NetApp FC4600 User manual

NetApp™ Hardware
Hardware Cabling Guide
NetApp, Inc.
495 East Java Drive
Sunnyvale, CA 94089 U.S.A.
Telephone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Support telephone: +1 (888) 4-NETAPP
Document comments: do[email protected]
Information Web: http://www.netapp.com
Part number: 52904-00, Rev. A
April 2012

ii Copyright information
Copyright information
Copyright © 1994–2012 NetApp, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A.
No part of this document covered by copyright may be reproduced in any form or by any means—
graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or storage in an
electronic retrieval system—without prior written permission of the copyright owner.
Software derived from copyrighted NetApp material is subject to the following license and disclaimer:
THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY NETAPP "AS IS" AND WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES
OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WHICH ARE
HEREBY DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL NETAPP BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT,
INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES
(INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR
SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER
CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
DAMAGE.
NetApp reserves the right to change any products described herein at any time, and without notice.
NetApp assumes no responsibility or liability arising from the use of products described herein, except
as expressly agreed to in writing by NetApp. The use or purchase of this product does not convey a
license under any patent rights, trademark rights, or any other intellectual property rights of NetApp.
RESTRICTED RIGHTS LEGEND: Use, duplication, or disclosure by the government is subject to
restrictions as set forth in subparagraph (c)(1)(ii) of the Rights in Technical Data and Computer
Software clause at DFARS 252.277-7103 (October 1988) and FAR 52-227-19 (June 1987)

Trademark information iii
Trademark information
NetApp, the NetApp logo, Network Appliance, the Network Appliance logo, Akorri, ApplianceWatch,
ASUP, AutoSupport, BalancePoint, BalancePoint Predictor, Bycast, Campaign Express,
ComplianceClock, Cryptainer, CryptoShred, Data ONTAP, DataFabric, DataFort, Decru, Decru
DataFort, DenseStak, Engenio, Engenio logo, E-Stack, FAServer, FastStak, FilerView, FlexCache,
FlexClone, FlexPod, FlexScale, FlexShare, FlexSuite, FlexVol, FPolicy, GetSuccessful, gFiler, Go
further, faster, Imagine Virtually Anything, Lifetime Key Management, LockVault, Manage ONTAP,
MetroCluster, MultiStore, NearStore, NetCache, NOW (NetApp on the Web), Onaro, OnCommand,
ONTAPI, OpenKey, PerformanceStak, RAID-DP, ReplicatorX, SANscreen, SANshare, SANtricity,
SecureAdmin, SecureShare, Select, Service Builder, Shadow Tape, Simplicity storage management
software, Simulate ONTAP, SnapCopy, SnapDirector, SnapDrive, SnapFilter, SnapLock,
SnapManager, SnapMigrator, SnapMirror, SnapMover, SnapProtect, SnapRestore, Snapshot,
SnapSuite, SnapValidator, SnapVault, StorageGRID, StoreVault, the StoreVault logo, SyncMirror, Tech
OnTap, The evolution of storage, Topio, vFiler, VFM, Virtual File Manager, VPolicy, WAFL, Web
Filer, and XBB are trademarks or registered trademarks of NetApp, Inc. in the United States, other
countries, or both.
IBM, the IBM logo, and ibm.com are trademarks or registered trademarks of International Business
Machines Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both. A complete and current list of
other IBM trademarks is available on the Web at www.ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml.
Apple is a registered trademark and QuickTime is a trademark of Apple, Inc. in the U.S.A. and/or other
countries. Microsoft is a registered trademark and Windows Media is a trademark of Microsoft
Corporation in the U.S.A. and/or other countries. RealAudio, RealNetworks, RealPlayer, RealSystem,
RealText, and RealVideo are registered trademarks and RealMedia, RealProxy, and SureStream are
trademarks of RealNetworks, Inc. in the U.S.A. and/or other countries.
All other brands or products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders and
should be treated as such.
NetApp, Inc. is a licensee of the CompactFlash and CF Logo trademarks.
NetApp, Inc. NetCache is certified RealSystem compatible.

