Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Fibre Channel
Fibre Channel connectivity, the standard for enterprise storage area net-
working, allows high-bandwidth connectivity between storage and con-
suming devices. Fibre Channel connectivity employs wide-area network
(WAN)-type protocols for rapid data transfer, requiring host bus adapter
(HBA) connections on each device and specialized SAN-aware applica-
tions for backup and resource management. Fibre Channel connectiv-
ity can be arranged as a point-to-point connection, in an arbitrated loop
configuration, or in a switched fabric that allows large-scale integration of
multiple storage and consuming devices.
The theoretical device limit in switched fabric installations exceeds
that of other SAN solutions by a wide margin, allowing more than 10
million unique port designations within a single fabric. Fibre Channel
protocols have been extended to include TCP/IP-based transport (Fibre
Channel over IP and iFCP), though these derived protocols carry similar
limitations to iSCSI storage area network transport methods due to the
TCP/IP abstraction overhead.
Data Protection
Because of its value to the modern enterprise, stored data represents a vul-
nerable business asset in need of constant defense and protection. Confi-
dentiality must be addressed by transport and storage security measures,
access control systems, and other mechanisms we will examine in greater
detail later in this topic. Integrity relies on adequate change controls
and fault-tolerant storage technologies. Availability requires all of these
factors, in addition to adequate capacity for storage access and network
transport. When one or more of these factors fails, an effective backup
strategy becomes a critical factor for continuity of operations.
Backups
As enterprise storage capacity increases, so too must the capacity of any
backup solutions used to capture point-in-time copies of important data
stores. Application-specific backup solutions may be required to facilitate
f fine-resolution item recover y from within large databases, e-mail stores, or
file storage areas. Other backup mechanisms can duplicate entire storage
