SANTerminology

ALUN (LogicalUnitNumber)representsadiskthatwillbepresented
toahost
LUNsarespecifictoSAN(notNAS)protocols

TheclientisknownastheInitiator
ThestoragesystemisknownastheTarget
SANProtocols Fibre Channel(FC)
FibreChannelistheoriginalSANprotocol,andisstillverypopular
Itusesdedicatedadapters,cablesandswitchesandisdifferentthan
EthernetatalllayersoftheOSIstack,includingthephysicallevel
FCPisusedtosendSCSIcommandsovertheFibreChannelnetwork
Fibrechannelisaverystableandreliableprotocol
Itislossless,unlikeTCPandUDP
Itsupportsbandwidthsof2,4,6,8and16Gbps
Fibre ChannelNetworks
Server1sClient
EthernetNIC
ClienttoServer
EthernetData
Network EthernetSwitch
EthernetNIC

Server1
Fibre ChannelNetworks

ServertoStorage FibreChannelHBA

Fibre Channel FibreChannelSwitch

Network
FibreChannelHBA
StorageSystem HostBusAdapter
Fibre ChannelNetworks
Server1sClient
EthernetNIC
ClienttoServer
EthernetData
Network EthernetSwitch
EthernetNIC

Server1
ServertoStorage FibreChannelHBA

Fibre Channel FibreChannelSwitch

Network
FibreChannelHBA
StorageSystem HostBusAdapter
WorldWideNodeNames

FCPusesWWNWorldWideNamesforitsaddressing
WWNsare8byteaddressesmadeupof16hexadecimalcharacters
Theirformatis:15:00:00:f0:8c:08:95:de

TheWWNNWorldWideNodeNameisassignedtoanodeinthe
storagenetwork
ThesameWWNNcanidentifymultiplenetworkinterfacesofasingle
networknode
WorldWidePortNames

AdifferentWWPNWorldWidePortNameisassignedtoeveryindividual
portonanode
AmultiportHBAwillhavedifferentWWPNsoneachport
WWPNsaretheequivalentofMACaddressesinEthernet
TheWWPNisburnedinbythemanufacturerandguaranteedtobeglobally
unique
WWPNsareassignedtoHBAsonboththeclientsandthestoragesystem
WeareprimarilyconcernedwithWWPNs,notWWNNs,whenconfiguring
FibreChannelnetworks
Aliases

Aliasescanbeconfiguredtomakeconfigurationandtroubleshooting
easier
ForexamplewecouldcreateanaliasnamedEXCHANGESERVERfor
theExchangeServerwithWWPN15:00:00:f0:8c:08:95:de
Aliasescanbeconfiguredonboththefibrechannelswitchesandthe
storagesystem
Zoning

Forsecurity,zoningwillbeconfiguredontheswitchestocontrol
whichhostsareallowedtocommunicatewitheachother
Serverswillbeallowedtocommunicatewiththestoragesystem,but
serverswillnotbeallowedtocommunicatewitheachotherover
fibrechannel
Zoning

Storage
20:00:00:02:c9:bb:00:02
AliasNETAPPCTRL1

Zoning

20:00:00:00:c9:bb:00:01 20:00:00:00:c9:bb:00:02
AliasSERVER1 AliasSERVER2

Server1 Server2
LUNMasking

ItiscriticalthattherightLUNispresentedtotherighthost
IfthewronghostisabletoconnecttoaLUNthenitisliabletocorruptit
Zoningpreventsunauthorizedhostsfromreachingthestoragesystem,
butitwillnotpreventahostfromaccessingthewrongLUNonceitgets
there
LUNMaskingisconfiguredonthestoragesystemtolockaLUNdownto
thehostorhostswhoareauthorizedtoaccessit
Tosecureyourstorageyouneedtoconfigurezoningonyourswitches
and LUNmaskingonyourstoragesystem
LUNMasking

