-to-fabric routing examples with the Multiprotocol Router
o For each router, the ratio of the bandwidth needed by Edge Fabrics to the bandwidth
available on the IFLs
o With all 2 Gbit/sec devices and switches, (# servers attached to the switch) / (# ISLs)
Fabric Locality Whether a host and storage are attached to the same Edge Fabric
o High fabric locality Traffic kept local to the Edge Fabric
o No fabric locality IFLs are used for traffic
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2.5 DESIGN TECHNIQUES FOR IMPROVED PERFORMANCE
To enhance SAN performance, follow these basic techniques:
To provide sufficient bandwidth between switches, many successful SAN designs start with an
ISL oversubscription ratio of 7:1
o One ISL per SilkWorm 3200/3250 switch
o Two ISLs per SilkWorm 12000/24000 16-port card or SilkWorm 3800/3850 switch
o Four ISLs per SilkWorm 3900 switch
o High-performance SANs or conservative designs may consider an ISL
oversubscription ratio of 3:1
Locality Leverages internal bandwidth; requires lots of planning
o Focus locality on the largest servers: Large-bandwidth, streaming applications through
100 MBytes/sec or 200 MBytes/sec HBAs and storage
Adding ISLs Increases switch-to-switch bandwidth
o If possible, leverage trunking
o Watch port counts
To enhance SAN performance, there are additional switch-specific techniques:
Eight- and sixteen-port 2 Gbit/sec Edge switches - Allocate ports for ISLs, servers, and
storage on a quad basis
o Quad: Group of four 2 Gbit/sec switch ports; color-coded on the switch or port card
o If possible, leave other ports in the quad open for performance or scaling growth
SilkWorm 3900 Edge switches - Allocate ISL ports from quads on opposite corners on the
same switch
o Leverages internal connections between port hardware
o For locality, seek to use ports within the same octet (neighboring quads)
SilkWorm 12000 and 24000 Edge switches - Allocate one quad per Port Card for ISLs
o Use different quads on each Port Card (allocate diagonally)
Core switches - All ports are for ISLs
o If the Edge switches are dedicated to servers or storage only, leverage
quad/octet/diagonal strategies as seen earlier
When connecting an Edge switch to a Core Director:
o Edge switch does not support trunking first connect an ISL to a separate quad on a
different port card, then re-use quads
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o Edge switch does support trunking form one trunk, then create additional trunks
To enhance metaSAN performance, focus on the IFL Oversubscription Ratio:
Connect at a 15:1 IFL oversubscription ratio (one IFL per SilkWorm Multiprotocol Router)
Provision for a 7:1 IFL oversubscription ratio (two IFLs per SilkWorm Multiprotocol Router)
For resiliency, connect each Edge Fabric to each Backbone Fabric with at least two IFLs
2.6 ATTACHING DEVICES FOR AVAILABILITY AND PERFORMANCE
When attaching devices to a SAN, follow these topology-specific rules:
Cascade, Ring: Maximize server-storage locality
o ISLs mainly for Fabric management not for data traffic
o To determine locality: Check the collected data; for each storage system, you should
know which servers must be accessed
Full Mesh: Locality is preferred
o Still relatively few ISLs, so beware of ISL oversubscription
Core/Edge: Servers and storage should be attached to Edge switches
o All I/Os pass through the Core switches, increasing the number of equal-cost data
paths
o With SilkWorm 3900 and 12000 as Core switches or when there are no growth plans,
can add storage to the Core this limits scalability
When attaching devices to a SAN, follow these SilkWorm switch-specific rules:
To best leverage locality on different SilkWorm switches, connect servers and storage as
follows:
o Eight-port and sixteen-port switches: Same quad
o SilkWorm 3900: Same octet
With the SilkWorm 3900 and 12000, use locality to limit congestion from high-performance
servers and storage
o Servers and storage that intercommunicate localize on the same SilkWorm 3900
octet or SilkWorm 12000 quad
o Servers and storage that do not intercommunicate mix with lower-performance
servers and storage across several quads/octets
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When attaching devices to a SAN, follow these SilkWorm Director-specific rules:
For the best locality, connect servers and storage to the same quad on the same Port Card
For high-performance servers, use locality to limit congestion:
o Servers and storage that intercommunicate localize on the same quad
o Servers and storage that do not intercommunicate mix with lower-performance
servers and storage across several quads
For best availability, distribute devices and ISLs across different Port Cards
o Advantage: Limits the impact of the failure (or removal) of a 16-port card
o Caution: Can increase impact of storage planning on I/O traffic; for ISLs, limits trunking
For best performance, connect devices and ISL to the same Port Card
o To ensure high availability, distribute the ISLs across at least two 16-port cards
o With multiple ISLs on a port card, concentrate them on the same quad
2.7 DESIGN TECHNIQUES FOR IMPROVED SCALABILITY
For SAN solutions with plans for growth and more than four switches per fabric, Brocade
recommends the Core/Edge topology
Provides the best mix of scalability, performance, and availability
The SilkWorm 3900,12000, and 24000 make mesh-based topologies more efficient
Other options Single Switch, Full Mesh

Figure 4: Improving Scalability Topology Selection
Core Edge
Full Mesh
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When designing a wide-area SAN (that spans a wide area/campus), plan carefully:
Cable runs may be expensive reduce them by co-locating smaller Edge switches with
storage or servers
In the data center, use higher-port count, higher-availability switches

Figure 5: Improving Scalability Wide-Area SANs
All SAN and metaSAN designs must remain within the following scalability limitations:
Per standalone, non-Routed Fabric:
o Up to 34 total domains (Fabric OS v3.x and v4.x switches only)
o Up to 1280 switch ports, 1200 SAN devices without Security enabled
Per Routed Fabric:
o Up to 6 Edge Fabrics attached to a single Routed Fabric
o Up to 6 SilkWorm Multiprotocol Routers
Per Edge Fabric:
o Up to 1000 imported devices
o Up to 1280 total devices
o Up to 31 physical switches
o Up to 8 front domains
o Up to 6 translate domains
o Up to 58 total domains
For LSANs:
Building B Building A
Data Center
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o Each Routed Fabric can have up to 1000 LSAN zones and 3000 LSAN device
entries
o Up to 200 entries per LSAN zone
2.8 EVALUATING HOP COUNT VIOLATIONS
There are two important data path evaluation definitions:
Path One of many possible switch-to-switch connections that could be used to move data
between a server and storage
o Five paths between Switch 1 and Switch 4
Hop Moving from one switch to another along a path
o Switch 1 -> Switch 4: one hop
o Switch 1 -> Switch 2 -> Switch 4: two hops
o Switch 1 -> Switch 3 -> Switch 4: two hops
o Switch 1 -> Switch 2 -> Switch 3 -> Switch 4: three hops
o Switch 1 -> Switch 3 -> Switch 2 -> Switch 4: three hops

Figure 6: Evaluating Hop Count Definition
For hop counts, follow these design rules:
Within a fabric: no more than seven hops (Fabric OS v2.6.2, v3.1.2, v4.2.0)
Across a MetaSAN (including both Edge Fabrics and the Routed Fabric): no more than seven
hops (Fabric OS v2.6.2, v3.1.2, v4.2.0; XPathOS v7.1.0)
Switch 4 Switch 3
Switch 2 Switch 1
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2.9 SELECTING LONG-DISTANCE SAN COMPONENTS
Follow these rules to select Fibre Channel SAN components:
For distances greater than 10 km and less than 100 km, connect SilkWorm switches or
Directors using Fibre Channel
Cables and SFPs: Select cables and SFPs appropriate for the link distance
o Up to 300 m: SWL SFPs and multimode (50 or 62.5 ) optical cables
o Up to 10 km: LWL SFPs and single-mode (9 ) optical cables
o Up to 80 km: ELWL SFPs and single-mode optical cables
For a single long-distance connection, use a Fibre Channel link extender to ensure good
