Storage Area Networks and Fibre Channel

1. Storage Area Networks and Fibre Channel Steven Wilson Preetham Gopalaswamy Brocade Communications Systems, Inc.

2. Today’s Topics • Storage Area Networks • Fibre Channel Technology • Fibre Channel Management • Common Information Model (CIM)

3. The Server-to-Storage Bottleneck

4. 1990’s Technology Does Not Scale

5. What is a SAN? • Open Systems Model for Network Storage • Enhanced Storage Management • Flexibility to add or reconfigure storage as needed without downtime • Independent Scaling of CPU and Storage capacity • De-couples servers and storage so that either can be scaled separately • Easy Migration • Current applications run without software changes • Incremental deployment allows flexible adoption

6. SAN Benefits • Dynamic Allocation of Resources (storage and applications) • High Data/Application Availability • Non-disruptive Maintenance • Continuous operations if server or storage has to be removed from cluster • Add, delete storage on the fly • Cost Savings • Shared Storage

7. What is Fibre Channel • Open standard, ratified in 1993 • Optimized for large block transfer with built-in reliability • Distance¾for disaster tolerant configurations • Independent scaling of servers and storage¾creating the virtual private data center/Virtual Private SANs • Adopts legacy environments and applications • Concurrency of networking and storage protocols on single NIC¾reducing costs of ownership: SCSI, IP, VI, FICON, Etc. • Single technology for server-storage area networking, clustering (server-server)

8. Fibre Channel Standards Activities T11 • Fibre Channel transport,Topology, Generic Services, physical, media standards SNIA • SAN Application,discovery,security, management Standards. Not yet an accredited standards body, but provides input to other standards bodies IETF • IP related standards and MIBs and Storage over IP efforts T10 • SCSI storage protocols for Fibre Channel and others DMTF • Fibre Channel work group, Common Information Model (CIM) FCIA • Fibre Channel technology road maps, interoperability specifications and plug-fests

9. Important T11 Standards • FC-FS – Framing and Signaling, Replaces FC-PH, FC-PH-2, and FC-PH-3 • FC-SW-2 and FC-SW-3 – Switch Fabric Standard, Describes How Switches Communicate with One Another • FC-GS-3 and FC-GS-4 – Generic Services, Describes the Well-Known Server Architecture and Related Transports • FC-BB-2 – Backbone, Describes How Fibre Channel Frames are Transported Over WAN Connections • FC-MI – Methodologies for Interconnects, Interoperability Profile, FC HBA API • FC-SP – Security Protocols, Authentication, Authorization, Policy Management, Confidentiality

10. Fibre Channel- Hybrid Transport System -

11. Multiple Protocols On Common Fibre Channel Transport VI Multiple Mapping Standards Streams Transfer FICON CT Single Transport Standard 10 GB

12. FC-0 • Physical Variants • Optical (Laser, LED) • Copper (Coax, Twisted Pair) • Single Mode vs Multi-mode Fibre

13. FC-1 • 8B10B Encoding • Running Disparity • Ensures Virtually An Equal Number of 1’s and 0’s • DC-Balanced • Facilitates Amplifier Design – Lower Power • Ensures Synchronization For Clocking Purposes • IBM Holds the Patent

14. Fibre Channel Information Transfer FC-2 Layer¾Framing and Protocol Buffer Buffer S O F C R C E O F Header Data Sequence 3 Sequence 2 “Packets” (Large Blocks) Exchange (Protocol Operation) Sequence 1 Sequence FC Frame (Max. 2112 Bytes) (server/storage/WS) Device 2 Device 1 (server/storage/WS)

15. FC-4 Mappings • Maps Upper Level Protocols to Fibre Channel • Examples are SCSI, IP, VI, FICON • FC-CT is Mapped for Inband Management Use

16. Fibre Channel Ports and Nodes • N_Port, NL_Port, F_Port, FL_Port, E_Port, B_Port • Each Nx_Port Has a Fabric Unique 24 Bit Address • Each Nx_Port Has a Unique WWN • Nx_Ports Must Login With One Another Prior to Data Transfer • When a Fabric Exists, Ports Also Login to the Fabric • A Node is a Collection of Ports • Each Node Has a Unique WWN

17. Data Transport Services- Meet Different Application Needs -

18. Fibre Channel Topologies • Point-to-point¾two devices connected together

19. Fibre Channel Topologies • Arbitrated loop • Up to 126 devices on a shared media for small systems at reduced cost and reduced performance level

20. Fibre Channel Topologies¾the Fabric • Large connectivity on non-shared media, whichallows concurrent communicating pairs • Highest performance level • High scalability • Good fault isolation • Embedded management and services

21. Fibre Channel Services • Login Server • Fabric Controller • Common Transport • Name Server • Alias Server • Time Server • Management Server

