IBM MDS 9509 - Manual (Page 4)

physical SAN fabric or switch. Each
VSAN can be zoned as a typical SAN,
maintaining its own fabric services for
added scalability and resilience. VSANs
allow the cost of SAN infrastructure to
be shared among more users, while
ensuring absolute segregation of traffic
and retaining independent control of
configuration on a VSAN-by-VSAN
basis. Through unique virtualization fea-
tures, VSAN benefits can be extended
to virtualized servers, providing the
foundation for an end-to-end virtualized
data center. VSANs also greatly reduce
the probability that a misconfiguration
or component failure in one FSAN will
affect other VSANs. VSAN-based man-
agement access controls enhance
security by simplifying partitioning of
SAN management responsibilities
between mainframe and open systems
environments.
Each 8 Gbps switching module sup-
ports Inter-VSAN Routing (IVR) on every
Fibre Channel port. IVR allows selective
transfer of data traffic between specific
initiators and targets of different VSANs
while maintaining isolation of control
traffic within each VSAN, thereby main-
taining fabric stability and availability.
Simplified storage network management
The Cisco MDS 9509 provides three
principal modes of management: the
Cisco MDS 9000 family command-line
interface (CLI), Cisco Fabric Manager
and integration with third-party storage
management tools. The Cisco MDS
9509 presents the user with a consis-
tent, logical CLI. Adhering to the
syntax of the widely known Cisco
IOS CLI, the Cisco MDS 9000 for
IBM System Storage family CLI has
broad functionality.
Multiservice support and traffic-
management features
IP and Multiservice 18/4 Module fea-
tures offer Gigabit Ethernet ports for
iSCSI or FCIP connectivity, software
configurable on a port-by-port basis:
● The IP Storage Service Module fea-
ture provides eight iSCSI ports.
● The Multiservice 18/4 Module offers
four Gigabit Ethernet iSCSI ports
and 18 4-Gbps Fibre Channel
ports.
● The SAN Extension over IP Package
for IP Services and Multiservice
18/4 Module features add FCIP
support. SAN Extension over IP
Package helps improve performance
with FCIP Compression, Write
Acceleration and Tape Acceleration
and helps improve security with
Inter-VSAN Routing for FCIP.
Security for large enterprise SANs
Because storage networks require
security, the Cisco MDS 9509 for
IBM System Storage provides extensive
security measures at possible points of
attack to help prevent unauthorized
access and snooping.
Additionally, data-plane traffic is
secured through VSANs, which segre-
gate traffic between multiple virtual fab-
rics within the single physical fabric
infrastructure, and through hardware-
enforced zoning, which further segre-
gates traffic within each VSAN.
Advanced security and management
The Enterprise Package feature pro-
vides advanced security and manage-
ment capabilities. The package helps