iv Trademark information

Table of Contents
Table of Contents v
Chapter 1 Cabling Concepts and Best Practices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Cabling Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Fabric (Switched) Topologies Compared to Direct-Attach Topologies . . . . 1
Drive Tray. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Switched Bunch of Disks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Controller Tray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Controller-Drive Tray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Host Channels and Drive Channels. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Host Ports and Drive Ports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Dual-Ported Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Preferred Controllers and Alternate Controllers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Alternate Path Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Failover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Redundant and Non-Redundant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Single Point of Failure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
SFP Transceivers, Fiber-Optic Cables, and Copper Cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Host Adapters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Host Interface Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Network Interface Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Switches and Zoning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
How Initiators and Targets Respond to Zoning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
How Best to Approach Zone Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
In-Band Management and Out-of-Band Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Best Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Drive Cabling for Redundancy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Host Cabling for Redundancy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Host Cabling for Synchronous Mirroring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Cabling for Performance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Fibre Channel Drive-Side Trunking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

vi Table of Contents
Considerations for Drive Channel Speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Multiple Types of Drive Trays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Single-Controller Topologies and Dual-Controller Topologies . . . . . . . . . 21
Copper Cables and Fiber-Optic Cables. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Connecting to Drive Trays That Support Loop Switch Technology . . . . . 22
Labeling Cables. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Cabling Information Provided by SANtricity ES Storage Manager. . . . . . 24
Adding New Drive Trays to an Existing Storage Array . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Common Procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Handling Static-Sensitive Components. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Installing an SFP Transceiver and a Fiber-Optic Cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Installing a Copper Cable with a Passive SFP Transceiver . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Installing an iSCSI Cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Installing a SAS Cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Chapter 2 Product Compatibility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Host Channel Information by Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Drive Channel Information by Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Drive Tray Information by Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Chapter 3 Host Connection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Host Interface Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Maximum Number of Host Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Direct-Attach Topologies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
One Host to a Controller Tray or a Controller-Drive Tray. . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Two Hosts to a Controller Tray or a Controller-Drive Tray. . . . . . . . . . . . 46
One Hosts with Direct SAS Connections to Four Controller-Drive Trays. 47
One Single-HBA Host to a Single-Controller Controller Tray or a Single-
Controller Controller-Drive Tray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Switch Topologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Table of Contents vii
One Host to a Controller Tray or a Controller-Drive Tray. . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Two Hosts to a Controller Tray or a Controller-Drive Tray. . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Two Hosts to a Controller-Drive Tray with Switched SAS Connections. . 53
Four Hosts to a Controller Tray or a Controller-Drive Tray. . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Mixed Topologies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Chapter 4 Drive Connection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Drive Channel Redundancy for the CE7900 Controller Tray and the CE7922
Controller Tray. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Drive Channel Redundancy for the CE6998 Controller Tray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Drive Channel Redundancy for the E5460 Controller-Drive Tray . . . . . . . . . . 63
Drive Channel Redundancy for the E5412 Controller-Drive Tray and the E5424
Controller-Drive Tray. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Drive Channel Redundancy for the CE4900 Controller-Drive Tray . . . . . . . . . 65
Drive Channel Redundancy for the CDE3994 Controller-Drive Tray and the
CDE3992 Controller-Drive Tray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Drive Channel Redundancy for the E2600 Controller-Drive Tray . . . . . . . . . . 67
Drive Channel Redundancy for the E2660 Controller-Drive Tray . . . . . . . . . . 68
ESM Canister Arrangements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Drive Cabling Topologies for the CE7900 Controller Tray and the CE7922
Controller Tray. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Connection for the CE7922 Controller Tray or the CE7900 Controller Tray
and One to Four FC4600 Drive Trays. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Connection for the CE7922 Controller Tray or the CE7900 Controller Tray
and Five to Eight FC4600 Drive Trays. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
One CE7922 Controller Tray or CE7900 Controller Tray and Nine to 16
FC4600 Drive Trays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
One CE7922 Controller Tray or CE7900 Controller Tray and 17 to 28
FC4600 Drive Trays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
One CE7922 Controller Tray or CE7900 Controller Tray and One to Four
DE6900 Drive Trays without Trunking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
One CE7922 Controller Tray or CE7900 Controller Tray Five to Eight
DE6900 Drive Trays without Trunking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

