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storage area

NetWorK

DATA SHEET

Bocade ISL Tunking is an optional softwae

poduct available fo all Bocade 2, 4, and

8 Gbit/sec Fibe Channel switches, Bocade

Fabic OS-based diectos, and the Bocade

DCX Backbone. This technology is ideal fo

optimizing pefomance and simplifying the

management of multi-switch SAN fabics

containing Bocade 1, 2, and 4 Gbit/sec

switches and diectos and the latest

8 Gbit/sec solutions. When two o moe

adjacent ISLs in a pot goup ae used toconnect two switches with tunking enabled,

the switches automatically goup the ISLs into

a single logical ISL, o tunk. The thoughput

of the esulting tunk can be anywhee fom

4 Gbit/sec to as much as 68 Gbit/sec.

Increased Performance

wIth IsL trunkIng

ISL Trunking is designed to signicantly

reduce trafc congestion in storage

netwoks. As shown in Figue 1, up to eight

ISLs can be combined into a single logical

ISL with a total bandwidth of 68 Gbit/sec

that can suppot any numbe of devices.

To balance wokload acoss all of the ISLs

in the tunk, each incoming fame is sent

across the rst available physical ISL in

the tunk. As a esult, tansient wokload

peaks ae much less likely to impact the

pefomance of othe pats of the SAN

fabic and bandwidth is not wasted by

fi 1.

ISL Tunking is available fo 4 and 8 Gbit/sec links.

5.5 G

4 G

1.5 G

4.5 G

1 G

7 G

4 G

5 G1.5 G

2 G

8 Gbit/sec with 8 tunks

congestion

68 gi/

wi ti

68 gi/

wi tiwi ti

7 G

4 G1 G

5 G

1.5 G

2 G ASIC Peseves

In-ode Delivey

ASIC Peseves

In-ode Delivey

5.5 G

4 G

1.5 G

4.5 G

5.5 G

4 G

1.5 G

4.5 G

4 G

4 G

1.5 G

4 G

...n

...n

Optimal bandwidth

using up to eight

4 o 8 Gbit/sec links

t iivil

8.5 gi/ li

BrOCADEINTEr-SWITCHLINK TrUNKING

hIghLIghts

Combines up to eight ISLs into a

single logical tunk that povides

up to 68 Gbit/sec data tansfes

(with 8 Gbit/sec solutions)

Optimizes link usage by evenly

distributing trafc across all ISLs at

the fame level

Maintains in-ode delivey to ensue

data eliability

Helps ensue eliability and availability

even if a link in the tunk fails

Optimizes fabic-wide pefomance

and load balancing with Dynamic Path

Selection (DPS)

Simplies management by reducing the

numbe of ISLs equied

Povides a high-pefomance solution fo

netwok- and data-intensive applications

Hih Pfmnc f

Dmndin applicin

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DATA SHEET

2008 Bocade Communications Systems, Inc. All rights reseved. 05/08 GA-DS-134-07

Bocade, Fabic OS, File Lifecycle Manage, MyView, and StoageX ae egisteed tademaks and the Bocade B-wing

symbol, DCX, and SAN Health ae tademaks of Bocade Communications Systems, Inc., in the United States and/o

in othe counties. All othe bands, poducts, o sevice names ae o may be tademaks o sevice maks of, and ae

used to identify, poducts o sevices of thei espective ownes.

Notice: This document is fo infomational puposes only and does not set foth any waanty, expessed o implied,

concening any equipment, equipment featue, o sevice offeed o to be offeed by Bocade. Bocade eseves the

ight to make changes to this document at any time, without notice, and assumes no esponsibility fo its use. This

informational document describes features that may not be currently available. Contact a Brocade sales ofce for

infomation on featue and poduct availability. Expot of technical data contained in this document may equie an

expot license fom the United States govenment.

inefcient trafc routing. ISL Trunking

can also help simplify fabic design, lowe

povisioning time, and limit the need fo

additional ISLs o switches.

dYnamIc Path seLectIon for

oPtImIZed Performance

To futhe optimize netwok pefomance,

Bocade 4 and 8 Gbit/sec switches and

diectos suppot optional Dynamic PathSelection (DPS). Available as a standad

featue in Bocade Fabic OS (stating

in Fabic OS 4.4), exchange-based DPS

optimizes fabic-wide pefomance by

automatically outing data to the most

efcient available path in the fabric

(see Figue 2).