Storage
20:00:00:02:c9:bb:00:02
AliasNETAPPCTRL1

20:00:00:00:c9:bb:00:01 20:00:00:00:c9:bb:00:02
AliasSERVER1 AliasSERVER2

Server1 Server2
SwitchDomainIDs

Eachswitchinthefibrechannelnetworkwillbeassignedaunique
DomainID
Oneswitchinthenetworkwillbeautomaticallyassignedasthe
PrincipleSwitch.ItassignsDomainIDstotheotherswitches
Eachswitchlearnsabouttheotherswitchesinthenetworkandhowto
routetothembasedontheirDomainID
FLOGIFabricLogin

WhenaserversorstoragesystemsHBApowersonitwillsendaFLOGI
FabricLoginrequesttoitslocallyattachedfibrechannelswitch
Theswitchwillthenassignita24bitFCIDFibreChannelIDaddress
TheFCIDassignedtohostsismadeupoftheswitchsDomainIDand
theswitchportthehostispluggedinto
TheFCIDissimilartoanIPaddress.Itisusedbyfibrechannelswitches
toroutetrafficbetweenserversandtheirstorage
SwitchesmaintainatableofFCIDtoWWPNaddressmappingsand
whatportthehostislocatedon
TheFabricLogin

Storage
20:00:00:02:c9:bb:10:01

FLOGI
Port8

Port5
FLOGI
20:00:00:00:c9:bb:00:01
Server1
FCNSFibre ChannelNameService

FibrechannelswitchessharetheFLOGIdatabaseinformationwith
eachotherusingtheFCNSFibreChannelNameService
EachswitchinthenetworklearnswhereeachWWPNisandhowto
routetrafficthere
FCNSFibre ChannelNameService

Storage
20:00:00:02:c9:bb:10:01
AliasNETAPPCTRL1

Port8

FCNS

Port5
20:00:00:00:c9:bb:00:01
AliasSERVER1
Server
PLOGIPortLogin

AftertheFLOGIFabricLoginprocessiscomplete,theinitiatorwillsend
thePLOGIPortLogin
Basedonthezoningconfigurationontheswitch,thehostwilllearnits
availabletargetWWPNs
ThePortLogin

Storage
20:00:00:02:c9:bb:10:01

PLOGI
20:00:00:00:c9:bb:00:01
Server1
PLRIProcessLogin

FinallytheinitiatorhostwillsendaPLRIProcessLogintoitstarget
storage
Thestoragesystemwillgrantaccesstothehostbasedonits
configuredLUNmasking
TheProcessLogin

Storage
20:00:00:02:c9:bb:10:01

PLRI

20:00:00:00:c9:bb:00:01
Server1
RedundantSANFabrics

Serversaccesstotheirstoragewillinvariablybemissioncriticalforthe
enterprise,sothereshouldbenosinglepointsoffailure
Redundantfibrechannelnetworkswillbeputinplace,knownasFabric
AandFabricB(orSANAandSANB)
Eachserverandstoragesystemhostwillbeconnectedtobothfabrics
withredundantHBAports
RedundantSANFabrics

Fibrechannelswitchesdistributesharedinformationtoeachother
suchasDomainIDs,theFCNSdatabase,andzoning
IfanerrorinFabricAwasabletopropagatetoFabricBthiswould
bringdownbothfabricsanddroptheserversconnectiontotheir
storage
ForthisreasonswitchesindifferentsidesofthefabricareNOTcross
connectedtoeachother bothsidesofthefabricarekeptphysically
separate
Endhostsareconnectedtobothfabrics,buttheswitchesarenot
RedundantSANFabrics

Storage
20:00:00:02:c9:bb:10:01 20:00:00:02:c9:bb:10:02
AliasNETAPPCTRL1A AliasNETAPPCTRL1B

FABRICA FABRICB

20:00:00:00:c9:bb:00:01 20:00:00:00:c9:bb:00:02
AliasSERVER1A AliasSERVER1B
Server1
RedundantSANFabrics

Waitwehaveatleasttwocontrollersforredundancy,soitwill
actuallylooklikethis
RedundantSANFabrics

