You are designing a new SAN fabric for a customer environment. The customer want the
design to provide easy of scalability, multiple resiliency, and support for a mix of local and
distributed access. Which FibreChannel topology should you recommend?
A.
Meshed
B.
Core-edge
C.
Cascaded
D.
Ring
Explanation:
Cascaded fabric Benefits
The benefits of a cascaded fabric include:
• Ability to connect SANs in diverse geographic locations
• Ease of scalability for increased server and storage connectivity
• Shared backup and management support
• Optimum local performance when communicating devices are connected to the same
switchin the cascaded fabric
• Cost efficiency due to the large number of switch ports available
• Support for local data access and occasional centralized data access
Meshed fabric Benefits
The benefits of a meshed fabric include:
• Ability to meet multiple data access needs
• Multiple paths for internal fabric resiliency
• Ease of scalability
• Shared backup and management support
• Support for a mix of local and distributed data access (see “Topology data access” (page
33))• Less impact on performance due to intraswitch traffic
Ring fabric Benefits
The benefits of a ring fabric include:
• Modular design and ease of scalability by adding a switch and other devices
• Multiple paths for internal fabric resiliency
• Support for a mix of local data access and occasional centralized data access
Core-edge fabric Benefits
The benefits of a core-edge fabric include:
• Typically, a maximum of two hops between switches
• Equal, centralized access to devices in the core
• Increased fabric and switch redundancy with two or more switches in the core
• Full many-to-many connectivity with evenly distributed bandwidth
• Support for centralized and distributed data access needs
• Ability to designate an optimally located
Single-switch fabric Benefits
The benefits of a single-switch fabric include:
• Easy installation and configuration of servers and storage
• Maximum fabric performance because all communicating devices connect to the same
switch
• Support for local, centralized, and distributed data access needs