Strategies for Data Protection - Brocade

Storage and Fabric ConsolidationFigure 12. Simplifying the fabric and storage management viaconsolidationLikewise, reactively adding storage arrays to accommodate increasingcapacity requirements often leads to inefficient utilization of storageand increased management overhead. For the small SAN configurationillustrated here, storage consolidation requires an investment in alarger centralized storage system and data migration from dispersedassets to the consolidated array. For large data center SANs, servicingthousands of devices, the next step in storage consolidation may be tovirtualize designated storage systems to optimize capacity utilizationand facilitate data lifecycle management via different classes of virtualizedstorage.Storage and fabric consolidation projects can now take advantage ofenhanced features that streamline connectivity. Large storage arrays,for example, not only provide high availability and capacity but moreports for the SAN interconnect. Large arrays typically provide 128 to256 ports at 2, 4 or 8 Gbit/sec Fibre Channel speeds. Brocade's introductionof 8 Gbit/sec support enables a much higher fan-in ratio ofclients per storage port. In addition, Brocade directors provide 8 Gbit/sec ISLs to both increase bandwidth for switch-to-switch traffic andsimplify cabling.Storage consolidation also includes technologies to centralize datageographically dispersed in remote sites and offices. As will be discussedin more detail in Chapter 7, centralizing data in the data centeris a prerequisite for safeguarding all corporate data assets, meetingStrategies for Data Protection 23