HP StorageWorks 8/24 SAN Switch

HP Updated: 2008-09-20 RSS
HP StorageWorks 8/24 SAN Switch

The HP StorageWorks 8/24 SAN switch range in size from 16 to 24 ports, functioning as standalone core switches or as lower-cost edge switches in large core-to-edge tiered storage networks. As a result, it can meet the needs of small and medium-size organizations as well as very large enterprises. With Ports on Demand upgrades, organizations can minimize their upfront investment while maintaining their ability to scale in low-cost “pay-as-you-grow” increments in the future.

With a design that provides full 8 Gbit/sec non-blocking, full-duplex performance on every port, HP 8/24 SAN Switch meets the higher performance levels required by consolidated, virtualized environments. With easy-to-use management tools and wizards, and full line rate performance on every port, organizations can streamline implementation and ongoing management in a wide range of environments.

The 8/24 SAN switches also provide unprecedented investment protection. Auto-sensing ports that support backward compatibility with 1, 2, 4, and 8 Gbit/sec devices significantly reduce deployment complexity and costs, while providing compatibility with installed devices. Organizations that do not require 8 Gbit/sec interfaces can populate the new switches with 4 Gbit/sec SFPs, while preserving their ability to easily upgrade to 8 Gbit/sec SFPs in the future.
The 8/24 SAN Switch with 24 enabled ports may be deployed as a full-fabric switch or in Access Gateway mode, which provides connectivity into any SAN (the default mode setting is a switch). Access Gateway mode utilizes NPIV switch standards to present Fibre Channel connections as logical devices to SAN fabrics.

The 8/24 SAN switch offers an optional Power Pack+ software bundle that provides enterprise-class features such as Adaptive Networking. These capabilities help tune SAN performance and resource utilization, reducing costs and providing the essential building blocks for next generation data center fabrics.

What's new

* 8 Gb Technology
* Full 1:1 subscription on all ports at 8 Gbit/sec
* Enhanced Inter-Switch Link (ISL) Trunking
* Adaptive Networking with Quality of Service, Traffic Isolation, and Ingress Rate Limiting

Features and Benefits

* Non-blocking architecture: Includes simultaneous wire-speed support for all ports to provide a high-performance system with aggregate bandwidth of up to 384 Gbit/sec full duplex.
* Auto-sensing 1, 2, 4, and 8 Gbit/sec switch: Provides the highest performance available, with complete backward and forward investment protection.
* Full 1:1 subscription on all ports at 8 Gbit/sec: Simplifies SAN management, negating the need to map application performance requirements to port speeds.
* Ports on Demand capability: Comes with 16 enabled ports and supports “pay-as-you-grow” scalability to 24 enabled ports.
* N_Port ID Virtualization: Provides seamless server connectivity to multi-vendor fabric environments, and allows a great number of servers to connect to a SAN fabric without increasing switch domain count.
* Enhanced Inter-Switch Link (ISL) Trunking: Allows up to eight ports (at 2, 4, or 8 Gbit/sec speeds) between a pair of switches to be combined to form a single logical ISL with a speed of up to 64 Gbit/sec (128 Gbit/sec full duplex) for optimal bandwidth utilization and load balancing.
* Dynamic Path Selection (DPS): Optimizes fabric-wide performance and load balancing by automatically routing data to all available paths in the fabric.
* 8 Gbit/sec port speeds: Remove/avoid performance bottlenecks in high-density virtualized server environments.
* Adaptive Networking: Advanced fabric services to optimize SAN performance and resource utilization.
* Sixth-generation technology: Delivers low latency, power efficiency, and high reliability while providing a highly scalable and flexible platform for advanced fabric services.