viii Table of Contents
One CE7922 Controller Tray or CE7900 Controller Tray and One to Four
DE6900 Drive Trays with Trunking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
One CE7922 Controller Tray or CE7900 Controller Tray and Five to Eight
DE6900 Drive Trays with Drive-Side Trunking. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
One CE7900 Controller Tray and Multiple Types of Drive Trays . . . . . . . 96
Drive Cabling Topologies for the CE6998 Controller Tray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
One CE6998 Controller Tray and One Drive Tray. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
One CE6998 Controller TrayController Tray and Two Drive Trays . . . . . 98
One CE6998 Controller Tray and Four Drive Trays. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
One CE6998 Controller Tray and Eight Drive Trays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
One CE6998 Controller Tray and Multiple Types of Drive Trays . . . . . . 103
Guidelines for Connecting FC2610 Drive Trays or FC4600 Drive Trays
103
Guidelines for Connecting AT2655 Drive Trays. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Drive Cabling Topologies for the E5400 Controller-Drive Trays . . . . . . . . . . 105
Drive Cabling Topologies for the E5424 Controller-Drive Tray and the
E5412 Controller-Drive Tray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Drive Cabling Topologies for the E5460 Controller-Drive Tray . . . . . . . 112
Drive Cabling Topologies for the CE4900 Controller-Drive Tray . . . . . . . . . 120
Drive Cabling Topologies for the CDE3994 Controller-Drive Tray and the
CDE3992 Controller-Drive Tray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
One CDE3994 Controller-Drive Tray or CDE3992 Controller-Drive Tray
and One Drive Tray. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
One CDE3994 Controller-Drive Tray or CDE3992 Controller-Drive Tray
and Two Drive Trays. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
One CDE3994 Controller-Drive Tray or CDE3992 Controller-Drive Tray
and Three Drive Trays. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
One CDE3994 Controller-Drive Tray or CDE3992 Controller-Drive Tray
and Four Drive Trays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
One CDE3994 Controller-Drive Tray or CDE3992 Controller-Drive Tray
and Five Drive Trays. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
One CDE3994 Controller-Drive Tray or CDE3992 Controller-Drive Tray
and Six Drive Trays. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Table of Contents ix
One CDE3994 Controller-Drive Tray or CDE3992 Controller-Drive Tray
and Multiple Types of Drive Trays. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Drive cabling topologies for the E2600 Controller-Drive Tray. . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Drive cabling topologies for the E2600 Controller-Drive Tray With DE1600
Drive Trays or DE5600 Drive Trays. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Drive cabling topologies for the E2660 Controller-Drive Tray. . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Drive cabling topologies for the E2660 Controller-Drive Tray With DE6600
Drive Trays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Chapter 5 Ethernet Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Direct Out-of-Band Ethernet Topology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Fabric Out-of-Band Ethernet Topology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Chapter 6 Component Locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Port Locations on the CE7922 and the CE7900 Controller Tray. . . . . . . . . . . 154
Component Locations on the CE6998 Controller Tray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Component Locations on the E5400 Controller-Drive Trays . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Component Locations on the CE4900 Controller-Drive Tray. . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Component Locations on the CDE3994 Controller-Drive Tray and the CDE3992
Controller-Drive Tray. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Component Locations on the E2600 Controller-Drive Tray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Component Locations on the E2660 Controller-Drive Tray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Component Locations on the DE6900 Drive Tray. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Component Locations on the DE6600 Drive Tray. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Component Locations on the FC4600 Drive Tray. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Component Locations on the AT2655 Drive Tray. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Component Locations on the FC2610 Drive Tray. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Component Locations on the FC2600 Drive Tray. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Component Locations on the DE1600 Drive Tray and the DE5600 Drive Tray. .
185
Chapter 7 Adding a Drive Tray to an Existing System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

