TECHNICAL NOTE

VMware Infrastructure 3

SAN Conceptual and Design Basics

VMwareESXServercanbeusedinconjunctionwithaSAN(storageareanetwork),a
specializedhighspeednetworkthatconnectscomputersystemstohighperformance
storagesubsystems.UsingESXServertogetherwithaSANprovidesextrastoragefor
consolidation,improvesreliability,andhelpswithdisasterrecovery.
TouseESXServereffectivelywithaSAN,youreexpectedtobefamiliarwiththeSAN
technology.ThiswhitepaperoffersabriefintroductiontosomebasicSANconcepts,
butdoesntaimtobeanexhaustivesourceofinformationonSANs.IfyouareanESX
ServeradministratorplanningtosetupESXServerhoststoworkwithSANs,you
shouldalsoconsultotherresourcesavailableinprintandontheInternettoachievea
workingknowledgeofSANconcepts.AdditionalinformationonhowESXServer
interactswithSANmaybefoundinSANConfigurationGuide.
Thewhitepaperdiscussesthesetopics:
!

SANBasicsonpage 1

SANComponentsonpage 4

UnderstandingSANInteractionsonpage 7

SANInstallationConsiderationsonpage 10

SANDesignBasicsonpage 11

SAN Basics
ASANisaspecializedhighspeednetworkofstoragedevicesandswitchesconnected
tocomputersystems.Thiswhitepaperreferstothecomputersystemsasserversor
hosts.
ASANpresentssharedpoolsofstoragedevicestomultipleservers.Eachservercan
accessthestorageasifitweredirectlyattachedtothatserver.ASANsupports
centralizedstoragemanagement.SANsmakeitpossibletomovedatabetweenvarious
storagedevices,sharedatabetweenmultipleservers,andbackupandrestoredata
rapidlyandefficiently.Inaddition,aproperlyconfiguredSANfacilitatesbothdisaster
recoveryandhighavailability.

SAN Conceptual and Design Basics

ThephysicalcomponentsofaSANcanbegroupedinasinglerackordatacenteror
connectedoverlongdistances.ThismakesaSANafeasiblesolutionforbusinessesof
anysize:theSANcangroweasilywiththebusinessitsupports.

SAN Component Overview

ThissectiongivesanoverviewofSANcomponents.Thenumbersinthetext
correspondtonumbersinFigure 1,SANComponents,onpage 3.
Initssimplestform,aSANconsistsofoneormoreservers(1)attachedtoastorage
array(2)usingoneormoreSANswitches.Eachservermighthostnumerous
applicationsthatrequirededicatedstorageforapplicationsprocessing.
Thefollowingcomponents,discussedinmoredetailinSANComponentsonpage 4
areinvolved:
!

SANSwitches(3)SANswitchesconnectvariouselementsoftheSAN.In
particular,theymightconnecthoststostoragearrays.SANswitchesalsoallow
administratorstosetuppathredundancyintheeventofapathfailurefromhost
servertoswitchorfromstoragearraytoswitch.

Fabric(4)TheSANfabricistheactualnetworkportionoftheSAN.Whenone
ormoreSANswitchesareconnected,afabriciscreated.TheFCprotocolisusedto
communicateovertheentirenetwork.ASANcanconsistofmultiple
interconnectedfabrics.EvenasimpleSANoftenconsistsoftwofabricsfor
redundancy.

VMware, Inc.

SAN Conceptual and Design Basics

Connections:HostBusAdapters(5)andStorageProcessors(6)Hostservers
andstoragesystemsareconnectedtotheSANfabricthroughportsinthefabric.
!

AhostconnectstoafabricportthroughanHBA.

Storagedevicesconnecttofabricportsthroughtheirstorageprocessors.
ESX
Server
1

HBA 2

HBA 1
5

4 fabric A

fabric B

SAN switch

SAN switch
6
SP

SP

storage array

Figure 1. SAN Components

How a SAN Works

TheSANcomponentsinteractasfollows:
1

WhenahostwantstoaccessastoragedeviceontheSAN,itsendsouta
blockbasedaccessrequestforthestoragedevice.

