Sun Microsystems StorEdge 3000 Series, Best Practices Manual

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20 Sun StorEdge 3000 Family Best Practices Manual • March 2007
Sun StorEdge 3510 FC arrays and Sun StorEdge 3511 SATA arrays are designed to be
deployed in SANs based on switched Fibre Channel fabrics. In a SAN scenario, the
server HBAs are connected to one side of the fabric and storage is connected to the
other. A SAN fabric automatically routes Fibre Channel packets between ports on
one or many Fibre Channel switches.
SAN deployment enables Sun StorEdge 3510 FC arrays and Sun StorEdge 3511 SATA
arrays to be used by a larger number of hosts. This storage strategy tends to utilize
storage resources more effectively and is commonly referred to as
storage
consolidation.
The number of hosts that can effectively share one Sun StorEdge 3510 FC array or
Sun StorEdge 3511 SATA array depends on several factors, such as the type of host
application, bandwidth requirements, and the need for concurrent IOPs. Since most
applications have moderate performance needs, it is quite feasible to have several
hosts sharing the same Sun StorEdge 3510 FC or 3511 SATA array controller, with the
following network characteristics:
■
Applications suitable for the Sun StorEdge 3511 SATA array might feature higher
bandwidth and lower IOPS than those better suited to the Sun StorEdge 3510 FC
array. Sharing a StorEdge 3511 SATA array effectively among several servers
depends upon the division of performance among the applications installed on
each server actively accessing the Sun StorEdge 3511 SATA array.
■
The Sun StorEdge 3510 FC Array is better suited for larger configurations with
broader application requirements and higher IOPS.
A SAN can also support multiple Sun StorEdge 3510 FC arrays and Sun StorEdge
3511 SATA arrays. Increasing the number of arrays makes more performance and
capacity available within a storage network for sharing among the servers connected
to the SAN. A SAN also provides great flexibility in how storage capacity can be
allocated among servers and eliminates cabling changes when reallocation of storage
becomes necessary.
When a Sun StorEdge 3510 FC array or Sun StorEdge 3511 SATA array is deployed in
a SAN, both point-to-point (full fabric) and arbitrated loop (public loop) modes are
supported. Point-to-point mode enables superior full-duplex performance but limits
the total number of addressable LUNs to 128, or to 64 when redundant pathing is
used.