xTable of Contents
Getting Ready. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
HotScale Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Adding Redundant Drive Channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Adding One Non-Redundant Drive Channel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Chapter 8 Hardware Installation for Synchronous Mirroring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Site Preparation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Switch Zoning Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Hardware Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
Highest Availability Campus Configuration – Recommended . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
Switch Zoning for Highest Availability Campus Configuration . . . . . . . 196
Connection for the Highest Availability Campus Configuration . . . . . . . 198
Campus Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
Switch Zoning for the Campus Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Connection for the Campus Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
Intra-Site Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
Switch Zoning for the Intra-Site Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Connection for the Intra-Site Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Installing and Using Synchronous Mirroring with a Wide Area Network. . . . 214
Line Capacities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Regulatory Compliance Statements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . FCC-1

Chapter 1: Cabling Concepts and Best Practices 1
1
Cabling Concepts and Best Practices
This chapter has three sections:
The first section, “Cabling Concepts” on page 1, provides definitions of the
terms used in this document. This section is intended primarily for reference.
Read the entire section to increase your overall understanding of the storage array
and help you to optimize your storage array.
The second section, “Best Practices” on page 13,contains information that might
affect your choice of cabling topologies. Read this section to understand the
options for attaching cables to your storage array.
The third section, “Common Procedures” on page 25 contains procedures that
you will need to perform while you attach cables to the storage array. Read this
section to understand tasks that might be required to attach cables to your storage
array.
Cabling
Concepts This section defines terms and concepts that are used in this document.
Fabric (Switched)
Topologies
Compared to
Direct-Attach
Topologies
Fabric topologies use a switch. Direct-attach topologies do not use a switch. A
switched topology is required if the number of hosts to connect to a controller tray or
controller-drive tray is greater than the number available host ports on the tray.
Host connections might be InfiniBand, SAS, Fibre Channel, iSCSI, or a mix of Fibre
Channel and iSCSI. Switches must support the required connection type or types. A
combination of switches of different types might be appropriate for some
configurations that support a mixture of connection types.
Drive Tray
A drive tray contains drives but no controllers. Drive trays usually are attached to
either a controller tray or a controller-drive tray so that the controller in the controller
tray or the controller-drive tray can configure, access, and manage the storage space
in the drive tray. Drive trays can be differentiated by type, which are described in the
following subsections.

2
Switched Bunch of
Disks Switched Bunch of Disks (SBOD) is a device that takes all of the drives that are
operating in a single Fibre Channel-Arbitrated Loop (FC-AL) segment and provides
each drive with access to one or more controllers in a point-to-point fashion. This
action is accomplished in a way that appears to be compliant with the FC-AL-2
protocol. As a result, system firmware changes are not required.
In this document, the FC2610 drive trays and the FC4600 drive trays are referred to as
SBODs in the cabling diagrams. The AT2655 drive trays are identified as SATA
(Serial Advanced Technology). The following figure shows an example of this type of
labeling for drive trays. The DE6900 drive trays and DE6600 drive trays are SBODs
and can be mixed only with FC4600 drive trays. Do not mix FC2600 drive trays with
other types of drive trays on the same loop.
Figure 1 SBOD Labeling in Cabling Diagrams