signal strength
With multiple long-distance signals, reduce the number of long-distance links with a
Course-Wave Division Multiplexer (CWDM) or a Dense-Wave Division Multiplexer
(DWDM)
Switch/Director: Install an Extended Fabric license on the bookend switches/Directors, and
set the appropriate long-distance mode on the port
o Level 0 (L0): Up to 5 km
o Level E (LE): Up to 10 km
o Level 0.5 (L0.5): Up to 25 km (Fabric OS v3.1/4.1 and higher)
o Level 1 (L1): Up to 50 km
o Level 2 (L2): Up to 60 km @ 2 Gbit/sec (100 km @ 1 Gbit/sec)
o Level Dynamic (LD): Dynamic buffer allocation - up to L2 distances (Fabric OS
v3.1/4.1 and higher)
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Figure 7: Selecting Long-Distance SAN Components Fibre Channel
Follow these rules to select long-distance Gateway Switch components:
For distances over 100 km, connect SilkWorm switches and Directors through an IP-based
MAN/WAN network via two gateway switches
o Gateway switch: Converts the Fibre Channel data transmitted by the SilkWorm switch
port into ATM, FCIP, or SONET-formatted data
o SilkWorm switches and Directors connected through Gateway Switches are merged
into a single fabric
Switch/Director: Depends on the Fabric OS release on the switch
o In Fabric OS v2.x, v3.x, and v4.x, use a Remote Switch license to make long-distance
connections through a WAN gateway
o Fabric OS v3.1 and v4.1 simplifies gateway connections with the new, non-licensed
ISL R_RDY Mode
Check Core PID settings carefully on all switches in the fabric
ISL R_RDY Mode does not currently support Extended Fabrics, or the Security
features in Secure Fabric OS
o When determining switch count maximums, include the switches connected to both
gateways
SWL or LWL
SWL or LWL SWL or LWL
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Figure 8: Selecting Long-Distance SAN Components MAN/WAN and Gateway Switches
Follow these rules to select long-distance Multiprotocol Router components:
For distances over 100 km, connect SilkWorm switches and Directors through an IP-based
MAN/WAN network via two SilkWorm Multiprotocol Routers supporting the Fibre Channel-
over-IP (FCIP) protocol
o The SilkWorm Multiprotocol Router tunnels FC traffic through a TCP/IP network via
the FCIP protocol by encapsulating FC frames into IP packets
o SilkWorm switches and Directors connected through Multiprotocol Routers via FCIP
are merged into a single fabric
Switch/Director: Must have Fabric OS v3.1 and v4.1 or higher
o When determining switch count maximums, include the switches connected to both
gateways
Fibre
Channel
Fibre
Channel
Gateway A Gateway B
TCP/IP
Network
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Figure 9: Selecting Long-Distance SAN Components MAN/WAN and Multiprotocol Routers
2.10 SELECTING BROCADE SWITCHES
Within a SAN design, ensure that SilkWorm switches, Directors, and Multiprotocol Routers play the
appropriate roles:
SilkWorm 12000 and 24000 (64+ ports) Core Switch
o Core or Edge switch for the largest fabrics
o Core or Edge switch for ultra high-availability servers/storage/fabrics
o At the Core of campus-wide solutions (tying together SAN islands)
o As a single switch for a smaller, mission-critical SAN
SilkWorm 3900 (32 ports) Multiple FC functions
o Edge switch in large SAN solutions
o Core switch for smaller, mission-critical SANs
o Core or Edge switch for very high-availability servers/storage/fabrics
o Building block for smaller SANs reduce switch counts
o As a single switch for a smaller SAN
SilkWorm Multiprotocol Router (16 ports) Multiple protocols or metaSANs
o Connect SAN islands or share devices with fault isolation (FC Routing)
o Attach iSCSI servers
o Connect devices over greater-than-FC distances (FCIP)
Fibre
Channel
Fibre
Channel
TCP/IP
Network
Router A Router B
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o Basic FC switch functionality (Layer 2)
SilkWorm 3800 and 3850 (16 ports) Small SANs
o Edge switch in any SAN solution
o Core switch for smaller SANs
o SilkWorm 3800: Better FRU availability
o SilkWorm 3850: Better firmware maintainability, lower cost
SilkWorm 3200 and 3250/3252 (8 ports) Small, low-cost SANs
o Best for small, low-cost SAN solutions small clusters, workgroups, small tape backup
SANs
To ensure good scalability in Edge switches, follow these guidelines:
Up to 500 ports in a Fabric: Use any SilkWorm 2000-series, 3000-series, 12000, or 24000
switch
Up to 750 ports in a Fabric: Use any SilkWorm 3000-series, 12000, or 24000 switch
Up to 1800 ports in a Fabric: SilkWorm 3900, 12000, and 24000 switches only

Edge Switch Recommendations
(Number of user ports per fabric)

1-96 97-224 225-500 501-750 751-1792
SilkWorm 2000-series
Excellent Very Good Good NOT
SUPPORTED
NOT
SUPPORTED
SilkWorm 3200, 3250,
3800, 3850
Excellent Very Good Good Good Not
Recommended
SilkWorm 3900
Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent
SilkWorm 12000,
24000
Table 2: Edge Switch Selection and Scalability
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To ensure good scalability at the Core, follow these guidelines:
Below 225 ports in a Fabric: Use any SilkWorm 2000-series, 3000-series, 12000, or 24000
switch
Above 225 ports in a Fabric: SilkWorm 12000 or 24000 Director is recommended
Core Switch Recommendations
(Number of user ports per fabric)
1-96 97-224 225-500 501-750 751-1792
SilkWorm 2000-series
Good Good Not Recommended NOT
SUPPORTED
NOT
SUPPORTED
SilkWorm 3200, 3250,
3800, 3850
Very Good Very
Good
Not Recommended Not
Recommended
Not
Recommended
SilkWorm 3900
Very Good Very
Good
Not Recommended Not
Recommended
Not
Recommended
SilkWorm 12000, 24000

Table 3: Core Switch Selection and Scalability
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2.11 SELECTING THE ZONING IMPLEMENTATION
The maximum size of the Zoning database varies with Fabric OS release, and may affect the overall
size of the zoning database in the actual fabric:
Fabric OS v2.X, v3.1: 96 KB
Fabric OS v3.0, v4.0, v4.1, v4.2: 128 KB
Across the fabric, Zoning database size = smallest maximum size of any switch in the fabric
To maximize the number of ports that the Zoning database can support, follow these guidelines:
Zones should include no more than one HBA, but can include multiple storage elements
Limit alias, zone, and configuration names to 16 characters or less
Monitor the size of the Zoning database with the cfgSize command
Routinely review the Zoning configuration, and remove unused aliases, zones, and
configurations
To improve the security of the SAN design, follow these guidelines:
If security is a priority, you should use hardware-enforced zoning
o SilkWorm 2000 Series - <domain, port> zone members
o SilkWorm 3200, 3250, 3800, 3850, 3900, 12000, and 24000 switches - All WWN or all
< domain, port > zones
o Mix of these switches - <domain, port> zone members
The use of aliases is optional with zoning
o Pro: zone aliases aid administrators to understand zoning structure and context
o Caveat: using zone aliases requires structure when defining zones; uses space in the
zoning database
If additional security is required, add Brocade Secure Fabric OS into the fabric
o Limit physical or management access to the fabric
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3 DOCUMENTING AND DEPLOYING THE SAN DESIGN
3.1 DEFINING THE DATA CENTER INTERFACE PLAN
SAN design documentation includes a data center interface plan, which is comprised on the following
information:
Leverage the data collected during the SAN assessment phase to ensure power and cooling
requirements of all devices are met
A physical SAN layout diagram
Location of equipment in each rack:
o WAN devices
o Coarse/dense wave division multiplexers (CWDM/DWDM)
o SilkWorm switches and Multiprotocol Routers
o Servers
o Storage
Cooling and air flow information
Cable infrastructure:
o Fibre Channel: cable management scheme (vertical and horizontal); cable labeling
scheme; patch panels
o Ethernet drops, cables, and patch panels
o Analog phone lines (modem connections)
o Serial terminal server connections
Power sources: voltage, frequency, amperage, etc.
