Multipath and Dual Cabling
Multipath and Dual Cabling
Multipath and Dual Cabling
Information
This flyer describes the key concepts, restrictions, and guidelines for planning and connecting both
onboard and host bus adapter (HBA) Fibre Channel ports to storage shelves and other Fibre
Channel devices in a non-SAN/iSCSI environment. The following topics provide information
about the FAS3000 and FAS6000 series systems to assist you in cabling your controller in a
multipath or dual-path configuration:
◆ “Before You Begin”
◆ “Cabling Guidelines”
◆ “Configuration Checker”
Hardware Overview Familiarize yourself with the location of the ports and HBAs
on your controller.
System Configuration Guide Determine which HBAs your platform supports and where
you can install them.
Installation and Setup Instructions Complete the initial setup of your system.
Cabling Guidelines
◆ “Best Practices”
◆ “Single-path Cabling Rules”
◆ “Dual-path and Multipath Cabling Rules”
◆ “Cabling Restrictions for Systems with One Stack of Disk Shelves”
Best Practices
◆ “Match Port and Device Link Rates”
◆ “Distribute Connections Across the Hardware”
◆ “Comply with Mirroring Rules (FAS3000 Series Systems Only)”
◆ “Use Only Supported Configurations”
2 Cabling Guidelines
The system onboard ports and the HBA ports auto-negotiate link speed, based on the capabilities of the
hardware attached to them. For example, if you attach a disk shelf stack that supports 2-Gb link speed
to an HBA that supports 4-Gb link speed, the HBA automatically slows its link speed to match that of
the disk shelf stack.
1 0a 1 0h
2 0a, 0c 2 0h, 0d
Note
You can connect 2-Gb capable disk shelf stacks to 4-Gb onboard or 4-Gb HBAs. However, the Fibre
Channel ports automatically switch to the 2-Gb link rate supported by the disk shelf stacks.
Note
For more information about cabling the SAN connections, see the Fibre Channel Configuration Guide NOW
at
http://now.netapp.com/NOW/knowledge/docs/san/fcp_iscsi_config/QuickRef/FC_Configuration_Guide.pdf
4 Cabling Guidelines
d. You connect any remaining disk shelf stacks to any remaining HBA ports, starting with dual-
port HBAs, followed by open ports on the quad-port HBAs.
e. You connect the second set of cables used for multipathing the remaining disk shelves.
IF you are cabling the disk shelf stacks without dual-path or multipath, you connect them in the
following order:
a. You connect the DS14mk4 with ESH4 modules and 4-Gb drives to the quad-port cards.
b. You connect all other disk shelf stacks first to onboard Fibre Channel ports, then to open ports
on dual-port HBAs, then to open ports on quad-port HBAs.
◆ You then boot and configure the system as normal.
Configuration Checker
When a system boots, the configuration is checked against a set of configuration rules, depending on
certain system configurations. The types of checks are as follows:
◆ “Single System Configuration Checks”
◆ “Active/active Configuration Checks”
◆ “SyncMirror Configuration Checks”
◆ “Fabric-attached MetroCluster Configuration Checks”
◆ “Other Configuration Checks”
Note
The FAS3000 series supports hardware-based disk ownership. Pool0 uses ports 0a and 0b and slots 1 and 2,
and Pool1 uses ports 0c and 0d and slots 3 and 4. You can enable SANOWN (software disk ownership) on
these systems and can override hardware-based disk ownership.
◆ Disks are not dual-path connected to adapters that are in different disk pools
◆ Disks in system are not SCSI disks
6 Configuration Checker