Chapter 1: Cabling Concepts and Best Practices 3
Controller Tray
A controller tray contains controllers. A controller tray does not contain drives.
Controller trays configure, access, and manage the storage space of attached drive
trays.
Controller-Drive
Tray A controller-drive tray contains both controllers and drives. The controllers
configure, access, and manage the storage space of the drives in the controller-drive
tray. A controller-drive tray might configure, access, and manage the storage space of
other attached drive trays, depending upon the model.
Host Channels and
Drive Channels In this document, the term channel refers to a path for the transfer of data information
and control information between the host and the controller, or between the drive
trays and the controller trays or controller-drive trays. A data path from a host to a
controller is a host channel. A host channel might be Fibre Channel, InfiniBand,
iSCSI, or Serial Attached SCSI (SAS). A path from a drive trays to a controller trays
or a controller-drive trays is a drive channel. Each drive channel is defined by a single
Fibre Channel-Arbitrated Loop or by a series of SAS devices connected through
expanders. Controllers have between two and eight available host channels, and
between one and eight available drive channels, depending upon the model. The
maximum number of hosts per host channel and the maximum number of drives per
drive channel depends upon the model. For model-specific information, see the topics
under "Product Compatibility" on page 31.
NOTE When you mix different types of drive trays, you must consider the total
number of drives that are available in the final configuration of the storage array. Your
configuration must meet both the limit on the total number of drives and the limits on
the number of drive trays of a given model.
Host Ports and Drive
Ports The ports are the physical connectors on the controller tray or the controller-drive tray
that, along with the cables, enable the transfer of data. If the port communicates with
the host server, it is a host port. If the port communicates with a drive tray, it is a drive
port. The figures in the topics under "Component Locations" show the connectors on
the rear of each of the various trays. These figures will help you differentiate between
host ports and drive ports.

4
Dual-Ported Drives Each drive in a controller-drive tray or a drive tray is dual ported. Circuitry in the
drive tray or the controller-drive tray connects one drive port to one channel and the
other port to another channel. Therefore, if one drive port or drive channel fails, the
data on the drive is accessible through the other drive port or drive channel.
SATA drives are not dual ported; however, the electronics in the AT2655 drive tray
emulate the behavior of dual-ported drives. Each SATA drive is available through two
paths.
Preferred
Controllers and
Alternate
Controllers The preferred controller is the controller that “owns” a volume or a volume group.
SANtricity™ES Storage Manager automatically selects the preferred controller when
a volume is created, or the user can override the default selection.
Several conditions will force the preferred controller to fail over to the alternate
controller. When this event occurs, ownership of the volume is shifted to the alternate
controller. These conditions might initiate failover:
The preferred controller is physically removed.
The preferred controller is being updated with new firmware.
The preferred controller has sustained a fatal event.
The paths used by the preferred controller to access either the drivedrives or the host
are called the preferred paths, and the redundant paths are the alternate paths. If a
failure occurs that causes the preferred path to become inaccessible, the alternate path
software detects the failure and automatically switches to the alternate path.
Alternate Path
Software Alternate path software or an alternate path (failover) driver is a software tool that
provides redundant data path management between the host bus adapter (HBA) and
the controller. This tool is installed on the host in a system that provides redundant
HBAs and paths. The tool discovers and identifies multiple paths to a single logical
unit number (LUN) and establishes a preferred path to that LUN. If any component in
the preferred path fails, the alternate path software automatically reroutes input/output
(I/O) requests to the alternate path so that the system continues to operate without
interruption.
To learn how alternate path software works with SANtricity ES Storage Manager
features to provide data path protection, refer to the topics under Concepts or the
corresponding PDF document on the SANtricity ES Storage Manager Installation
DVD.