SCSIcommandsareencapsulatedintoFCpackets.Therequestisacceptedbythe
HBAforthathostandisconvertedfromitsbinarydataformtotheopticalform
requiredfortransmissiononthefiberopticcable.

Atthesametime,therequestispackagedaccordingtotherulesoftheFCprotocol.

TheHBAtransmitstherequesttotheSAN.

DependingonwhichportisusedbytheHBAtoconnecttothefabric,oneofthe
SANswitchesreceivestherequestandsendsittothestorageprocessor,which
sendsitontothestoragedevice.

Theremainingsectionsofthiswhitepaperprovideadditionalinformationaboutthe
componentsoftheSANandhowtheyinteroperate.Thesesectionsalsopresentgeneral
informationonconfigurationoptionsanddesignconsiderations.

VMware, Inc.

SAN Conceptual and Design Basics

SAN Components
ThecomponentsofanFCSANcanbegroupedasfollowsandarediscussedbelow:
!

HostComponentsonpage 4

FabricComponentsonpage 5

StorageComponentsonpage 5

Figure 2showstheSANcomponentlayers.
ESX
Server

ESX
Server

host
components

HBA

HBA

HBA

HBA

fabric A

fabric B

fabric
components
SAN switch A

SAN switch B

SP

SP

SP

SP

storage
components

storage array

storage array

Figure 2. SAN Component Layers

Host Components
ThehostcomponentsofaSANconsistoftheserversthemselvesandthecomponents
thatenabletheserverstobephysicallyconnectedtotheSAN.
!

HBAsarelocatedintheservers,alongwithacomponentthatperforms
digitaltoopticalsignalconversion.Eachhostconnectstothefabricportsthrough
itsHBAs.

HBAdriversrunningontheserversenabletheserversoperatingsystemsto
communicatewiththeHBA.

VMware, Inc.

SAN Conceptual and Design Basics

Fabric Components
AllhostsconnecttothestoragedevicesontheSANthroughtheSANfabric.The
networkportionoftheSANconsistsofthefollowingfabriccomponents:
!

SANSwitchesSANswitchescanconnecttoservers,storagedevices,andother
switches,andthusprovidetheconnectionpointsfortheSANfabric.Thetypeof
SANswitch,itsdesignfeatures,anditsportcapacityallcontributetoitsoverall
capacity,performance,andfaulttolerance.Thenumberofswitches,typesof
switches,andmannerinwhichtheswitchesareinterconnecteddefinethefabric
topology.
!

ForsmallerSANs,thestandardSANswitches(calledmodularswitches)can
typicallysupport16or24ports(thoughsome32portmodularswitchesare
becomingavailable).Sometimesmodularswitchesareinterconnectedto
createafaulttolerantfabric.

ForlargerSANfabrics,directorclassswitchesprovidealargerportcapacity
(64to128portsperswitch)andbuiltinfaulttolerance.

DataRoutersDataroutersareintelligentbridgesbetweenSCSIdevicesandFC
devicesintheSAN.ServersintheSANcanaccessSCSIdiskortapedevicesinthe
SANthroughthedataroutersinthefabriclayer.

CablesSANcablesareusuallyspecialfiberopticcablesthatareusedtoconnect
allofthefabriccomponents.ThetypeofSANcableandthefiberopticsignal
determinethemaximumdistancesbetweenSANcomponentsandcontributeto
thetotalbandwidthratingoftheSAN.

CommunicationsProtocolFabriccomponentscommunicateusingtheFC
communicationsprotocol.FCisthestorageinterfaceprotocolusedformostof
todaysSANs.FCwasdevelopedasaprotocolfortransferringdatabetweentwo
portsonaserialI/Obuscableathighspeeds.FCsupportspointtopoint,
arbitratedloop,andswitchedfabrictopologies.Switchedfabrictopologyisthe
basisformostcurrentSANs.