DPS augments ISL Tunking to povide

moe effective load balancing in cetain

congurations, such as routing data

between multiple tunk goupso in Native

Connectivity congurations with Brocade

M-Entepise OS (M-EOS) poducts. This

appoach povides tansmit ISL Tunking

fom Fabic OS to M-EOS poducts while

M-EOS poducts povide tansmit tunking

via Open Tunking, theeby enabling

bidiectional tunking suppot. As a esult,

this combination of technologies povides

the greatest design exibility and the

highest degee of load balancing.

trunkIng oVer dIstance

Depending on the numbe of links and l ink

speeds employed, tunks can opeate atvaious distance/bandwidth combinations.

Fo example, tunking can suppot distances

of 345 kilometes fo a 2 Gbit/sec,

5-link tunk poviding ove 10 Gbit/sec

of tunk bandwidth, o 210 kilometes

fo a 4 Gbit/sec, 4-link tunk poviding

17 Gbit/sec of tunk bandwidth.

sImPLIfIed management and desIgn

In almost any netwok, management costs

incease with complexityising with the

numbe of elements being managed. With

ISL Tunking, Bocade Fabic OS views the

goup of physical ISLs as a single logical ISL,

a design that:

Lowes the numbe of entities to manage

reduces the numbe of lines on a logical

topology map

Improves trafc and capacity provisioning

to keep systems and applications unning

at full speed

Simplies network design, capacity

planning, and fabic administation ISL

Tunking can be managed though a small

numbe of commands with the Bocade

command line inteface o though the

gaphical Bocade Web Tools utility.

hIgher aVaILabILItY

The failue of a link in a oute causes the

network to reroute any trafc that was using

that paticula linkas long as an altenate

path is available. Bocade Fabic Shotest

Path First (FSPF) is a highly efcient routing

algoithm that eoutes aound failed links

in less than a second.

ISL Tunking impoves on this concept by

helping to pevent the loss of the oute.

A link failue meely educes the available

bandwidth of the logical ISL tunk. In othe

wods, a failue does not completely beak

the pipe, but simply makes the pipe

thinner. As a result, data trafc is much less

likely to be affected by link failues and the

bandwidth automatically inceases when

the link is epaied.

automatIc confIguratIon

As with all Bocade optional softwae poducts

the license fo ISL Tunking can be factoy-

installed o added late. No softwae

installation is equied. ISL Tunking is

automatically invoked when ISLs ae added

between any two Bocade 4 o 8 Gbit/sec

solutions. Bocade 4 and 8 Gbit/sec solutions

can also fom tunks to pevious-geneation

poducts with the individual links opeating

at 2 Gbit/sec fo full backwads compatibility

maxImIZIng InVestments

To help optimize technology investments,

Bocade and its patnes offe complete

solutions that include education, suppot,

and sevices. Fo moe infomation,

contact a Bocade sales patne o visit

www.bocade.com.

fi 2. Dynamic Path Selection augments ISL Tunking

to route data efciently between multiple trunk groups.

DPS

dyi P sli (dPs)

Balancing data flow between

multiple tunk goups

up

68 gi/

up

68 gi/

Tunk goup

Tunk goup

Tunk goup

Tunk goup

f- ti

ASIC Peseves In-ode Delivey

1 G

4 G

4 G

3 G0.5 G

2 G

4 G

4 G1 G

3 G0.5 G

2 G

...n

...n

cp hq

San Jose, CA USA

T: (408) 333-8000

info@bocade.com

ep hq

Geneva, Switzeland

T: +41 22 799 56 40

emea-info@bocade.com

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Singapoe

T: +65-6538-4700

apac-info@bocade.com