Unit 2 Assignment 2: FC SAN Design

Scenario:

The IT infrastructure of an organization consists of three storage arrays direct-attached to a heterogeneous mix of 45 servers. All servers are dual-attached to the arrays for high availability. Because each storage array has 32 front-end ports, each could support a maximum of 16 servers. However, each existing storage array has the disk capacity to support a maximum of 32 servers. The organization plans to purchase 45 more servers to meet its growth requirements. If it continues using direct-attached storage, the organization needs to purchase additional storage arrays to connect these new servers. The organization realizes that its existing storage arrays are poorly utilized; therefore, it plans to implement FC SAN to overcome the scalability and utilization challenges. The organization uses high-performance applications; therefore, it wants to minimize the hop count for the servers access to storage.

Directions: Read parts 1 through 3 before you begin. When you have read the instructions, you may begin the assignment. In your submission, make sure to label each set of answers as Part 1 or Part 2 in your Word document that you submit. Part 3 will be contained in a Visio .vsd file.

Part 1:

Propose a switched fabric topology to address the organizations challenges and requirements. Justify your choice of the fabric topology. If 72-port switches are available for FC SAN implementation, determine the minimum number of switches required in the fabric. How many switches will be required?

Part 2:

Compute the Total number of server ports = (# of ports per server) x (# switches)
Compute the number of Array ports = (Array ports per array) x (# of arrays)
Compute the number of switches needed at the core (array level) = (total # array ports) / (# port per switch) (Having more ports available than needed is OK)
Compute the number of switches for servers required = (Total # of ports for servers) / (#ports per switch)
Make sure you have enough switch ports to create a mesh network. Every switch connected to every other switch.

Part 3:

Using Visio software program and draw a simple drawing to show your fabric design. It should include each switch as well as the fibre connections to each other. Make sure to clearly label and identify each component.

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