Storage Components
ThestoragecomponentsofaSANarethestoragearrays.Storagearraysincludestorage
processors(SPs).TheSPsarethefrontendofthestoragearray.SPscommunicatewith
thediskarray(whichincludesallthedisksinthestoragearray)andprovidethe
RAID/LUNfunctionality.

Storage Processors
SPsprovidefrontsidehostattachmentstothestoragedevicesfromtheservers,either
directlyorthroughaswitch.TheserverHBAsmustconformtotheprotocolsupported
bythestorageprocessor.Inmostcases,thisistheFCprotocol.

VMware, Inc.

SAN Conceptual and Design Basics

Storageprocessorsprovideinternalaccesstothedrives,whichcanbeusingaswitchor
busarchitecture.Inhighendstoragesystems,drivesarenormallyconnectedinloops.
ThisbackendlooptechnologyemployedbytheSPprovidesseveralbenefits:
!

Highspeedaccesstothedrives

Abilitytoaddmoredrivestotheloop

Redundantaccesstoasingledrivefrommultipleloops(whendrivesare
dualportedandattachedtotwoloops)

Storage Devices
Dataisstoredondiskarraysortapedevices(orboth).
DiskarraysaregroupsofmultiplediskdevicesandarethetypicalSANdiskstorage
device.Theycanvarygreatlyindesign,capacity,performance,andotherfeatures.
Storagearraysrarelyprovidehostsdirectaccesstoindividualdrives.Instead,the
storagearrayusesRAID(RedundantArrayofIndependentDrives)technologyto
groupasetofdrives.RAIDusesindependentdrivestoprovidecapacity,performance,
andredundancy.Usingspecializedalgorithms,severaldrivesaregroupedtoprovide
commonpooledstorage.TheseRAIDalgorithms,commonlyknownasRAIDlevels,
definethecharacteristicsoftheparticulargrouping.
InsimplesystemsthatprovideRAIDcapability,aRAIDgroupisequivalenttoasingle
LUN.ALUNisasingleunitofstorage.Dependingonthehostsystemenvironment,a
LUNisalsoknownasavolumeoralogicaldrive.FromaVIClient,aLUNlookslike
anyotherstorageunitavailableforaccess.
Inadvancedstoragearrays,RAIDgroupscanhaveoneormoreLUNscreatedfor
accessbyoneormoreservers.TheabilitytocreatemorethanoneLUNfromasingle
RAIDgroupprovidesfinegranularitytothestoragecreationprocess.Youarenot
limitedtothetotalcapacityoftheentireRAIDgroupforasingleLUN.
Note

ASANadministratormustbefamiliarwiththedifferentRAIDlevelsandunderstand
howtomanagethem.Discussionofthosetopicsisbeyondthescopeofthisdocument.

Moststoragearraysprovideadditionaldataprotectionandreplicationfeaturessuchas
snapshots,internalcopies,andremotemirroring.
!

AsnapshotisapointintimecopyofaLUN.Snapshotsareusedasbackupsources
fortheoverallbackupproceduresdefinedforthestoragearray.

InternalcopiesallowdatamovementfromoneLUNtoanotherforanadditional
copyfortesting.

RemotemirroringprovidesconstantsynchronizationbetweenLUNsonone
storagearrayandasecond,independent(usuallyremote)storagearrayfor
disasterrecovery.

VMware, Inc.

SAN Conceptual and Design Basics

Tape Storage Devices

TapestoragedevicesarepartoftheSANbackupcapabilitiesandprocesses.
!

SmallerSANsmightusehighcapacitytapedrives.Thesetapedrivesvaryintheir
transferratesandstoragecapacities.Ahighcapacitytapedrivemightexistasa
standalonedrive,oritmightbepartofatapelibrary.