Disaster readiness information:
o Seismic ratings
o Fire suppression and management
o UPS details
o On-site generators
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3.2 INTEGRATING THE SAN WITHIN THE NETWORK MANAGEMENT
INFRASTRUCTURE
To integrate the SAN within the network management infrastructure, follow these basic
guidelines:
When connecting SilkWorm switches to the network management infrastructure (IP-based
network), create a SilkWorm-Populated LAN Reference Architecture (SLRA) dedicated to
connecting and protecting the SAN environment
o Connect each fabric in a dual-fabric SAN to a separate VLAN or LAN
o For further segregation, place all switches within each fabric in a separate VLAN
o Can also attach Ethernet-managed storage as well
When connect the VLANs to the Enterprise network, protect the SilkWorm switches:
o Filter our broadcast and multicast packets (Router)
o Ensure that the switches are secure from network attacks (Firewall, Network ACL,
VLAN ACL)
Shown below - three dual-fabric SANs (three A fabrics, three B fabrics) integrated within the network
management infrastructure:
All Fabric A switches are connected to one VLAN
All Fabric B switches are connected to a second VLAN
The VLANs are then connected to the Enterprise network through a Router and a Firewall

Figure 10: Planning a SilkWorm-Populated LAN Reference Architecture (SLRA)
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Integrate the serial and IPFC interfaces within the network management infrastructure by following
these additional techniques:
The serial interface is an effective backup when the LAN interface or the network is non-
functional
o Very helpful for managing IP addresses and troubleshooting network related issues
Network management can be made more highly-available by constructing a separate
management infrastructure by connecting each serial port to a terminal server
o Ensures that devices are always reachable remotely, no matter what happens to the
Ethernet interface
o The terminal server connectivity can be achieved by configuring a Brocade switch with
serial cables to access the console port of every switch in the SAN
o Terminal server also avoids the need for configuring backup scenarios, such as
modems on auxiliary ports for every device
o A single modem could be configured on the auxiliary port of the terminal server,
providing dial-up service to the other devices during a network connectivity failure
All Brocade switches can receive IP traffic using IP-over-FC (IPFC)
o Requires HBAs to support IPFC
o Pro: fewer Ethernet ports, and thus less space for Ethernet switches and associated
management; considerable savings for large fabrics
o Con: with a single Ethernet connection into the fabric, there is a single-point-of-failure
o Note: Brocade does not recommend in-band management via a single Ethernet
interface that acts as a gateway to the other switches in a fabric
Plan for the following cables and IP address information to connect the SAN to the network
management infrastructure:
For each switch, Router, or Director CP card, have the following cables available:
o 1 Ethernet cable (2 for the Multiprotocol Router)
o 1 serial cable/console connection
o 1 serial modem cable (Director CP cards only)
Request and document the following network-related information from Network
Administrators:
o IP addresses: 1 per non-chassis switch, 3 per SilkWorm 24000, 4 per SilkWorm
12000
o Speed/duplex settings of network Ethernet switches
o Switch and gateway IP addresses for Directors must be in the same subnet to
ensure correct high-availability failover
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3.3 IMPLEMENTING THE MAN/WAN INFRASTRUCTURE
Follow these basic guidelines to integrate the metaSAN within the network management
infrastructure:
Document the same information about MAN/WAN devices as you do about other SAN
devices:
o WAN/MAN device information (like switch spreadsheet)
o Physical location
o Connection port information
o Configuration information
Additionally, document and plan for MAN/WAN cable requirements:
o No Multiprotocol Router (MPR), less than 100 km - ELWL GBIC/SFPs, WDMs, or link
extenders; Extended Fabric license; switch/port configuration; and appropriate cables
o No MPR, greater than 100 km - ISL R_RDY mode (or Remote Switch license),
Gateway Switches, and gateway vendor configuration requirements
o MPR, up to 25 km Single-mode cables, Extended Fabric License, and
configure/document the appropriate long distance settings for AP7420 switch ports
o MPR, greater than 25 km - FCIP license and configure bookend connections as
Gigabit Ethernet ports
3.4 DOCUMENTING THE SWITCH AND FABRIC CONFIGURATION
Document the following basic switch and fabric configuration information:
To prevent fabric segmentations, the following fabric parameters must be set to the same
value on each switch in the fabric:
o R_A_TOV
o E_D_TOV
o Data Field Size
o Sequence Level Switching
o Disable Device Probing
o Suppress Class F Traffic
Across the fabric, employ a consistent addressing format:
o Native PID: Adding Fabric OS v2.X or v3.X switches to an existing Native PID fabric
o Core PID: Adding SilkWorm switches to an existing Core PID fabric
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o Extended Edge PID: Adding SilkWorm switches (especially high-port count switches
or Directors) to an existing Native PID fabric
Adding Fabric OS v2.X and v3.X switches - prepare existing fabric for future
high-port count switches
Adding Fabric OS v4.X switches Native PID Format not available and Core
PID format would require reconfiguring and rebooting attached hosts
May need to upgrade existing fabric to Fabric OS v2.6.2, v3.1.2, or v4.2
For each switch, verify the following parameters:
o A unique domain ID
o Consistent licensing Advanced Zoning, Fabric Watch, ISL Trunking, Secure Fabric
OS, Web Tools, full-fabric connectivity
o Per-port configuration
For switches with a long-distance connection (bookend switches), check the licenses:
o Fibre Channel connection: Extended Fabrics license
o MAN/WAN connection: Remote Switch licenses, or ISL R_RDY mode
Document zoning correctly to avoid the three types of zoning configuration discrepancies:
1. Configuration mismatch
2. Type mismatch
3. Content mismatch
Document the following additional switch and fabric configuration information:
Ensure that fabric switches use consistent performance and error logging configurations
o Logging can be monitored through SNMP
o The error log and syslog daemon can be configured to log
o Fabric Watch can send logging information to both SNMP and the syslogd
o Switch status policy parameters determine switch health monitored and are monitored
in Web Tools and the error log
Optionally, configure and document preferred principal switches and NTP servers
Additionally, when the fabric is built, tested, and stable, capture baseline switch configuration
files from a golden switch per Fabric OS and XPath version
o Use Fabric Manager to download this golden switch configuration to other switches
running the same version of Fabric OS or XPath OS
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3.5 DOCUMENTING THE LOGICAL SAN DESIGN
The logical SAN design illustrates the SAN design from a high level:
Demonstrates the overall SAN design, without excessive detail
The SAN topology is clearly shown but the specific switch ports for the ISLs are not
documented
Specific switch models are identified but switch and fabric configuration details are not
shown
Servers and storage are connected to specific switches but the switch ports, cable labels,
HBA type, etc. are not included

Figure 11: Documenting the Logical SAN Design
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3.6 DOCUMENTING THE PHYSICAL SAN DESIGN
The physical SAN design builds on the logical SAN design, and adds details needed for
implementation:
Rack layout (shown below) Details about each device in each rack
Type Asset
Tag
IP VLAN Serial
No
Host Name Mac Address WWN
Power
10.255.255.10 VLAN
113
RS-ST01-PWR-1
JBOD
RS-ST01-JBOD-1
Win 2 K
10.255.255.31 VLAN
113
RS-ST01-W2K-1 00:0D:60:12:34:56 10:00:00:00:C9:12:34:56
SW
3250
10.255.255.41 VLAN
113
RS-ST01-B32-1 10:00:00:05:1e:12:34:65
SW
4100
10.255.255.42 VLAN
113
RS-ST01-B41-1 10:00:00:05:1e:12:43:65
SW
4100
10.255.255.52 VLAN
113
RS-ST02-B41-1 10:00:00:05:1e:21:34:56
SW
3250
10.255.255.51 VLAN
113
R3-ST02-B32-1 10:00:00:05:1e:21:43:65
Win 2 K
10.255.255.33 VLAN
113
R3-ST02-W2K-1 00:0D:60:21:43:65 10:00:00:00:C9:21:43:65
JBOD
R3-STO2-JBOD-1
Power
10.255.255.12 VLAN
113
R3-ST02-PWR-1
Table 4: Rack Layout
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Wiring diagram (shown below) Per fabric; documents all device to-switch and switch-to-
switch cabling
o Can also include labeling directions for each cable
Fabric A Fabric B
From Cable To From Cable To
FabA-E1-15 I1 FabA-C1-15 FabB-E1-15 I25 FabB-C1-15
Table 5: Wiring Diagram
3.7 CREATING THE SAN MIGRATION PLAN
SAN Migration often deals with an existing SAN that will incorporate a new Director
Could involve replacing a SilkWorm switch or a SilkWorm 12000 Upgrade to 2 Gbit/sec;
remove old or retired switches; consolidation; access new features
Can also indicate upgrading a SilkWorm 12000 to a SilkWorm 24000 (chassis migration),
