Cisco Cisco MDS 9000 NX-OS Software Release 5.2 Aggregierten Daten
Cisco MDS 9000 Family FICON Solution Overview
At-A-Glance
Overview
IBM mainframes have been the workhorses of the
computing world for more than four decades, and many
large organizations still entrust IBM System z servers with
their most mission-critical and demanding applications.
computing world for more than four decades, and many
large organizations still entrust IBM System z servers with
their most mission-critical and demanding applications.
Cisco
®
MDS 9000 Family directors and SAN switches
deliver many of the same benefits that long-time IBM
mainframe customers have come to expect from their
mainframe systems.
mainframe customers have come to expect from their
mainframe systems.
Figure 1. Cisco MDS 9513 FICON Director
Infrastructure Simplification
One notable characteristic of the IBM System z architec-
ture is its ability to scale by assembling a large pool of
computing resources capable of supporting the most
demanding application workloads and then partitioning
these resources in a flexible, dynamic manner.
ture is its ability to scale by assembling a large pool of
computing resources capable of supporting the most
demanding application workloads and then partitioning
these resources in a flexible, dynamic manner.
The Cisco MDS 9000 Family FICON (IBM Fiber
Connection) product line spans the full range of sizes
and form factors to meet mainframe data center needs.
Modular, bladed, fully redundant directors are available
with 6, 9, or 13 blades. The flagship Cisco MDS 9513
Multilayer Director scales up to provide 528 ports of
FICON connectivity. Smaller fixed-configuration and
semi-modular switches are also available for more
specialized needs and applications.
Connection) product line spans the full range of sizes
and form factors to meet mainframe data center needs.
Modular, bladed, fully redundant directors are available
with 6, 9, or 13 blades. The flagship Cisco MDS 9513
Multilayer Director scales up to provide 528 ports of
FICON connectivity. Smaller fixed-configuration and
semi-modular switches are also available for more
specialized needs and applications.
Just as the resources of an IBM System z can be
divided into Logical Partitions (LPARs), you can create
FICON VSANs on Cisco MDS 9000 Family directors and
switches. Each FICON VSAN is a completely distinct,
protected set of switch resources, providing isolation
from other workloads. Each FICON VSAN has its own set
of fabric services: its own instance of the FICON Control
Unit Port (CUP), a unique domain ID for each VSAN and
director combination, Fabric Shortest Path First (FSPF)
routing, and security profile. No special hardware is
required to create FICON VSANs or to enforce the
isolation of their resources.
divided into Logical Partitions (LPARs), you can create
FICON VSANs on Cisco MDS 9000 Family directors and
switches. Each FICON VSAN is a completely distinct,
protected set of switch resources, providing isolation
from other workloads. Each FICON VSAN has its own set
of fabric services: its own instance of the FICON Control
Unit Port (CUP), a unique domain ID for each VSAN and
director combination, Fabric Shortest Path First (FSPF)
routing, and security profile. No special hardware is
required to create FICON VSANs or to enforce the
isolation of their resources.
A FICON VSAN can include ports from one or more line
cards on a single director, or it can include ports from line
cards on multiple directors to support cascaded configu-
rations. FICON VSANs are dynamic in size, and addition
of ports to a FICON VSAN is a nondisruptive process.
The maximum number of ports for a FICON VSAN
domain ID is 250 due to FICON’s addressing structure,
so a single Cisco MDS 9513 can provision several
FICON director VSANs.
cards on a single director, or it can include ports from line
cards on multiple directors to support cascaded configu-
rations. FICON VSANs are dynamic in size, and addition
of ports to a FICON VSAN is a nondisruptive process.
The maximum number of ports for a FICON VSAN
domain ID is 250 due to FICON’s addressing structure,
so a single Cisco MDS 9513 can provision several
FICON director VSANs.
Business Resiliency
All Cisco MDS 9000 Family directors are engineered to
meet the reliability, availability, and serviceability (RAS)
requirements of the most demanding workloads.
meet the reliability, availability, and serviceability (RAS)
requirements of the most demanding workloads.