Typically,alargeSAN,oraSANwithcriticalbackuprequirements,isconfigured
withoneormoretapelibraries.Atapelibraryconsolidatesoneormoretapedrives
intoasingleenclosure.Tapescanbeinsertedandremovedfromthetapedrivesin
thelibraryautomaticallywitharoboticarm.Manytapelibrariesofferlargestorage
capacitiessometimesintothepetabyte(PB)range.

Understanding SAN Interactions

TheprevioussectionsprimaryfocuswasthecomponentsofaSAN.Thissection
discusseshowSANcomponentsinteract:
!

SANPortsandPortNamingonpage 7

MultipathingandPathFailoveronpage 7

Active/ActiveandActive/PassiveDiskArraysonpage 8

Zoningonpage 9

SAN Ports and Port Naming

!

Inthecontextofthisdocument,aportistheconnectionfromadeviceintothe
SAN.EachnodeintheSANeachhost,storagedevice,andfabriccomponent
(routerorswitch)hasoneormoreportsthatconnectittotheSAN.Portscanbe
identifiedinanumberofways:

WWPNWorldWidePortName.Agloballyuniqueidentifierforaportwhich
allowscertainapplicationstoaccesstheport.TheFCswitchesdiscovertheWWPN
ofadeviceorhostandassignaportaddresstothedevice.

Port_ID(orportaddress)WithintheSAN,eachporthasauniqueportIDthat
servesastheFCaddressfortheport.ThisenablesroutingofdatathroughtheSAN
tothatport.TheFCswitchesassigntheportIDwhenthedevicelogsintothe
fabric.TheportIDisvalidonlywhilethedeviceisloggedon.

IndepthinformationonSANportscanbefoundathttp://www.snia.org,theWebsite
oftheStorageNetworkingIndustryAssociation.

Multipathing and Path Failover

AnFCpathdescribesaroute:
!

FromaspecificHBAportinthehost,

Throughtheswitchesinthefabric,and

Intoaspecificstorageportonthestoragearray.

VMware, Inc.

SAN Conceptual and Design Basics

AgivenhostmightbeabletoaccessaLUNonastoragearraythroughmorethanone
path.HavingmorethanonepathfromahosttoaLUNiscalledmultipathing.
Bydefault,VMwareESXServersystemsuseonlyonepathfromthehosttoagiven
LUNatanytime.IfthepathactivelybeingusedbytheVMwareESXServersystem
fails,theserverselectsanotheroftheavailablepaths.Theprocessofdetectingafailed
pathandswitchingtoanotheriscalledpathfailover.Apathfailsifanyofthe
componentsalongthepathHBA,cable,switchport,orstorageprocessorfails.

Active/Active and Active/Passive Disk Arrays

Itisusefultodistinguishbetweenactive/activeandactive/passivediskarrays:
!

Anactive/activediskarrayallowsaccesstotheLUNssimultaneouslythroughall
thestorageprocessorsthatareavailablewithoutsignificantperformance
degradation.Allthepathsareactiveatalltimes(unlessapathfails).

Inanactive/passivediskarray,oneSPisactivelyservicingagivenLUN.Theother
SPactsasbackupfortheLUNandmaybeactivelyservicingotherLUNI/O.I/O
canbesentonlytoanactiveprocessor.Iftheprimarystorageprocessorfails,one
ofthesecondarystorageprocessorsbecomesactive,eitherautomaticallyor
throughadministratorintervention.

Note

Usingactive/passivearrayswithpathpolicyFixedcanpotentiallyleadtopath
thrashing.SeeESXServerSANConfigurationGuideformoreinformationonresolving
paththrashing.

InFigure 3,onestorageprocessorisactive,theotherispassive.Dataarrivesthrough
theactivearrayonly.

storage
processor

storage
processor

active

passive

physical
disks
storage array

Figure 3. Active/passive Storage Array

VMware, Inc.