yielding more ports in a single domain and BLOOM II ASIC capabilities
Brocade recognizes six steps in a SAN migration:
1. Assess the SAN Migration
2. Determine the Migration Strategy
3. Develop the Migration Plan
4. Prepare the Site for Migration
5. Perform the Migration
6. Validate the Migrated SAN
Partners that sell our Directors often have EXCELLENT migration guides
o These Partners will require that you follow their guidelines
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There are operational constraints for a SAN migration:
When downtime is necessary if at all
When downtime is acceptable if at all
Minimizing or eliminating Fabric operation and I/O interruption and making the necessary plans
when down-time is unavoidable
There are technical and logistic impacts for a SAN migration:
Cable/SFP/GBIC changes
PID Format considerations
Host and storage attachment schemas and multi-pathing software availability
Managing Hard zoning based on PID (port-based zoning)
Brocade recognizes three main SAN migration strategies:
Single Fabric Online Migration
o Core PID format update could be required
o Fabric OS Update required
o Multi-path software installed and active
o Host rebooting not required
o Fabric provides multiple paths via different switches
o Performance degradation and I/O interruptions acceptable for hosts
Redundant Fabric Online Migration
o Redundant Fabric topology
o Redundant path for each device
o Multi-path s/w installed and active
o Host rebooting not required
o Performance degradation during migration is acceptable
o I/O interruptions acceptable if device does NOT have redundant path
Offline Fabric Migration
o Safest method by far as down-time has been planned
o Includes SilkWorm 12000 card migration
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3.8 DOCUMENTING THE SAN AND FABRIC MANAGEMENT APPLICATIONS
Follow these techniques to select a SAN management application:
Brocade Fabric Manager: Ideal for fabric-level management functions on a group of switches
o User-friendly, standalone GUI application
o Single or multiple fabrics with a large number of switches in an enterprise environment
Brocade Advanced Web Tools: Ideal for managing small fabrics
o User-friendly browser-based interface for managing an individual switch
o Requires a WebTools license installed on the switch
Command Line Interface (CLI): Ideal for managing basic and advanced features on an
individual fabric or switch
o Text-based command interface
o Accessible through either the serial or Ethernet port
Brocade Fabric Access API: Used by third-party applications
o Set of callable functions; Brocade standard
SNMP: Ideal for third-party management SNMP-based applications
o Industry-standard monitoring and management interface
3.9 DOCUMENTING GROWTH PLANS
There are two key considerations that influence the growth plan:
How many devices plan to be added over time?
o Can new devices be added at any time, or only during maintenance windows?
Incorporate growth potential into the Data Center Interface Plan, particularly if a site is
planned to be live for more than three years:
o Data center floor space
o Power requirements
o Connection portals
o Rack space for additional switches, servers, and storage
o Scalable cable requirements: horizontal and vertical cable guides, sufficient cable
slack

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4 OPTIMIZE AND TUNE A DEPLOYED SAN ARCHITECTURE
To optimize and tune a deployed SAN architecture, follow these basic techniques:
Always gather the appropriate performance-related information from the deployed SAN
before making any decision
o Bandwidth Best-suited for measuring large I/O application performance
o I/Os per second Best-suited for measuring small I/O application performance
o SAN Latency Best-suited for measuring long-distance SAN solution performance
o Response Time Best-suited for measuring small I/O applications performance
When adding or moving servers and storage, ensure that the desired ISL
oversubscription ratio is maintained
o Many successful SAN designs use an ISL oversubscription ratio of 7:1
o High-performance SANs or conservative designs may deploy an ISL
oversubscription ratio of 3:1
Many SAN designers find it difficult to maintain locality in a deployed SAN architecture
o Not impossible but not easy
o Well-planned SANs leave open ports for new local devices or ISLs with new or
existing trunks
When adding new switches, maintain the existing topology
o Mesh Attach at least one ISL to each switch in the fabric
o Partial Mesh Follow the designed scheme
o At the Edge of a Core/Edge Attach at least one ISL to each Core switch
o At the Core of a Core/Edge Attach at least one ISL to each Edge switch
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5 TAKING THE TEST
Once the test begins, you will first see this screen:

Figure 12: Introduction Screen
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After the Introduction Screen, once you click on Next, you will see the non-disclosure agreement:

Figure 13: Non-disclosure Agreement
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Once you agree to the terms, then an optional, short, un-timed survey will follow. After that, the timed
test will begin.
This is a sample of how the questions will look. In this example, you see a multiple-choice question.

Figure 14: Sample Question
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6 TERMS AND DEFINITIONS
8b/10b Encoding An encoding scheme that converts an 8-bit byte into one or two possible 10-bit
characters; used for balancing 1s and 0s in high-speed transports.
ABTS Abort Basic Link Service.
ACC Accept link service reply; the normal reply to an Extended Link Service request
(such as FLOGI), indicating that the request has been completed.
Access Fairness A process by which contending nodes are guaranteed access to an Arbitrated
Loop.
Access Method The method used to access a physical medium in order to transmit data.
ACK Acknowledgement frame; used for end-to-end flow control; verifies receipt of one
or more frames from Class 1,2 or F services.
Active Copper A Fibre Channel connection that allows copper cabling up to 33 meters (36 yards)
in length between devices.
Address Identifier A 24-bit number used to indicate the link-level address of communicating devices.
In a frame header, the address identifier indicates the source ID (S_ID) and the
destination ID (D_ID) of the frame respectively.
AL_PA Arbitrated Loop Physical Address; an 8-bit value used to identify a device
participating in an Arbitrated Loop.
AL_TIME Arbitrated Loop Timeout value; twice the amount of time it would take for a
transmission word to propagate around a worst-case loop. The default value is 15
milliseconds (ms).
Alias Server A proposed standard as part of FC-GS-3; it will use the well-known address
FFFFF8 and will maintain identifier mappings to support multicast group
management.
ANSI American National Standards Institute; governing body for standards in the U.S.
ARB Arbitrative Primitive Signal; this applies only to an Arbitrated Loop topology, and is
transmitted as the fill word by an L_Port to indicate the port is arbitrating access to
the loop.
Arbitrated Loop A shared 100/200-megabytes-per-second Fibre Channel transport supporting up to
a maximum of 126 devices and 1 attachment to a fabric. Ports with lower AL_PAs
have higher priorities.
Arbitration A method of gaining orderly access to a shared-loop topology.
ARP Address Resolution Protocol; a TCP/IP function for associating an IP address with
a link-level address.
ASIC Application-Specific Integrated Circuit.
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ATM Asynchronous Transfer Mode; a high-speed packet-switching transport used for
transmitting data over LANs or WANs that transmits fixed-length units of data. It
provides any-to-any connectivity and nodes can transmit simultaneously.
Backbone Fabric A backbone fabric can consist of a single Multiprotocol Router or multiple
Multiprotocol Routers that connect to each other directly or indirectly through other
switches via E_Ports or VE_Ports.
Bandwidth The transmission capacity of the cable, link, or system.
BB_Credit Buffer-to-buffer credit; used to determine how many frames can be sent to the
recipient.
Bloom The code name given to the third-generation Brocade ASIC.
Broadcast Sending a transmission to all Nx_Ports on a fabric.
Boot Code Software that initialized the system environment during the early phase of the boot
up process. For example, boot code may determine the amount of available
memory and how to access it.
Boot Flash Flash (temporary) memory that stores the boot code and boot parameters.
Bypass Circuitry Circuits that automatically remove a device from the data path when valid signals
are dropped.
CAM Content addressable memory.
Cascade Connecting two or more Fibre Channel hubs or switches to increase port capacity
or distance. Seven levels of cascading is the limit for Brocade switches. SilkWorm
1000 switches can have up to 32 in a SAN; SilkWorm 2000 switches and above
can have up to 239.
CDR Clock and data recovery circuitry.
CE Conformit Europenne.
Channel A point-to-point link whose task is to transport data from one point to another.