CTRL1 CTRL2
CTRL1A CTRL1B CTRL2A CTRL2B

FABRICA FABRICB

S1A S1B S2A S2B

Server1 Server2
ZoningonFabricASwitches

CTRL1 CTRL2
CTRL1A CTRL1B CTRL2A CTRL2B

S1A S1B S2A S2B

Server1 Server2
ZoningonFabricASwitches

CTRL1 CTRL2
CTRL1A CTRL1B CTRL2A CTRL2B

S1A S1B S2A S2B

Server1 Server2
ZoningonFabricASwitches

CTRL1 CTRL2
CTRL1A CTRL1B CTRL2A CTRL2B

S1A S1B S2A S2B

Server1 Server2
ZoningonFabricBSwitches

CTRL1 CTRL2
CTRL1A CTRL1B CTRL2A CTRL2B

S1A S1B S2A S2B

Server1 Server2
ZoningonFabricBSwitches

CTRL1 CTRL2
CTRL1A CTRL1B CTRL2A CTRL2B

S1A S1B S2A S2B

Server1 Server2
ZoningonFabricBSwitches

CTRL1 CTRL2
CTRL1A CTRL1B CTRL2A CTRL2B

S1A S1B S2A S2B

Server1 Server2
LUNMaskingonStorageSystem

CTRL1 CTRL2
CTRL1A CTRL1B CTRL2A CTRL2B

S1A S1B S2A S2B

Server1 Server2
TargetPortalGroups

Alloftheportsonthestoragesystemwhichinitiatorscanaccesstheir
storagethroughareaddedtoaTargetPortalGroup
Inourexample,portsCTRL1A,CTRL1B,CTRL2AandCTRL2Bare
addedtoaTargetPortalGroup

CTRL1 CTRL2
CTRL1A CTRL1B CTRL2A CTRL2B
ALUAAsymmetricLogicalUnitAssignment

ALUAAsymmetricLogicalUnitAssignmentisusedbythestorage
systemtotelltheclientwhicharethepreferredpathsforittouse
DirectpathstonodesowningtheLUNaremarkedasoptimizedpaths
Otherpathsaremarkedasnonoptimizedpaths
ALUAAsymmetricLogicalUnitAssignment

LUNS1

CTRL1 CTRL2
CTRL1A CTRL1B CTRL2A CTRL2B

S1A S1B S2A S2B

Server1 Server2
ALUAOptimizedPath1

LUNS1

CTRL1 CTRL2
CTRL1A CTRL1B CTRL2A CTRL2B

S1A S1B S2A S2B

Server1 Server2
ALUAOptimizedPath2

LUNS1

CTRL1 CTRL2
CTRL1A CTRL1B CTRL2A CTRL2B

S1A S1B S2A S2B

Server1 Server2
ALUANonOptimizedPath3

LUNS1

CTRL1 CTRL2
CTRL1A CTRL1B CTRL2A CTRL2B

S1A S1B S2A S2B

Server1 Server2
ALUANonOptimizedPath4

LUNS1

CTRL1 CTRL2
CTRL1A CTRL1B CTRL2A CTRL2B

S1A S1B S2A S2B

Server1 Server2
Multipathing

DuringtheProcessLogin,initiatorswilldetectportsavailableto
connecttotheirstorageonintheTargetPortalGroup,andALUAwill
notifywhicharethepreferredpaths
Multipathing softwareontheinitiatorwillchoosewhichpathorpaths
totaketothestorage
Allpopularoperatingsystemshavemultipathing softwarewhich
supportsactive/activeoractive/standbypaths
Theclientwillautomaticallyfailovertoanalternatepathiftheoneitis
usingfails
Multipathing

Qlogic SanSurfer
Multipathing

ClientconnectivitytoSANstorageisfundamentallydifferenttohow
Ethernetnetworkingworks
InEthernetnetworking,alltheroutingandswitchingdecisionsare
handledbynetworkinfrastructuredevices
InSANstorage,multipathing intelligenceisenabledontheclientend
hosts
Fibre ChannelMultipathing

InFibreChannel,theinitiatorwillautomaticallydetecttheavailable
pathstoitsstoragethroughtheFLOGI,PLOGIandPLRIprocess
Multipathing softwareontheinitiatorwillthenchoosewhichpathor
pathstouse