SAN Conceptual and Design Basics

Zoning
ZoningprovidesaccesscontrolintheSANtopology;itdefineswhichHBAscan
connecttowhichSPs.YoucanhavemultipleportstothesameSPindifferentzonesto
reducethenumberofpresentedpaths.
WhenaSANisconfiguredusingzoning,thedevicesoutsideazonearenotvisibleto
thedevicesinsidethezone.Inaddition,SANtrafficwithineachzoneisisolatedfrom
theotherzones.
WithinacomplexSANenvironment,SANswitchesprovidezoning.Zoningdefines
andconfiguresthenecessarysecurityandaccessrightsfortheentireSAN.
Typically,zonesarecreatedforeachgroupofserversthataccessasharedgroupof
storagedevicesandLUNs.Youcanusezoninginseveralways.Herearesome
examples:
!

ZoningforsecurityandisolationYoucanmanagezonesdefinedfortesting
independentlywithintheSANsotheydontinterferewiththeactivitygoingonin
theproductionzones.Similarly,youcouldsetupdifferentzonesfordifferent
departments.

ZoningforsharedservicesAnotheruseofzonesistoallowcommonserver
accessforbackups.SANdesignsoftenhaveabackupserverwithtapeservicesthat
requireSANwideaccesstohostserversindividuallyforbackupandrecovery
processes.Thesebackupserversneedtobeabletoaccesstheserverstheybackup.
ASANzonemightbedefinedforthebackupservertoaccessaparticularhostto
performabackuporrecoveryprocess.Thezoneisthenredefinedforaccessto
anotherhostwhenthebackupserverisreadytoperformbackuporrecovery
processesonthathost.

MultiplestoragearraysZonesarealsousefulwhentherearemultiplestorage
arrays.Throughtheuseofseparatezones,eachstoragearrayismanaged
separatelyfromtheothers,withnoconcernforaccessconflictsbetweenservers.

LUN Masking
LUNmaskingiscommonlyusedforpermissionmanagement.LUNmaskingisalso
referredtoasselectivestoragepresentation,accesscontrol,andpartitioning,
dependingonthevendor.
LUNmaskingisperformedattheSPorserverlevel;itmakesaLUNinvisiblewhena
targetisscanned.Theadministratorconfiguresthediskarraysoeachserverorgroup

VMware, Inc.

SAN Conceptual and Design Basics

ofserverscanseeonlycertainLUNs.Maskingcapabilitiesforeachdiskarrayare
vendorspecific,asarethetoolsformanagingLUNmasking.
ESX
Server

ESX
Server

Mask LUN 11

21:00:00:E0:8B:19:AB:31
zoning:
done at switch level;
used to segment
the fabric

Mask LUN 12

HBA

HBA

21:00:00:E0:8B:19:B2:33
LUN masking:
done at SP or server level;
makes a LUN invisible
when a target is scanned

FC switch

50:05:01:60:10:20:AD:87
SP
LUNs
0

11

12

WWN
(world-wide name)
unique, 64-bit
address assigned
to Fibre Channel node

storage array

Figure 4. LUN Zoning and Masking

SAN Installation Considerations

InstallingaSANrequirescarefulattentiontodetailsandanoverallplanthataddresses
allthehardware,software,storage,andapplicationsissuesandtheirinteractionsasall
thepiecesareintegrated.

Requirements
TointegrateallcomponentsoftheSAN,youmustmeetthevendorshardwareand
softwarecompatibilityrequirements,includingthefollowing:
!

HBA(firmwareversion,driverversion,andpatchlist)

Switch(firmware)

Storage(firmware,hostpersonalityfirmware,andpatchlist)

VMware, Inc.

10

SAN Conceptual and Design Basics

SAN Setup
WhenyourereadytosetuptheSAN,completethesetasks.
To prepare the SAN
1

Assembleandcabletogetherallhardwarecomponentsandinstallthe
correspondingsoftware.
a

Checktheversions.

SetuptheHBA.

Setupthestoragearray.

Changeanyconfigurationsettingsthatmightberequired.

Testtheintegration.
Duringintegrationtesting,testalltheoperationalprocessesfortheSAN
environment.Theseincludenormalproductionprocessing,failuremodetesting,
backupfunctions,andsoforth.

