Description
HP StorageWorks 8/40 SAN Switch Overview
The HP StorageWorks 8/40 San Switch is a versatile solution designed to meet the dynamic storage requirements of organizations. It supports both forward and backward compatibility, making it ideal for use as a small “building-block” switch for departmental fabrics or a high-performance edge switch in larger core-to-edge SAN configurations. This switch is tailored for environments with rapidly growing storage needs, integrating 1, 2, 4, and 8 Gb/s Fibre Channel technology in 24, 32, or 40 port configurations. When fully populated with 40 ports, the switch provides an aggregate bandwidth of 680 Gb/s. Inter-Switch Link (ISL) trunking offers up to 64 Gb/s of balanced throughput, minimizing congestion and enhancing bandwidth. Additionally, organizations can deploy 4 Gb/s SFPs today and upgrade to 8 Gb/s SFPs as needed.
Key Features
Non-blocking Architecture
- Provides simultaneous wire-speed support for all ports, offering up to 640 Gb/s full-duplex aggregate bandwidth.
Auto-sensing Ports
- Supports 1, 2, 4, and 8 Gb/s switch and router ports, enabling quick deployment with minimal configuration and ensuring high performance with backward and forward compatibility.
Ports on Demand
- Offers scalable growth from 24 to 40 ports with “pay-as-you-grow” flexibility, ideal for dynamic business environments.
Full 1:1 Subscription
- Ensures simplified SAN management by eliminating the need to match application performance requirements to port speeds.
Optional Integrated Routing Software
- Enhances scalability and fault isolation on a per-port basis, allowing flexible architecture without needing a dedicated routing platform.
Enhanced ISL Trunking
- Combines up to eight ports (at 2, 4, or 8 Gb/s) between switches into a single logical ISL, achieving speeds up to 64 Gb/s (128 Gb/s full duplex) for optimal bandwidth utilization and load balancing.
Dynamic Path Selection (DPS)
- Optimizes performance and load balancing by routing data through all available paths in the fabric.
Management
- A single code stream supports the entire B-series portfolio, ensuring full compatibility and simplifying maintenance and upgrades.
Adaptive Networking
- Offers advanced fabric services to optimize SAN performance and resource utilization.
Sixth-generation Technology
- Provides low latency, power efficiency, and high reliability with a scalable and flexible platform for advanced fabric services.
Software Overview
HP StorageWorks Power Pack+ Bundle (Optional)
- Monitors network health and performance, including Fabric Watch, Extended Fabric, ISL Trunking, Adaptive Networking, Advanced Performance Monitoring, and Fabric Manager.
Fabric Watch (Optional)
- Monitors the SAN for potential faults and alerts network managers to issues before failures occur. It tracks a variety of fabric elements, events, and counters for early fault detection and performance measurement. Each switch requires its own Fabric Watch license.
HP StorageWorks Fabric Manager Software (Optional)
- A Java-based application that manages multiple switches and fabrics in real-time. It helps SAN administrators with configuration, monitoring, dynamic provisioning, and daily management.
ISL Trunking
- Logically groups up to eight E-ports to form a high-bandwidth trunk (up to 64 Gb/s) between two switches. Connections are load-balanced across individual links in the logical trunk group.
FICON Support (Optional)
- Enables host control of switches in mainframe environments.
Data Center Fabric Manager Professional
- A server-based management application available at no charge with B-series SAN switches. It manages a single Fabric OS fabric (up to 1,000 switch ports) and performs group switch management.
Data Center Fabric Manager Enterprise and Professional+
- Enterprise-class products supporting FOS and M-EOS products. DCFM Enterprise scales up to 24 fabrics and 9,000 switch ports, while DCFM Professional+ scales to 4 SAN Fabrics and 2,560 switch ports.