CIM Common Information Model; a management structure enabling disparate
resources to be managed by a common application.
Class 1 A connection-oriented class of service that requires acknowledgment of frame
delivery.
Class 2 A connectionless class of service that requires acknowledgment of frame delivery.
Class 3 A connectionless class of service that requires no acknowledgment of frame
delivery between N_Ports.
Class 4 A connection-oriented service that allows fractional parts of the bandwidth to be
used in a virtual circuit.
Class 6 A connection-oriented multicast service geared toward video broadcasts between
a central server and clients.
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Class F A connectionless class of service that gives notification of delivery or non-delivery
between E_Ports, used for control, coordination, and configuration of the fabric.
CLS Close Primitive Signal; only in an Arbitrated Loop; sent by an L_Port that is
currently communicating on the loop, to close communication to another L_Port.
Community A relationship in SNMP between an SNMP agent and a set of SNMP managers
that defines authentication, access control, and proxy characteristics.
Compact Flash Flash memory that is used in a manner similar to hard disk storage. It is connected
to a bridging component which connects to the PCI bus of the processor. Not
visible within the processor's memory space.
Condor A code name given to the fourth-generation Brocade ASIC.
Congestion The realization of the potential of over subscription. A congested link is one on
which multiple devices actually are contending for bandwidth.
Controller A computer module that interprets signals between a host and a peripheral device.
The controller typically is part of the peripheral device.
COS Class of service.
CRC Cyclic Redundancy Check; a self-test for error detection and correction.
Credit A numeric value that represents the maximum number of receive buffers provided
by an F/FL_Port to its attached N/NL_Port such that the N/NL_Port may transmit
frames without overrunning the F/FL_Port.
Cut-through Routing
A switching technique that allows a routing decision to be made as soon as the
destination address of the frame is received.
CWDM Coarse Wave Division Multiplexing; see WDM. Allows more wavelengths to use
the same fiber.
D_ID Destination identifier; a 3-byte field in the frame header used to indicate the
address identifier of the N_Port to which the frame is headed.
Datagram A Class 3 Fibre Channel service that allows data to be sent quickly to devices
attached to the fabric, with no confirmation of receipt.
Dedicated Simplex
A means that permits a single N_Port to simultaneously initiate a session with
another N_Port as an initiator, and have a separate Class 1 connection to another
N_Port as a recipient.
Disparity The relationship of 1s and 0s in an encoded character; positive disparity contains
more 1s, negative disparity contains more 0s, neutral disparity contains an equal
number of 1s and 0s.
DLS Dynamic Load Sharing; allows for recomputing of routes when an Fx or E_Port
comes up or down.
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Domain ID A unique number between 1 and 239 on a SilkWorm switch that identifies the
switch to a fabric.
DWDM Dense Wave Division Multiplexing; see WDM. Allows more wavelengths to use the
same fiber.
E_D_TOV Error-Detect Time Out Value; the maximum round-trip time that an operation could
require before declaring an error condition.
E_Port A standard Fibre Channel mechanism that enables switches to network with each
other.
Edge Fabric A Fibre Channel fabric connected to a Multiprotocol Router via one or more
EX_Ports. This is where hosts and storage are normally attached in a metaSAN.
EE_Credit End-to-end credit; used to manage the exchange of frames by two communicating
devices and set the maximum number of frames that may remain
unacknowledged.
EIA Electronic Industries Association.
ELP Exchange Link Parameters.
Entry Fabric The basic Brocade software license that allows one E_Port per switch.
EOF End of Frame; a group of ordered sets used to mark the end of a frame.
EX_Port The type of E_Port used to connect a Multiprotocol Router to an edge fabric. An
EX_Port follows standard E_Port protocols and supports FC-NAT but does not
allow fabric merging across EX_Ports.
Exchange The highest-level Fibre Channel mechanism used for communication between
N_Ports. They are composed of 1 or more related sequences and work either uni-
or bi-directionally.
Exported Device A device that has been mapped between fabrics. A host or storage port in one
edge fabric can be exported to any other fabric through LSAN zoning.
Fabric One or more interconnected Fibre Channel switches. The term Fabric only refers
to the interconnected switches, not to devices connected to the fabric.
Fabric ID (FID) Unique identifier of a fabric in a metaSAN.
Fabric Port Count The number of ports available for connection by nodes in a fabric.
Fabric Topology The arrangement of switches that form a fabric.
FAN Fabric Address Notification; keeps the AL_PA and fabric address when loop re-
initializes if the switch supports FAN.
Fan-in The ratio of hosts to storage devices. It is the view of the SAN from the storage
ports perspective.
Fan-out The ratio of storage devices to hosts. It is the view of the SAN from the host ports
perspective.
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F_BSY Fabric Port Busy Frame; a frame issued by the fabric to indicate that a frame
cannot be delivered because the fabric or destination N_Port is busy.
F_Port A fabric port to which an N_Port attaches.
F_RJT Fabric Port Reject Frame; a frame issued by the fabric to indicate that delivery of a
frame is being denied, maybe because class is not supported, or there is an invalid
header, or no N_Port is available.
FC-0 Lowest layer on Fibre Channel transport; represents the physical media.
FC-1 This layer contains the 8b/10b encoding scheme.
FC-2 This layer handles framing and protocol, frame format, sequence/exchange
management, and ordered set usage.
FC-3 This layer contains common services used by multiple N_Ports in a node.
FC-4 This layer handles standards and profiles for mapping upper-level protocols such
as SCSI and IP onto the Fibre Channel Protocol.
FC-AL Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop.
FC-AV Fibre Channel Audio Visual.
FC-CT Fibre Channel Common Transport.
FC-FC Routing Service
A service that extends hierarchical networking capabilities to Fibre Channel
fabrics. It enables devices located on separate fabrics to communicate without
merging the fabrics. It also enables the creation of LSANs.
FC-FG Fibre Channel Generic requirements.
FC-FLA Fibre Channel Fabric Loop Attachment.
FC-FS Fibre Channel Framing and Signaling.
FC-GS Fibre Channel generic services.
FC-GS-2 Fibre Channel second-generation generic services.
FC-GS-3 Fibre Channel third-generation generic services
FC_IP Fibre channel over IP protocol.
FC-NAT Fibre Channel Network Address Translation allows devices in different fabrics to
communicate when those fabrics have addressing conflicts. This is similar to the
"hide behind" NAT used in firewalls. Normally attached in a routed fabric.
FC-PH The Fibre Channel physical and signaling standard for FC-0, FC-1, and FC-2
layers of the Fibre Channel Protocol, and also indicates signaling used for cable
plants, media types, and transmission speeds.
FC-PH-2 Second-generation physical interface.
FC-PH-3 Third-generation physical interface.
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FC_SB Fibre Channel Single Bytes.
FC-SW Fibre Channel Switch fabric; specifies tools and algorithms for interconnection and
initialization of Fibre Channel switches to create a multiswitch Fibre Channel fabric.
FC-SW-2 Fibre Channel Switch Fabric (second generation); specifies tools and algorithms
for interconnection and initialization of Fibre Channel switches to create a
multiswitch Fibre Channel fabric.
FC_VI Fibre Channel Virtual Interface.
FCIA Fibre Channel Industry Association; its mission is to nurture and help develop the
broadest market for Fibre Channel products.
FCIP Tunneling Service
A service that enables SANs to span longer distances than could be supported
with native Fibre Channel links. FCIP is a TCP/IP-based tunneling protocol that
allows the transparent interconnection of geographically distributed SAN islands
through an IP-based network.
FCLC Fibre Channel Loop Community.
FCP Fibre Channel Protocol; SCSI to Fibre Channel mapping.
FDDI Fibre Distributed Data Interface; ANSI architecture for a Metropolitan Area Network
(MAN); a network based on the use of optical-fibre cable to transmit data at 100
megabits per second.
FFFFF5 Well-known Fibre Channel address for a Class 6 multicast server.
FFFFF6 Well-known Fibre Channel address for a clock synchronization server.
FFFFF7 Well-known Fibre Channel address for a security key distribution server.
FFFFF8 Well-known Fibre Channel address for an alias server.
FFFFF9 Well-known Fibre Channel address for a QoS facilitator.
