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ISM v3 Module 9 - Elearning - Exercise

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23 views

ISM v3 Module 9 - Elearning - Exercise

Uploaded by

Rapture M.B.
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The storage infrastructure of an IT organization includes three block-based storage

systems direct-attached to a heterogeneous mix of 45 compute systems. All compute


systems are dual-attached to the storage systems for high availability. Because each
storage system has 32 front-end ports, each could support a maximum of 16 compute
systems. However, each existing storage system has the storage drive capacity to
support a maximum of 32 compute systems.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Module 9: Fibre Channel (FC) SAN 1
The organization plans to purchase 45 more compute systems to meet its growth requirements. If
it continues using direct-attached storage, the organization needs to purchase additional storage
systems to connect these new compute systems. The organization realizes that its existing
storage systems are poorly utilized; therefore, it plans to implement FC SAN to overcome the
scalability and utilization challenges. The organization uses high-performance applications;
therefore, it wants to minimize the number of ISLs or hop count required for compute-to-storage
traffic.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Module 9: Fibre Channel (FC) SAN 2
Given that 72-port FC switches are available for interconnectivity, propose a fabric topology to
address organization’s challenges and requirements. Justify your choice of the fabric topology. In
addition, determine the minimum number of switches required in the fabric.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Module 9: Fibre Channel (FC) SAN 3
Single-switch topology cannot be implemented because the available FC switch does not provide
the required number of ports for node connectivity. Full mesh topology is not suitable for an
environment that requires high scalability. Partial mesh although provides more scalability than
full mesh, but several hops or ISLs may be required for the network traffic to reach its
destination.

Therefore, the recommended solution is core-edge topology. The core-edge topology provides
higher scalability than mesh topology. It also provides a maximum of one-hop or one-ISL storage
access to all compute systems in the environment. As ISLs between the edge switches are not
needed, the core-edge topology conserves the overall switch port utilization which increases
connectivity within the fabric.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Module 9: Fibre Channel (FC) SAN 4
Total number of compute system ports = 90 compute systems × 2 ports = 180 ports

Total number of storage system ports = 3 storage systems × 32 ports = 96 ports

Number of switches required at the core = 96 storage system ports / 72 ports per switch ≈ 2
switches

The core switches provide 144 ports of which 96 ports will be used for storage system
connectivity. Remaining 48 ports can be used for ISLs and future growth.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Module 9: Fibre Channel (FC) SAN 5
Number of switches at the edge = 180 compute system ports / 72 ports per switch ≈ 3 switches

The edge switches provide 216 ports of which 180 ports will be used for compute system
connectivity. Remaining 36 ports can be used for ISLs and future growth.

So, at minimum, two core switches and three edge switches are required to implement the core-
edge fabric.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Module 9: Fibre Channel (FC) SAN 6

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