Monday, October 11, 2010

Integrated Network Services

Cisco MDS 9000 Family intelligent fabric applications provide a level of integration with intelligent SAN services that is unavailable to host based virtualization and storage solutions. The Cisco MDS 9000 Family platform with the integrated Cisco Storage Services Module delivers the intelligence and advanced features required to make multilayer, intelligent SANs a reality, including hardware-enabled innovations that dramatically improve scalability, availability, security, and manageability of storage networks-resulting in increased utility and lower total cost of ownership (TCO).
Multiprotocol Intelligence
The Cisco MDS 9000 Family multiprotocol platform is designed for cost-optimized, high-performance, and highly available storage networks. It uses disk pooling, replication, data migration, continuous data protection, and Network-Accelerated Serverless Backup that is enabled through the Cisco MDS 9000 Family Storage Services Module. With support of the IETF standard Small Computer System Interface over IP (iSCSI) protocol over Ethernet, and Fibre Channel over IP (FCIP), intelligent fabric applications using the Cisco MDS 9000 Family platform can take full advantage of SAN extension and cost-effective connectivity. Organizations can provide virtualization and storage services to clients attached either directly through Fibre Channel or by using the iSCSI protocol for cost-effective connectivity to shared storage pools. The Cisco MDS 9000 Family FCIP capability simplifies deployment of virtualization and storage services over extended distances, eliminating the need for separate channel-extension devices. The Cisco MDS 9000 Family platform is designed to support future storage protocols so that users can migrate to new technologies while retaining a consistent set of features, services, and management tools.
Virtual SANs and IVR Enhance SAN Security and Stability
Virtual SANs (VSANs) allow more efficient SAN utilization by creating hardware-based isolated environments within a single physical fabric or switch. Each VSAN can be zoned as a typical SAN and each maintains its own network services for added scalability and resilience. VSANs allow the cost of SAN infrastructure to be shared among more users, while helping ensure absolute segregation of traffic and retaining independent control of configuration on a VSAN-by-VSAN basis. VSANs provide a protective barrier between application hosts (host VSANs) and physical storage (disk VSANs), enhancing data integrity in a virtualized storage environment.
The Cisco MDS 9000 Family Storage Services Module supports Inter-VSAN Routing, the industry's first routing function for Fibre Channel. Inter-VSAN Routing allows selective transfer of data traffic between specific initiators and targets on different VSANs while maintaining isolation of control traffic within each VSAN. With Inter-VSAN Routing, data can transit VSAN boundaries while maintaining control-plane isolation, thereby maintaining network stability and availability

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