FFFFFA Well-known Fibre Channel address for a management server.
FFFFFB Well-known Fibre Channel address for a time server.
FFFFFC Well-known Fibre Channel address for a directory server.
FFFFFD Well-known Fibre Channel address for a fabric controller.
FFFFFE Well-known Fibre Channel address for a fabric F_Port.
FFFFFF Well-known address for a broadcast alias-ID.
Fibre Channel The primary protocol for building SANs. Unlike IP and Ethernet, Fibre Channel is
designed to support the needs of storage devices of all types.
Fibre Channel Network Address Translation (FC-NAT)
A capability that allows devices in different fabrics to communicate when those
fabrics have addressing conflicts. This is similar to the hide-behind NAT used in
firewalls.
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Fibre Channel Router Protocol (FCRP)
A Brocade-authored standards-track protocol that enables LSAN switches to
perform routing between different edge fabrics, optionally across a backbone
fabric.
Fill Word The primitive signal used by L_Ports to be transmitted between frames.
FL_Port A fabric loop port to which a loop attaches; it is the access to the fabric for
NL_Ports on a loop.
Flash Programmable NVRAM memory that maintains its contents without power.
FLOGI Fabric Login; a process by which a node makes a logical connection to a fabric
switch.
Fractional Bandwidth
The partial use of a link to send data back and forth, with a maximum of 254 Class
4 connections per N_Port.
Frame A data unit containing a start-of-frame (SOF) delimiter, header, payload, cyclic
redundancy check (CRC), and an end-of-frame (EOF) delimiter. The payload can
be 0-2112 bytes, and the CRC is 4 bytes.
Front Domain A tier of domains between the translate domains and the edge fabrics. This allows
FSPF multi-pathing to work as desired. The first instantiation of the FC Routing
Service uses one front domain per EX_Port, though future implementations may
limit this to one per edge fabric. No FC-NAT devices are ever hung off of front
domains. Put another way, each IFL connection from a Router to an edge fabric
creates a front domain.
FRU Field Replaceable Unit; a component that can be replaced in the field upon failure.
FSP Fibre Channel Service Protocol; The common FC-4 level protocol for all services,
transparent to the fabric type or topology.
FSPF Fabric Shortest Path First; a routing protocol used by Fibre Channel switches.
Full Fabric The Brocade software license that allows multiple E_Ports on a switch.
Full Duplex Concurrent transmission and reception of data on a link.
Full Fabric Citizenship
A loop device that has an entry in name server.
Gateway A device that connects incompatible networks by providing the necessary
translation, both for hardware and software.
GBIC Gigabit Interface Converter; a removable transceiver module permitting Fibre
Channel and Gigabit Ethernet physical-layer transport.
Gbps Gigabits per second.
GBps Gigabytes per second.
Gigabit 1,062,500,000 bits per second.
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GLM Gigabit Link Module; a semitransparent transceiver that incorporates
serializing/deserializing functions.
G_Port A generic port that supports either E_Port or F_Port functionality.
GUI Graphical User Interface.
HBA Host Bus Adapter; an interface between a server or workstation bus and the Fibre
Channel network.
HiPPI High-performance Parallel Interface; an 800Mbit/sec interface normally used in
supercomputer environments.
Hop Count Hop count is the number of ISLs a frame must traverse to get from its source to its
destination.
Hot Swappable A component that can be replaced while under power.
HSSDC High Speed Serial Data Connection; a form factor that allows quick connections for
copper interfaces.
HSSDC-2 Second generation HSSDC connector.
HTTP HyperText Transfer Protocol; the standard TCP/IP transfer protocol used on the
World Wide Web.
Hub A Fibre Channel wiring concentrator that collapses a loop topology into a physical
star topology. A hub may automatically recognize an active node and inserts it into
the loop. A node that is not functioning is automatically removed from the loop.
Hunt Group A number of N_Ports registered as a single Alias_ID, so the fabric can route a
word to a port that is free.
Idle An ordered set transmitted continuously over a link when no data is being
transmitted to maintain an active link. It helps maintain bit, byte, and word
synchronization.
In-band Transmission of management protocol over the Fibre Channel transport.
Initiator A server or workstation on a Fibre Channel network that initiates transactions to
tapes or disks.
Integrated Fabric The fabric created by connecting multiple SilkWorm switches with multiple ISL
cables, and configuring the switches to handle traffic as a seamless group.
Intercabinet A specification for copper cabling that allows up to 33-meter distances between
cabinets.
Inter-Fabric Link (IFL)
A connection between a router and an edge fabric. Architecturally, these can be of
type EX_Port-to-E_Port or EX_Port-to-EX_Port.
Intermix Allows any unused bandwidth in a Class 1 connection to be used by Class 2 or
Class 3.
Inter-switch link See ISL.
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Intracabinet A specification for copper cabling that allows up to a 13-meter (42-foot) distance
within a single cabinet.
IOD In Order Delivery; a parameter than when set, guarantees that frames get
delivered in order, or they are dropped.
IP Internet Protocol; the addressing part of TCP/IP.
IPI Intelligent Peripheral Interface.
ISCSI Gateway Service
A service that maps the SCSI protocol to the IP transport. This service projects
iSCSI hosts onto the backbone fabric of a gateway switch.
ISL Inter-switch Link; a connection between two switches using the E_Port.
ISL Over-subscription Ratio
The ratio of the number of free ports (non-ISL) to the number of ISLs on a switch.
Isolated E_Port This occurs when an ISL is online but not operational between switches because
of overlapping domain IDs or no identical parameters such as E_D_TOVs.
ISP Internet Service Provider.
JBOD Just a Bunch Of Disks; a term for disks typically configured as an Arbitrated Loop
segment in a single chassis.
Jitter A deviation in timing for a bit stream as it flows through a physical medium.
K28.5 A special 10-bit character used to indicate the beginning of a Fibre Channel
ordered set.
L_Port Loop port; a port supporting the Arbitrated Loop protocol. It appears as the part of
the output of a swi t chshowcommand.
LAN Local Area Network; a network where transmissions are typically less than 5
kilometers (3.4 miles).
Latency The period that a frame is held by a network device before it is forwarded.
LED Light Emitting Diode; a status indicator on a switch.
Link Control Facility
A termination handling physical and logical control of the Fibre Channel link for
each mode.
LIFA Loop Initialization Fabric Assigned frame; contains bitmap of all fabric assigned
AL_PAs and is the first frame transmitted in the loop initialization process after a
temporary loop master has been selected.
LIHA Loop Initialization Hard Assigned frame; a hard assigned AL_PA that is indicated
by a bit set and is the third frame transmitted in the loop initialization process after
a temporary loop master has been selected.
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LILP Loop Initialization Loop Position frame; the final frame transmitted in a loop
initialization process. A returned LIRP contains an accumulation of all of the
AL_PA position maps. This allows loop members to determine their relative loop
position. This is an optional frame and is not transmitted unless the LIRP is also
transmitted.
Link A bi-directional point-to-point serial data channel.
LIP Loop Initialization Primitive sequence; a means to get an AL_PA address, to
indicate a loop failure or to reset a node.
LIPA Loop Initialization Previously Assigned; where the device marks a bit in the bitmap
if it had not logged in with the fabric in a previous loop initialization.
LIRP Loop Initialization Report Position frame; the first frame transmitted in the loop
initialization process after all L_Ports have selected an AL_PA. It gets transmitted
around the loop so all L_Ports can report their relative physical position. This is an
optional frame.
LISA Loop Initialization Soft Assigned frame; the fourth frame transmitted in the loop
initialization process after a temporary loop master has been selected. L_Ports that
have not selected an AL_PA in a LIFA, LIPA, or LIHA frame will select their AL_PA
here.
LISM Loop Initialization Select Master frame; the first frame transmitted in the
initialization process when L_Ports select an AL_PA. It is used to select a
temporary loop master or the L_Port that will subsequently start transmission of
the LIFA, LIPA, LIHA, LISA, LIRP, or LILP frames.
Login Server The unit that responds to login requests.
Loom The code name given to the second-generation Brocade ASIC. This is the ASIC
that is used in the SilkWorm 2xxx series of switches.
Looplet Private Arbitrated Loop segments connected by a fabric.
