Apply these configuration details to nodes to ensure that you have a valid configuration.
SAN fabric function is available only if a Fibre Channel option is installed. Otherwise, this information does not apply.
Node canisters contain four ports for Fibre Channel connections and two ports for 1 Gbps Ethernet connections.
Each node presents a volume to the SAN through Fibre Channel ports, FCoE ports, iSCSI ports, or SAS ports. Each volume is accessible from the two nodes in an I/O group. Each HBA port can recognize up to eight paths to each logical unit (LU) that is presented by the clustered system. The hosts must run a multi-pathing device driver before the multiple paths can resolve to a single device. You can use fabric zoning to reduce the number of paths to a volume that are visible by the host.
The number of paths through the network from an I/O group to a host must not exceed eight; configurations that exceed eight paths are not supported. Each node has four 8 Gbps Fibre Channel ports and each I/O group has two nodes. Therefore, without any zoning, the number of paths to a volume is eight multiplied by the number of host ports.
Optical fiber connections can be used between a node and its switches.
Systems that use the intersystem Metro Mirror and Global Mirror feature can use optical fiber connections between the switches, or they can use distance-extender technology that is supported by the switch manufacturer.
The system supports shortwave and longwave Fibre Channel connections between nodes and the switches to which they are connected.
The system supports shortwave Fibre Channel connections between its nodes and the switches to which they connect.
To avoid communication between nodes that route across interswitch links (ISLs), connect all nodes to the same Fibre Channel or FCF switches.
No ISL hops are permitted among the nodes within the same I/O group. However, no more than three ISL hops are permitted among nodes that are in the same system though different I/O groups. If your configuration requires more than three ISL hops for nodes that are in the same system but in different I/O groups, contact your support center.
To avoid communication between nodes and storage systems that are being routed across ISLs, connect all storage systems to the same Fibre Channel switches as the nodes. One ISL hop between the nodes and the storage controllers is permitted. If your configuration requires more than one ISL, contact your support center.
Avoid communication between nodes and storage systems that are being routed across ISLs. To do so, connect all storage systems to the same Fibre Channel or FCF switches as the nodes. One ISL hop between the nodes and the storage systems is permitted. If your configuration requires more than one ISL, contact your support center.
In larger configurations, it is common to have ISLs between host systems and the nodes.
Fibre Channel ports on node canisters can operate at 2 Gbps, 4 Gbps, 8 Gbps, or 16 Gbps.