environment for the same reasons in an
effort to help maintain access to data.
Each server is configured with redun-
dant Host Bus Adapters. Each Host
Bus Adapter is connected to a different
SAN switch, and each switch is con-
nected to a different controller in a disk
system. Every effort is made to maintain
application access to data.
The SAN32M-2 is an excellent switch
to use in a clustered server environ-
ment. Separate SAN switches enable
two separate SAN fabrics, which are
desirable as a means to help minimize
or eliminate single points of failure. The
yellow and green clusters shown above
provide redundant components at every
level and are designed to help minimize
application outages.
Business continuity solution
Many small- and medium-sized compa-
nies want to implement a business con-
tinuity or remote backup capability to
help address strict new regulatory
requirements. The SAN32M-2 fabric
switch can help provide the SAN con-
nectivity required for these environ-
ments. The diagram on the following
page is intended to represent two dif-
ferent sites. The blue side represents
the production site and the green side
represents the remote or backup site.
Many disk subsystems, including the
IBM TotalStorage DS6000 and DS4000
series, are capable of copying data to a
remote location. The data path for the
remote copy operation is represented
by the red links in the diagram.
Two SAN32M-2 fabric switches can be
connected over metro distances (up to
10 km) using longwave SFP optical
transceivers. Longer distances can be
supported with SAN routers, such as
the IBM TotalStorage SAN04M-R and
SAN16M-R, which transport Fibre
Channel Protocol (FCP) over Internet
Protocol (IP) networks without merging
the local and remote fabrics.
SAN32M-2 fabric switches can also be
used to connect two locations to
enable remote data backup. An
Information Lifecycle Management (ILM)
application such as IBM Tivoli® Storage
Manager (TSM), which runs on a server
in the production site, can write data to
a tape system at a remote location. The
same distance capabilities are available
for the business continuity solution
described above.
First time SAN users characteristics
Easy to install and maintain
The SAN32M-2 includes capabilities
designed to make it easy to install and
easy to maintain for system administra-
tors who have minimal experience with
SAN components. EFCM Basic pro-
vides intuitive graphic switch manage-
ment capabilities. Installation and
backup/restore wizards are included for
novice users which are designed to
help guide them through switch setup
and operation.
EFMC Basic (formerly SANpilot) is
designed for first-time SAN users with
minimum SAN expertise. EFCM Basic
can help simplify monitoring and config-
uration management. Functions include
Web browser access, fabric and switch
configuration management, port activity
monitoring and reset, firmware updat-
ing, event logging, diagnostics and