LPB Loop Port Bypass; a primitive sequence transmitted by an L_Port to bypass one or
all L_Ports to which it is directed. It is used only in Arbitrated Loops.
LPE Loop Port Enable; a primitive sequence transmitted by an L_Port to enable one or
all L_Ports that have been bypassed with the LPB. It is used only in Arbitrated
Loops.
LPSM Loop Port State Machine; logic that monitors and performs the tasks required for
initialization and access to the loop. It is maintained by an L_Port to track behavior
through different phases of loop operations.
LR Link Reset; a primitive sequence used during link initialization between two
N_Ports in point-to-point topology, or an N_Port and an F_Port in fabric topology.
The expected response is an LRR.
LRR Link Reset Response; a primitive sequence during link initialization between two
N_Ports in point-to-point topology, or an N_Port and an F_Port in fabric topology. It
is sent in response to an LR, and expects a response of Idle.
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LSAN Logical Storage Area Network; A logical network that spans multiple fabrics. The
path between devices in an LSAN can be local to an edge fabric or cross one or
more Multiprotocol Routers and up to one intermediate backbone fabric. LSANs
are administered through LSAN zones in each edge fabric.
LSAN Zone Any zone defined in an edge fabric where the zone name is prefixed with the tag
LSAN_ The LSAN_ tag is not case sensitive. LSAN zones are a mechanism to
specify inter-fabric connectivity and the creation of proxy devices.
LWL Long wavelength fiber-optic; based on 1300 and 1550nm lasers supporting varying
link speeds.
MAN Metropolitan Area Network.
Mbps Megabits per second.
MBps Megabytes per second.
metaSAN A the collection of SAN devices, switches, edge fabrics, LSANs (logical storage
area network), and Multiprotocol Routers that make up a physically connected but
logically partitioned storage area network.
Metric A relative value assigned to a route to aid in calculating the shortest path (1000 @
1 Gbit/sec, 500 @ 2 & 4 Gbit/sec).
MIA Media Interface Adapter; a device that converts optical connections to copper ones
and vice-versa.
MIB Management Information Base; an SNMP structure for device management that
contains an abstraction of configuration and device information.
MMF Multimode Fiber; see SWL.
MRK Mark Primitive Signal; used only in Arbitrated Loop, it is transmitted by an L_Port
for synchronization and is vendor specific.
MTBF Mean Time Between Failures; an expression of time indicating the longevity of a
device.
Multicast A restricted broadcast to a subset of the N_Ports on the network.
Multimode A fiber optic cabling specification that allows up to 500-meter distances between
devices (also abbreviated MMF).
Multiprotocol Router
A device that enables Brocade multiprotocol routing services.
Multiprotocol Routing Services
An optionally licensed software bundle available on certain Brocade platforms,
such as the Multiprotocol Router, that includes the FC-FC Routing Service, the
iSCSI Gateway Service, and the FCIP Tunneling Service.
N_Port A Fibre Channel port in a fabric or point-to-point connection.
Name Server A database maintained on each switch in the fabric, of all devices that have
performed a PLOGI.
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NAS Network Attached Storage; a disk array connected to a controller that gives access
via a LAN.
NDMP Network Data Management Protocol; used for tape backups without using server
resources.
NIC Network Interconnect Card.
NL_Port Node Loop port; a port supporting the Arbitrated Loop protocol.
NR_Port A port used as a source and destination address for frames traversing a backbone
fabric. A normal E_Port (not an EX_Port) is used to connect a Multiprotocol Router
to a backbone. An NR_Port appears to the rest of the backbone as a standard
N_Port connected to the Multiprotocol Router domain.
Node A Fibre Channel device that supports one or more ports.
Node Count The number of nodes attached to the fabric.
Node Name A 64-bit unique identifier assigned to a Fibre Channel node.
Non-OFC A category of laser transceiver that does not require open fibre control due to its
low intensity.
Non-participating Mode
This mode is entered if there are more than 127 devices on a loop, and an AL_PA
cannot be acquired.
NOS Non-Operational Primitive Sequence; used during link initialization between two
N_Ports in the point-to-point topology, or an N_Port and F_Port in the fabric
topology. It is sent to indicate that the transmitting port has detected a link failure
or is offline. An OLS is the expected response.
NS Name Server (or Service); the service provided by a fabric switch that stores
names, addresses, and attributes related to Fibre Channel objects, and can cache
the information for up to 15 minutes. This is also known as a directory service.
OFC Open Fiber Control; a method used to enable and disable laser signaling for
higher-intensity laser transceivers.
OLS Offline Primitive Sequence; this is used during link initialization between two
N_Ports in a point-to-point topology or an F_Port and an N_Port in a fabric. It is
sent to indicate that the transmitting port is attempting to initialize a link, has
recognized the NOS primitive sequence, or is going offline. The expected
response to an OLS is an LR.
OLTP OnLine Transaction Processing.
OPN Open Primitive Signal; this applies only to Arbitrated Loop, and is sent by an
L_Port that has won the arbitration process to open communication with one or
more ports on the loop.
Ordered Set A set of 4 characters beginning with a special character used to manage frame
transport, initialization, and media access, and to distinguish Fibre Channel control
information from data.
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Originator The Nx_Port that originated an exchange.
Out-of-band Transmission of management protocol outside of the Fibre Channel network,
usually over Ethernet.
Over-subscription When more nodes could potentially contend for a resource than the resource could
simultaneously support (typically an ISL). Over subscription could be a desirable
attribute in fabric topology, as long as it doesnt produce unacceptable levels of
congestion.
OX_ID Originator Exchange Identifier; a 2-byte field in the frame header used by the
originator of an exchange to identify frames as being part of an exchange.
Parallel The simultaneous transmission of data bits over multiple lines.
Participating Mode
The normal operating mode for an L_Port that has acquired an AL_PA on a loop.
Passive Copper A low-cost copper Fibre Channel connection allowing distances up to 13 meters
between devices.
PBC Port Bypass Circuit; a circuit in hubs or a disk enclosure to open or close a loop to
add or remove nodes.
PLDA Private Loop Direct Attached; a technical report specifying a logical loop.
PLOGI A port-to-port login process where initiators establish sessions with targets.
Point-to-Point A dedicated Fibre Channel connection between two devices.
Port A Fibre Channel entity that connects a node to the network.
Port Log A record of all activity on a switch, kept in volatile memory.
Port Log Dump A view of what happens on a switch from the switch's point of view. This is the
command used to read the Port Log.
POST Power On Self Test; a routine that the switch performs to test its components.
Primitive Sequence
Ordered sets that indicate or start state changes on the transport medium and
require at least three consecutive occurrences to trigger a response.
Primitive Signals Ordered sets that indicate actions or events and require just one occurrence to
trigger a response. Idle and R_RDY are used in all three topologies, ARB, OPN
CLS, and MRK are used in Arbitrated Loop.
Principal Switch The switch in the fabric that ensures unique Domain IDs, sets time
synchronization, amongst other roles.
Private Device A device that supports loop and can understand 8-bit addresses but does not log
into the fabric.
Private Loop An Arbitrated Loop device with no participating FL_Port.
Private Loop Device
An Arbitrated Loop device with no fabric attachment.
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Private NL_Port An NL_Port on a public or private loop; it only communicates with other ports on
the loop, not with the fabric.
Proxy Device A virtual device present in a local fabric that represents a device physically
connected to a different edge fabric. From the perspective of a SAN device that is
physically connected to a fabric, a proxy device is said to be imported. From the
perspective of the proxy device, the proxy device is said to be exported.
PSU Power Supply Unit.
Public Device A device that supports loop and can also log into the fabric.
Public Loop An Arbitrated Loop with a participating FL_Port.
Public Loop Device
An Arbitrated Loop device that supports fabric login and services.
Public NL_Port An NL_Port that may communicate with other ports on the loop as well as through
an FL_Port to other N_Ports on the fabric.
QoS Quality of Service.
Queue A mechanism for each AL_PA address that allows for collecting frames prior to
sending them to the loop.
QuickLoop A Brocade software product that allows multiple ports on a switch to create a
logical loop. Devices connected via QuickLoop will appear to each other as if they
were on the same Arbitrated Loop.