22. Port Interfaces NL_Port F_Port N_Port

23. Point-to-Point Remote Connection between Fibre Channel Systems Through WAN WTU WTU Fibre Channel switch Fibre Channel switch ATM/ SONET/IP network Fibre Channel switch FC-BB-2 and FCIP Standards Fibre Channel switch • Remote Backup • Remote Mirroring • Disaster Recovery WTU: Wan Tunneling Unit

24. Characteristics of FC Switches • Switches Connect to One Another Using E_Ports and Inter Switch Links (ISLs) • Switches Route Frames Based on the 24 Bit DID • DID Consists of: 8 Bit Domain ID, 8 Bit Area ID, and 8 Bit Port ID • Each Switch Has a Unique Domain ID (239 Max) • Switch to Switch Communication Uses Class F Which is Similar to Class 2 • Switches Implement a Fabric Controller and other Well-Known Servers • Switches Allow Inband and Out-Band Management

25. Functions of the Fabric • Switch Port Initialization • Fabric Configuration • FSPF • Zoning • Distributed Server • RSCN

26. Zoning • Similar To VLANs in the Networking World • Provides an Access Control Mechanism • Allows End-Devices to Only Communicate With End-Devices in the Same Zone • Two Types of Enforcement • Hard • Soft • Affects the Discovery Process • May Eventually be Applied to Resources Behind the N_Port (e.g. LUNs)

27. Zoning Structure

28. Fibre Channel Generic Services Discovery Service Management Service Simple Name Service Node Node Node Node Node Node Node Node • Registration and discovery of Switches, Fabric ports and their attributes. • Configuration Management • Fabric Device Management • Zone Management • Integrated with Fabric and • distributed • Registry and directory service to discover nodes and their attributes (connected to Fabric) • Integrated with Fabric and • Distributed • Operational in Nature • Discovery of Physical topology • Discovery of Logical association between devices • Acquires topology information from Simple Name Service and Management service N_Port FC-GS-3 FC-GS-4 Standards Fibre Channel Fabric (Distributed Services) N_Port N_Port

29. Brocade Software Stack Management Applications Manageability Services and Applications Management Services Critical Services Fabric Services Group Core Services S A M S Kernel Drivers Platform Group OS Kernel Hardware

30. Traditional Fibre Channel Management • Common Transport (FC-CT) • Standardized Native Inband Management • IP over FC: • Proprietary In-band Management • WEB Based Management • Out of Band Proprietary Management • SNMP • Standardized (Almost) Out of Band Management • Telnet/CLI • Proprietary Out of Band Management • API Based Management • Proprietary Management Out of Band Management

31. Post Modern Fibre Channel Management • Object Based Management • CIM/WBEM (Web-based Enterprise Management) • Combines Management Capabilities Exposed Through Other Interfaces • CIM Capabilities Can be Provided By Agents or Integrated Directly Into SAN Products

32. Managing Brocade Fabrics API SNMP WebTools Fabric Manager Management Agent Brocade Data Model Fabric RPCd SNMPd HTTPd Switch Unified Data Access Layer

33. CIM – Common Information Model • It is a Data Model, not an implementation • There are two parts to CIM • The CIM Specification • CIM Schema • CIM Specification (currently 2.2) describes the language, naming, Meta Schema (a formal definition of the model) • Formal definition of the CIM Schema is expressed in a Managed Object File (MOF)

34. Everything about CIMthat you really did not want to ask

35. Everything about CIMthat you really did not want to ask • Objects have inheritance • Abstract and Concrete • Objects have methods: Intrinsic and Extrinsic • Objects can maintain backward compatibility and support deprecation • Associations are objects which means they can have properties • Events are Objects • CIM Schema provides the actual model descriptions • Core Schema • Common Schema (System, Network, Devices,…) • Extension Schema • CIM 2.7 has simplified the Fibre Channel model and added Zoning

36. Everything about CIMthat you really did not want to ask • The methods supported by a class vary with what interfaces/interface methods a given provider supports for that class. • Instance Provider • deleteInstance • createInstance • getInstance • setInstance • enumerateInstanceNames • enumerateInstances • PropertyProvider • setProperty • getProperty • Method Provider • invokeMethod Query Provider • invokeQuery

37. CIM-based Management Solution Object Model Access Protocol and Data Format Data Information Model Customer Deliverables Agent Client I/F Object Manager Higher Level Services Provider I/F Device Provider Fabric Data Access Fabric Layer

38. Peeking under the hood Name Server Fabric Watch Mgmt. Server Zoning Perf. Monitoring Routing/Pathing To Provider Host Fabric Http Daemon RPC Daemon SNMP Agent

39. Why move to a CIM-agent solution? • Looser linkage between application and Brocade library • Less integration headaches • More flexible application interfaces (i.e. java and other compilation environments) • Agent can support multiple applications simultaneously • Delivers a “standards-compatible” interface (e.g. CIM)

40. Questions

41. Thank You!