EstablishabaselineofperformanceforeachcomponentandfortheentireSAN.
Eachbaselineprovidesameasurementmetricforfuturechangesandtuning.See
ESXServerSANConfigurationGuideforadditionalinformation.

DocumenttheSANinstallationandalloperationalprocedures.

SAN Design Basics

WhendesigningaSANformultipleapplicationsandservers,youmustbalancethe
performance,reliability,andcapacityattributesoftheSAN.Eachapplicationdemands
resourcesandaccesstostorageprovidedbytheSAN.TheSANsswitchesandstorage
arraysmustprovidetimelyandreliableaccessforallcompetingapplications.
ThissectiondiscussessomeSANdesignbasics.ItdoesnotfocusonSANdesignforESX
Serverhosts,butonthefollowinggeneraltopicsofinterest:
!

DefiningApplicationNeedsonpage 11

ConfiguringtheStorageArrayonpage 12

ConsideringHighAvailabilityonpage 13

PlanningforDisasterRecoveryonpage 13

Defining Application Needs

TheSANmustsupportfastresponsetimesconsistentlyforeachapplicationeven
thoughtherequirementsmadebyapplicationsvaryoverpeakperiodsforbothI/Oper
secondandbandwidth(inmegabytespersecond).
AproperlydesignedSANmustprovidesufficientresourcestoprocessallI/Orequests
fromallapplications.DesigninganoptimalSANenvironmentisthereforeneither

VMware, Inc.

11

SAN Conceptual and Design Basics

simplenorquick.ThefirststepindesigninganoptimalSANistodefinethestorage
requirementsforeachapplicationintermsof:
!

I/Operformance(I/Opersecond)

Bandwidth(megabytespersecond)

Capacity(numberofLUNsandcapacityofeachLUN)

Redundancylevel(RAIDlevel)

Responsetimes(averagetimeperI/O)

Overallprocessingpriority

Configuring the Storage Array

Storagearraydesigninvolvesmappingthedefinedstoragerequirementstothe
resourcesofthestoragearrayusingtheseguidelines:
!

EachRAIDgroupprovidesaspecificlevelofI/Operformance,capacity,and
redundancy.LUNsareassignedtoRAIDgroupsbasedontheserequirements.

IfaparticularRAIDgroupcannotprovidetherequiredI/Operformance,capacity,
andresponsetimes,youmustdefineanadditionalRAIDgroupforthenextsetof
LUNs.YoumustprovidesufficientRAIDgroupresourcesforeachsetofLUNs.

ThestoragearraysneedtodistributetheRAIDgroupsacrossallinternalchannels
andaccesspaths.ThisresultsinloadbalancingofallI/Orequeststomeet
performancerequirementsofI/Ooperationspersecondandresponsetimes.

Peak Period Activity

BasetheSANdesignonpeakperiodactivityandconsiderthenatureoftheI/Owithin
eachpeakperiod.Youmayfindthatadditionalstoragearrayresourcecapacityis
requiredtoaccommodateinstantaneouspeaks.
Forexample,apeakperiodmayoccurduringnoontimeprocessing,characterizedby
severalpeakingI/Osessionsrequiringtwiceorevenfourtimestheaverageforthe
entirepeakperiod.Withoutadditionalresources,I/Odemandsthatexceedthecapacity
ofastoragearrayresultindelayedresponsetimes.

Caching
ThoughESXServersystemsbenefitfromwritecache,thecachecouldbesaturatedwith
sufficientlyintenseI/O.Saturationreducesthecacheseffectiveness.
Becausethecacheisoftenallocatedfromaglobalpool,itshouldbeallocatedonlyifit
willbeeffective.
!

AreadaheadcachemaybeeffectiveforsequentialI/O,suchasduringcertain
typesofbackupactivities,andfortemplaterepositories.