Chapter 1: Cabling Concepts and Best Practices 5
Failover Failover is an automatic operation that switches from a failed component or failing
component to an operational component. In the case of a Redundant Array of
Independent Disks (RAID) controller failover, an operational controller takes over the
ownership of volumes. The operational controller processes I/O from the host in place
of the failing component or failed controller. Controller failover is possible only in
controller trays or in controller-drive trays that contain two controllers.
In a system in which the alternate path software tool is installed on the host, the data
paths through the failed HBA are replaced by data paths through the surviving HBA.
For more information, refer to the topics under Failover or to the corresponding PDF
on the SANtricity ES Storage Manager Installation DVD.
Redundant and
Non-Redundant The term redundant indicates the existence of something more than what is essential
to accomplish a task. In storage area network technology, redundancy means that
essential services are implemented using duplicated components in such a way that if
one component fails an alternative component continues to provide the service. This
redundancy ensures the availability of data in case a component fails.
In most RAID systems, most of the components are redundant, but that the system
might not be fully redundant. In other words, there might be one or two components
whose individual failures would cause loss of access to data. Therefore, a fully
redundant system duplicates all components and is configured to make sure that the
duplicate components can be accessed in case of a failure. The manner in which the
system is connected is an essential component of creating a successfully configured
redundant system.
Single Point of
Failure Any component or path that is not duplicated (redundant) or whose failure can cause
loss of data access is called a potential single point of failure. The cabling scenarios in
this document note the components that present a potential single point of failure.
Choose a cabling topology that does not create a single point of failure.

6
SFP Transceivers,
Fiber-Optic Cables,
and Copper Cables Controller-drive trays, controller trays, and drive trays use fiber-optic cables or
copper cables for Fibre Channel connections. For copper Fibre Channel cables, a
passive copper Small Form-factor Pluggable (SFP) transceiver is attached to each end
of the cable. InfiniBand connections are made with fiber-optic cables. If your system
will be connected with Fibre Channel or InfiniBand fiber-optic cables, you must
install an active SFP transceiver into each port in which a fiber-optic cable will be
connected before plugging in the fiber-optic cable. Connections for 1-Gb/s iSCSI use
copper cables with RJ-45 connectors and do not require SFP transceivers.
Connections for SAS use copper cables with SFF 8088 connectors and do not require
SFP transceivers. The following figures show the two types of cables that use SFP
transceivers. Note that your SFP transceivers and cables might look slightly different
from the ones shown. The differences do not affect the performance of the SFP
transceivers.
WARNING (W03) Risk of exposure to laser radiation – Do not disassemble or
remove any part of a Small Form-factor Pluggable (SFP) transceiver because you
might be exposed to laser radiation.
Figure 2 Active SFP Transceiver with Fiber-Optic Cable
1. Active SFP Transceiver
2. Fiber-Optic Cable

Chapter 1: Cabling Concepts and Best Practices 7
Figure 3 Passive SFP Transceiver with Copper Cable
1. Copper Cable
2. Passive SFP Transceiver
Host Adapters Each connection from a host port on a controller tray or a controller-drive tray to a
host is made through a host adapter on the host. A host adapter can be a host bus
adapter (HBA) for Fibre Channel or SAS connections, a host channel adapter (HCA)
for InfiniBand connections, or an Ethernet adapter for iSCSI connections. The host
adapter provides the interface to the internal bus of the host. For hardware
redundancy, use two host adapters in each host computer. The two host adapters must
be of the same type (HBAs, HCAs, or Ethernet). For duplex controller trays or duplex
controller-drive trays, connect each host adapter to a different controller in a
controller tray or a controller-drive tray to make sure that the server will be accessible
even if one HBA or one controller fails.
ATTENTION Possiblelossofdataaccess– Do not use a combination of HBAs from
different vendors in the same storage area network (SAN). For the HBAs to perform
correctly, use HBAs from only one manufacturer in a SAN.
You can obtain information about supported host adapters from the NetApp
Interoperability Matrix Tool (IMT). To check for current compatibility, visit the web
site at: http://now.netapp.com.

