© Copyright IBM Corp. 1988, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1988, 1999, 2000, 2001 399PeripheralsPeripheralsStorage Area Network ComponentsStorage Area Networks (SAN) connect SAN storage (usually tape, disk) together with serversinto a network called afabric . Today’s industry standard for interconnecting components of aSAN is Fiber Channel. The iSeries supports connection of disk and tape using fiber channel.The advantage of SAN are greater distances to devices (500 m using short wave and up to10 Km using longwave fiber) and the ability to share resources on a SAN.The components supported by the iSeries Fiber Channel adapters #2765 and #2766 are theEnterprise Storage Server, Magstar 3590 and the Ultrium 3584 Tape library. For furtherflexibility the IBM SAN Fiber Channel Managed Hub (3534-1R2) is supported and can beused to interconnect systems and components. Switches are not supported. However, theIBM SAN Fiber Channel Switch (2108-S09 and 2109-S16) can be used when the QuickLoopRPQ (8S0521) is installed.IBM SAN Fibre Channel Managed Hub 3534-1RUThe IBM SAN Fibre Channel ManagedHub provides industry standard FibreChannel Arbitrated Loop (FC-AL)connectivity of an entry-levelhomogeneous cluster of host serversand storage systems. The ManagedHub has eight FC-AL ports. Sevenports support fixed short wave opticalmedia for connecting devices onmultimode fiber up to 500 meters. Theeighth port is a Gigabit Interface Converter (GBIC) slot that can be configured for either shortwave optical (order part number 03K9308), or long wave optical (part number 03K9307)media. A long wave singlemode fiber can be up to 10 kilometers.PositioningThe Managed Hub enables customers making initial investments in Fibre Channelconnectivity to begin with small work group clusters of host servers and storage systems. TheManaged Hub implements the industry standard Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop protocol. Itprovides high-speed simultaneous data transfers between all ports, fault isolation at the portlevel, and a StorWatch Specialist for configuration and management.