AreadcacheisoftenineffectivewhenappliedtoaVMFSbasedLUNbecause
multiplevirtualmachinesareaccessedconcurrently.Becausedataaccessis
random,thereadcachehitrateisoftentoolowtojustifyallocatingareadcache.

VMware, Inc.

12

SAN Conceptual and Design Basics

Areadcacheisoftenunnecessarywhentheapplicationandoperatingsystem
cachedataarewithinthevirtualmachinesmemory.Inthatcase,thereadcache
cachesdataobjectsthattheapplicationoroperatingsystemalreadycache.

Considering High Availability

Productionsystemsmustnothaveasinglepointoffailure.Makesurethatredundancy
isbuiltintothedesignatalllevels.Buildinadditionalswitches,HBAs,andstorage
processors,creating,ineffect,aredundantaccesspath.
!

RedundantSANComponentsRedundantSANhardwarecomponents
includingHBAs,SANswitches,andstoragearrayaccessports,arerequired.In
somecases,multiplestoragearraysarepartofafaulttolerantSANdesign.

RedundantI/OPathsI/Opathsfromtheservertothestoragearraymustbe
redundantanddynamicallyswitchableintheeventofaport,device,cable,orpath
failure.

I/OConfigurationThekeytoprovidingfaulttoleranceiswithinthe
configurationofeachserversI/Osystem.
WithmultipleHBAs,theI/OsystemcanissueI/OacrossalloftheHBAstothe
assignedLUNs.Failurescanhavethefollowingresults:

IfanHBA,cable,orSANswitchportfails,thepathisnolongeravailableand
analternatepathisrequired.

IfafailureoccursintheprimarypathbetweentheSANswitchandthestorage
array,thenanalternatepathatthatlevelisrequired.

IfaSANswitchfails,theentirepathfromservertostoragearrayisdisabled,
soasecondfabricwithacompletealternatepathisrequired.

MirroringProtectionagainstLUNfailureallowsapplicationstosurvivestorage
accessfaults.Mirroringcanaccomplishthatprotection.
MirroringdesignatesasecondnonaddressableLUNthatcapturesallwrite
operationstotheprimaryLUN.MirroringprovidesfaulttoleranceattheLUN
level.LUNmirroringcanbeimplementedattheserver,SANswitch,orstorage
arraylevel.
Note

UsuallyRAIDSdontmirror.

DuplicationofSANEnvironmentForextremelyhighavailability
requirements,SANenvironmentsmaybeduplicatedtoprovidedisasterrecovery
onapersitebasis.TheSANenvironmentmustbeduplicatedatdifferentphysical
locations.ThetworesultantSANenvironmentsmayshareoperationalworkloads
orthesecondSANenvironmentmaybeafailoveronlysite.

Planning for Disaster Recovery

Ifasitefailsforanyreason,youmayneedtoimmediatelyrecoverthefailed
applicationsanddatafromaremotesite.TheSANmustprovideaccesstothedatafrom

VMware, Inc.

13

SAN Conceptual and Design Basics

analternateservertostartthedatarecoveryprocess.TheSANmayhandlethesitedata
synchronization.
ESXServermakesdisasterrecoveryeasierbecauseyoudonothavetoreinstallan
operatingsystemonadifferentphysicalmachine.Justrestorethevirtualmachine
imageandcontinuewhatyouweredoing.

VMware, Inc. 3145 Porter Drive Palo Alto, CA 94304 www.vmware.com

Copyright 1998-2006 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved. Protected by one or more of U.S. Patent Nos. 6,397,242, 6,496,847,
6,704,925, 6,711,672, 6,725,289, 6,735,601, 6,785,886, 6,789,156, 6,795,966, 6,880,022 6,961,941, 6,961,806 and 6,944,699;
patents pending. VMware, the VMware boxes logo and design, Virtual SMP and VMotion are registered trademarks or
trademarks of VMware, Inc. in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. Microsoft, Windows and Windows NT are registered
trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. All other marks and names mentioned
herein may be trademarks of their respective companies. Revision yyyymmdd Version: x.y Item: TBD

14