RAID Redundant Array of Independent Disks; disks look like a single or multiple volumes
to the server, and are fault-tolerant either through mirroring or parity checking.
RAIT Redundant Array of Independent Tapes.
R_A_TOV Resource Allocation Time Out Value; used to timeout operations that depend on
the maximum allowable time a frame could be delayed in the fabric and still be
delivered.
Receiver A device that does detection and signal processing.
Redundancy Having multiple occurrences of a component to maintain high availability.
Remote switch An optional product using a Computer Network Technology gateway over ATM.
Repeater A circuit that uses recovered clock to regenerate and transmit an outbound signal.
Resilient Core/edge Topology
Two or more switches acting as a core to interconnect multiple edge switches,
nodes attach to the edge switches.
Responder The N_Port with which an Exchange originator wishes to communicate.
Retimer A circuit that uses an independent clock to generate outbound signals.
Route A path between two switches.
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Routed Fabric Consists of two or more edge fabrics interconnected by one or more backbone
fabrics.
R_RDY Receiver Ready; a primitive signal indicating that the port is ready to receive a
frame.
RSCN Registered State Change Notification; a switch function that allows notification to
registered nodes if a change occurs either with or within the fabric.
R_T_TOV Receiver Transmitter Timeout Value; used by the receiver logic to detect loss of
synchronization between transmitters and receivers.
RX_ID Responder Exchange Identifier; A 2-byte field in the frame header that may be
used by the responder of the Exchange to identify frames as being part of a
particular exchange.
S_ID Source Identifier; a 3-byte field in the frame header used to indicate the address
identifier of the N_Port from which the frame was sent.
SAN Storage Area Network; A SAN can consist of one or more related fabrics and the
connected SAN devices.
SAN Architecture The overall design of a storage network solution, which includes one or more
related fabrics, each of which has a topology.
SAN Device Usually either a host or storage device that attaches to a fabric. A SAN device is
sometimes referred to as an N_Port, NL_Port, Nx_Port, or node. For point-to-point
devices (also known as N_Ports) the relationship is one switch port (also known as
an F_Port) to one N_Port. For loop devices (i.e. NL_Ports) the relationship is one
switch loop port (also known as an FL_Port) to one or more NL_Ports.
SAN Port Count The number of ports available for connection by nodes in the entire SAN.
Scalability One of the properties of a SAN; the size to which the SAN topology can grow port
and switch counts with ease.
SCR State Change Registration. The command used by devices to register to receive
RSCNs.
SCSI Small Computer Systems Interface; A parallel bus architecture and a protocol for
transmitting large data blocks to a distance of 15-25 meters.
SCSI-2 An updated version of the SCSI bus architecture.
SCSI-3 A SCSI standard that defines transmission of SCSI protocol data over different
kinds of links.
SDRAM The main memory for the switch.
SEQ_ID Sequence Identifier; a 1-byte field in the frame header change to identify the
frames as being part of a particular Exchange Sequence between a pair of ports.
Sequence A group of related frames transmitted unidirectionally from one N_Port to another.
Sequence Initiator
The N_Port that begins a new Sequence and transmits frames to another N_Port.
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Sequence Recipient
The N_Port to which a particular Sequence of data frames is directed.
SERDES SERializing/DESerializing circuitry; a circuit that converts a serial bit stream into
parallel characters, and vice-versa.
Serial The transmission of data bits in sequential order over a single line.
Server A computer that processes end-user applications or requests.
SES SCSI Enclosure Services; a subset of the SCSI protocol used to monitor
temperature, power, and fan status for enclosed devices.
SFF Small Form Factor; an industry term for a smaller transceiver. (See SFP)
SFP Small Form Factor Pluggable a transceiver used on 2 & 4 Gbit/sec switches that
replaces the GBIC.
SilkWorm A brand name for the Brocade family of switches.
Single Mode A fiber optic cabling specification that provides up to 10 km distances between
devices.
S-Link Service Facilities used between an N_Port and the fabric, or between two N_Ports for
login, sequence/exchange management, and maintaining connections.
SMF Single mode fiber; see LWL.
SMI Structure of Management Information; a notation for setting or retrieving SNMP
management variables.
SNMP Simple Network Management Protocol; A TCP/IP protocol that was designed for
management of networks over TCP/IP, using agents and stations.
SOF Start Of Frame; a group of ordered sets that marks the beginning of a frame and
indicates the class of service the frame will use.
SoIP SCSI over IP.
SONET Synchronous Optical Network; a standard for optical networks providing building
blocks and flexible payload mappings.
Special Character A special 10-bit character that does not have a corresponding 8-bit value but is still
considered valid. The special character is used to indicate that a particular
transmission word is an ordered set. This is the only type of character to have five
1s or 0s in a row.
SPOF Single Point of Failure; any component in a SAN whose malfunction could bring
down the entire SAN.
SRM Storage Resource Management; the management of disk volumes and any file
resources.
Stealth Mode A method used in some switches to have them work similar to Brocade switches
using QuickLoop.
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Stitch The code name given to the first-generation Brocade fabric ASIC. This is the ASIC
that is used in the SilkWorm 1xxx series of switches.
Storage A device used to store data; such as a disk or tape.
Store-and-forward
A switching technique that requires buffering an entire frame before a routing
decision is made.
Striping A RAID technique for writing a file to multiple disks on a block-by-block basis, with
or without parity.
Switch A fabric device providing bandwidth and high-speed routing of data via link-level
addressing.
SWL Short Wavelength fiber optic; based on 850-mm lasers supporting varying speeds.
T10 A standards committee chartered with creating standards for SCSI.
T11 A standards committee chartered with creating standards for Fibre Channel.
Tachyon A chip developed by Hewlett-Packard, and used in various devices. This chip has
FC-0 through FC-2 on it.
Target A disk or a tape device in SCSI.
TCP/IP Transmission Control Protocol over Internet Protocol.
Telnet A virtual terminal emulation used with TCP/IP.
Tenancy Possession of an Arbitrated Loop by a device to conduct a transaction.
Time Server A Fibre Channel service that allows for the management of all timers.
Topology The physical or logical arrangement of devices in a networked configuration.
Total Port Count The total number of ports of all switches in a fabric.
TPC Third Party Copy; a protocol for performing tape backups without using server
resources.
Transceiver A device that converts one form of signaling to another for transmission and
reception; in fiber optics it means optical to electrical.
Translation Domain
Also known an xlate domain, the FC-NAT mechanism uses Translation Phantom
Domains to attach exported devices to their destination fabrics. If an FC router is
attached via an EX_Port to an edge fabric, it will create xlate domains in that fabric
corresponding to the remote edge fabrics with active LSANs defined.
Translative Mode Allows public devices to communicate with private devices across a fabric.
Transmission Character
A valid or invalid character transmitted serially over fibre.
Transmission Word
A string of four consecutive transmission characters.
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Trap An SNMP mechanism for agents to notify the SNMP management station of
significant events.
TTL Time To Live; the number of seconds an entry exists in cache before it expires.
Tunneling A technique for making two different networks interact where the source and
destination hosts are on the same type of network, but there is a different network
in between.
U_Port Universal Port; a port that can operate as a G/E/F/FL_Port. All SilkWorm Layer 2
switches and beyond contain Universal Ports to allow any device to connect to any
port. Selection of actual port type is automatic.
ULP Upper Level Protocol; the protocol that runs on top of Fibre Channel through the
FC-4 layer. Typical protocols are SCSI, IP, HiPPI, and IPI.
Unicast A routing method that provides one or more optimal path(s) between any two
switches in the fabric.
VAR Value Added Reseller.
VCSEL Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser; an improved and more reliable type of
laser.
VE_Port A virtual Fibre Channel E_Port that enables remote ends of a fabric to
communicate across an IP network using an FCIP tunnel.
Virtual Circuit A one-way path between N_Ports that allows fractional bandwidth.
WAN Wide Area Network.
WDM Wavelength Division Multiplexing; allows multiple wavelengths to be combined or
filtered on a single cable.
World Wide Name
A 64-bit unique identifier for nodes and ports in a fabric.
Zoning A feature in fabric switches or hubs that allows segmentation of a node by physical
port, name, or address.

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