A direct-attached configuration dedicates entire port bandwidth
to be used for a specific connection. Planning must account for the
volume of expected traffic before you decide how many ports are used
in a direct-attached configuration.
The system offers multiple options in deciding how to create a direct-attached configuration.
Because of the bandwidth requirements when you are using a direct-attached configuration, it is
important to determine the volume of expected traffic in deciding the number of required ports.
The following guidelines are provided for direct-attached configurations.
- Fibre Channel direct attachment to host
systems:
The
system allows direct attachment connectivity between its Fibre Channel ports and host ports.
Host systems can be connected to 8 Gb or 16 Gb Fibre Channel ports onthe
system. No special configuration is required for host systems that are using this
configuration.
- Fibre Channel direct attachment between nodes in asystem
system:
Direct connection ofthe system
Fibre Channel ports without using a Fibre Channel switch is supported. Such direct connections
between the
system nodes might be useful in small configurations where there is no Fibre Channel switch. It
can also be used to connect nodes in the same I/O group to provide a dedicated connection for
mirroring the fast write cache data. Ensure that sufficient bandwidth is provisioned between nodes
to accommodate all the intra-node traffic.
This platform
supports Fibre Channel direct attachment on all 16 Gb ports.