McDATA 4314 Manual Do Utilizador

By connecting switches together you can expand the number of available 
ports for devices. Each switch in the fabric is identified by a unique domain 
ID, and the fabric can automatically resolve domain ID conflicts. Because the 
Fibre Channel ports are self-configuring, you can connect switches together in 
a wide variety of topologies.

When choosing a topology for a multiple chassis fabric, you should also 
consider the locality of your server and storage devices and the performance 
requirements of your application. Storage applications such as video 
distribution, medical record storage/retrieval or real-time data acquisition 
can have specific latency or bandwidth requirements.

The switch module provides the lowest latency of any product in its class. 
Refer to 

 for information about latency. However, 

the highest performance is achieved on Fibre Channel switches by keeping 
traffic within a single switch instead of relying on ISLs. Therefore, for optimal 
device performance, place devices on the same switch module under the 
following conditions:

•

Heavy I/O traffic between specific server and storage devices.

•

Distinct speed mismatch between devices