They provide nondisruptive software upgrades, stateful
process restart and failover, in-order delivery, and full
redundancy of all components. Recent analyses by
Miercom have shown the superiority of the Cisco MDS
9500 Family in terms of high availability and consistency
and predictability of performance under load.
process restart and failover, in-order delivery, and full
redundancy of all components. Recent analyses by
Miercom have shown the superiority of the Cisco MDS
9500 Family in terms of high availability and consistency
and predictability of performance under load.
This redundancy makes the Cisco MDS 9000 Family
ideally suited for business-continuity and disaster-recov-
ery applications, supporting both array and mainframe-
based solutions such as Geographically Dispersed
Parallel Sysplex (GDPS), IBM Metro Mirror (formerly
Peer-to-Peer Remote Copy [PPRC]), real and virtual tape,
and IBM z/OS Global Mirror (formerly Extended Remote
Copy [XRC]). The Cisco MDS 9000 Family provides a
broad range of features for these environments:
ideally suited for business-continuity and disaster-recov-
ery applications, supporting both array and mainframe-
based solutions such as Geographically Dispersed
Parallel Sysplex (GDPS), IBM Metro Mirror (formerly
Peer-to-Peer Remote Copy [PPRC]), real and virtual tape,
and IBM z/OS Global Mirror (formerly Extended Remote
Copy [XRC]). The Cisco MDS 9000 Family provides a
broad range of features for these environments:
•
FICON cascading allows extension over greater
metropolitan area network (MAN) distances and
connection across WAN links with Fibre Channel
over IP (FCIP).
metropolitan area network (MAN) distances and
connection across WAN links with Fibre Channel
over IP (FCIP).
•
Multiple FICON and open systems VSANs can be
provided over the same Inter-Switch Links (ISLs),
and a quality of service (QoS) can be assigned to
give priority to critical workloads.
provided over the same Inter-Switch Links (ISLs),
and a quality of service (QoS) can be assigned to
give priority to critical workloads.
•
Port tracking accelerates error recovery when
problems are detected on ISLs.
problems are detected on ISLs.
Integrated Channel Extension over WANs
•
A new feature, XRC Acceleration, improves
performance and bandwidth utilization over WAN
links for IBM z/OS Global Mirror dynamic updates.
performance and bandwidth utilization over WAN
links for IBM z/OS Global Mirror dynamic updates.
•
Tape and virtual tape products from IBM and Oracle
(formerly Sun / StorageTek [STK]) are supported, as
are DASD (storage arrays) from IBM, EMC, HDS, and
Oracle. FICON Tape Acceleration improves read
and write performance and bandwidth utilization
over FCIP links.
(formerly Sun / StorageTek [STK]) are supported, as
are DASD (storage arrays) from IBM, EMC, HDS, and
Oracle. FICON Tape Acceleration improves read
and write performance and bandwidth utilization
over FCIP links.
•
Integrated FCIP is provided, with hardware-based
compression, IP Security (IPsec) encryption, and
TCP stacks tuned for storage traffic.
compression, IP Security (IPsec) encryption, and
TCP stacks tuned for storage traffic.
Integrated Channel Extension over MANs
•
Supported for GDPS.
•
Dense Wavelength-Division Multiplexing (DWDM)
and Coarse Wavelength-Division Multiplexing
(CWDM) optics are available for every line card,
integrating directly into the director or switch,
enabling a simple and cost-effective solution. The
integration of DWDM optics into the Cisco MDS
9500 line cards lets the cards communicate directly
with reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexer
(ROADM) optical multiplexers, avoiding the need
for transponder equipment.
and Coarse Wavelength-Division Multiplexing
(CWDM) optics are available for every line card,
integrating directly into the director or switch,
enabling a simple and cost-effective solution. The
integration of DWDM optics into the Cisco MDS
9500 line cards lets the cards communicate directly
with reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexer
(ROADM) optical multiplexers, avoiding the need
for transponder equipment.
•
Up to 5880 buffer-to-buffer credits can be assigned
to a single port, maintaining performance over
MAN distances.
to a single port, maintaining performance over
MAN distances.