Q-Logic 16HA Manuel D’Utilisation

Each T_Port link between directly connected chassis contributes 100 megabytes of 
bandwidth between those chassis. Devoting half of the chassis ports to T_Ports 
may provide as much bandwidth between directly connected chassis as there is to 
user ports on the chassis (no bottleneck between chassis). One T_Port interconnec-
tion between chassis is the minimum.

Fabric topology also affects bandwidth between chassis. In Mesh and Cascade 
topologies, T_Ports are either distributed between adjacent chassis (Cascade 
topology) or distributed among all chassis (Mesh Topology). Thus, in these topolo-
gies, the bandwidth is also distributed (divided among chassis). 

In Multistage topology, all bandwidth is fully maintained between IO/T chassis. It 
is therefore possible, in Multistage topology, to provide as much as 400 MBytes 
per second bandwidth between any two 8-port IO/T chassis.

The maximum cable length between chassis depends on the type of interconnect 
media (GBICs).

SANbox Switch chassis guarantee in order delivery with any number of T_Port 
links between chassis.

SANbox Switch chassis support fabric-wide zones for all zone types. Broadcast, 
and Name Server zones require no special consideration in a multi-chassis fabric. 
T_Ports are not zoned.

Hard Zones, however, require zoned T_Port interconnections between chassis 
which contain ports in the same Hard Zone. That is, if a particular Hard Zone is 
distributed across chassis boundaries, each piece of that Hard Zone and its inter-
connecting T_Ports must be assigned to the same Hard Zone number. This makes 
interconnections between pieces of the same Hard Zone much like the interconnec-
tion of chassis.

NOTE:
•

Mixing of topologies is not allowed. If the topology of the chassis is Multi-
stage, then the interconnection of the Hard Zones must also be accomplished 
in Multistage topology.

•

Hard zoning and Name Server zoning by world wide name (WWN) are not 
supported for SANbox/MKII fabrics.