8
Host Interface Cards Each controller in a CE7900 controller tray has one or two host interface cards (HICs)
that contain the host ports. Each controller in a CE4900 controller-drive tray has two
Fibre Channel host ports built in, as well as an optional HIC for additional host ports.
Each controller in an E2600 controller-drive tray or an E2660 controller-drive tray
has two SAS host ports built in, as well as an optional HIC for additional host ports. A
E5400 controller-drive tray has two quad 8-Gb/s Fibre Channel ports built in and an
optional HIC for additional host ports.
An HIC is attached to a host adapter: a host bus adapter (HBA) for Fibre Channel or
SAS, a host channel adapter (HCA) for InfiniBand, or an Ethernet adapter for iSCSI.
The host adapter in the host must match the type of HIC to which it is attached.
Network Interface
Cards A network interface card (NIC) is an expansion board that is installed in the host
server. Some servers are equipped with an integrated NIC. The NIC supports Ethernet
technology. The NIC is required for network communication. Each Ethernet cable
connection for out-of-band storage array management is made through an NIC (see
the topics under "In-Band Management and Out-of-Band Management" on page
10).
NOTE It is the responsibility of the customer to obtain the required NICs and to install
them.
Switches and
Zoning A switch is an intelligent device that connects multiple devices. A switch allows data
transfer between the devices, depending upon the designated source (initiator) and the
destination (target) of the data. Switches can redirect traffic to ports other than the
designated destination, if necessary. A switch provides full bandwidth per port and
high-speed routing of data.
Zoning allows a single hardware switch to function as two or more virtual switches.
In a zoned configuration, communication among devices in each zone is independent
of communication among devices in another zone or zones. Zoned switches allow an
administrator to restrict access to specific areas within a storage area network (SAN).

Chapter 1: Cabling Concepts and Best Practices 9
How Initiators and
Targets Respond to
Zoning
When an initiator first accesses the fabric, it queries the World Wide Identifier
(WWID) name server for all of the attached disks and drive trays and their
capabilities. Zoning is like a filter that the WWID name server applies to the query
from the initiator that limits the information returned by the WWID name server to
the initiator. A zone defines the WWID of the initiator and the WWID of the devices
that a particular zone is allowed to access. Devices that are not part of the zone are not
returned as accessible devices.
The fabric provides universal access for all initiators and targets. Any initiator can
query (probe) the fabric for all targets, which can affect performance when many
targets are connected to the fabric. The querying process also provides access to
devices for which access is not needed. Use zoning to limit the number of devices that
an initiator can access. Within your storage area network, you should zone the fabric
switches so that the initiators do not “see” or communicate with each other.
How Best to Approach
Zone Configuration Some of the cabling topologies shown in this document require the use of a zoned
switch. By default, the switch uses no zoning, which is not sufficiently robust for
most applications. You must configure the switch before you use it.
Zone configuration is managed on a per-fabric basis. While you can administer zone
configuration from any switch, use the best practice of selecting one switch for all
zone administration. Give preference to the primary switches within the SAN, and
choose only a switch that has the most up-to-date storage management software and
switch management software installed on it.

10
In-Band
Management and
Out-of-Band
Management A system administrator manages a storage array from a storage management station,
which is a workstation on which the SANtricity ES Storage Manager Client is
installed. Requests and status information sent between the storage array and the
storage management station are managed in one of two ways: in-band or out-of-band.
A storage array that uses out-of-band management requires a different network
topology from a storage array that uses in-band management.
When you use in-band management, a SANtricity ES Storage Manager agent running
on the host receives requests from the management station. The host agent processes
the requests through the host I/O interface to the storage array. The host I/O interface
might be Fibre Channel, serial-attached Small Computer System Interface (SAS),
InfiniBand, or Internet SCSI (iSCSI).
Figure 4 Example of In-Band Management Topology
1. Ethernet Network
2. User Workstations Sending and Receiving Data
3. Storage Management Station
4. Host
5. Host Adapters
6. Controller A
7. Controller B
8. Controller Tray or Controller-Drive Tray for the Storage
Array