TECHNICAL NOTE

VMware Infrastructure 3

SAN Conceptual and Design Basics

VMwareESXServercanbeusedinconjunctionwithaSAN(storageareanetwork),a
specializedhighspeednetworkthatconnectscomputersystemstohighperformance
storagesubsystems.UsingESXServertogetherwithaSANprovidesextrastoragefor
consolidation,improvesreliability,andhelpswithdisasterrecovery.

TouseESXServereffectivelywithaSAN,youreexpectedtobefamiliarwiththeSAN
technology.ThiswhitepaperoffersabriefintroductiontosomebasicSANconcepts,
butdoesntaimtobeanexhaustivesourceofinformationonSANs.IfyouareanESX
ServeradministratorplanningtosetupESXServerhoststoworkwithSANs,you
shouldalsoconsultotherresourcesavailableinprintandontheInternettoachievea
workingknowledgeofSANconcepts.AdditionalinformationonhowESXServer
interactswithSANmaybefoundinSANConfigurationGuide.

Thewhitepaperdiscussesthesetopics:

! SANBasicsonpage 1

! SANComponentsonpage 4

! UnderstandingSANInteractionsonpage 7

! SANInstallationConsiderationsonpage 10
! SANDesignBasicsonpage 11

SAN Basics
ASANisaspecializedhighspeednetworkofstoragedevicesandswitchesconnected
tocomputersystems.Thiswhitepaperreferstothecomputersystemsasserversor
hosts.

ASANpresentssharedpoolsofstoragedevicestomultipleservers.Eachservercan
accessthestorageasifitweredirectlyattachedtothatserver.ASANsupports
centralizedstoragemanagement.SANsmakeitpossibletomovedatabetweenvarious
storagedevices,sharedatabetweenmultipleservers,andbackupandrestoredata
rapidlyandefficiently.Inaddition,aproperlyconfiguredSANfacilitatesbothdisaster
recoveryandhighavailability.

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 SAN Conceptual and Design Basics

ThephysicalcomponentsofaSANcanbegroupedinasinglerackordatacenteror
connectedoverlongdistances.ThismakesaSANafeasiblesolutionforbusinessesof
anysize:theSANcangroweasilywiththebusinessitsupports.

SAN Component Overview

ThissectiongivesanoverviewofSANcomponents.Thenumbersinthetext
correspondtonumbersinFigure 1,SANComponents,onpage 3.

Initssimplestform,aSANconsistsofoneormoreservers(1)attachedtoastorage
array(2)usingoneormoreSANswitches.Eachservermighthostnumerous
applicationsthatrequirededicatedstorageforapplicationsprocessing.

Thefollowingcomponents,discussedinmoredetailinSANComponentsonpage 4
areinvolved:

! SANSwitches(3)SANswitchesconnectvariouselementsoftheSAN.In
particular,theymightconnecthoststostoragearrays.SANswitchesalsoallow
administratorstosetuppathredundancyintheeventofapathfailurefromhost
servertoswitchorfromstoragearraytoswitch.

! Fabric(4)TheSANfabricistheactualnetworkportionoftheSAN.Whenone
ormoreSANswitchesareconnected,afabriciscreated.TheFCprotocolisusedto
communicateovertheentirenetwork.ASANcanconsistofmultiple
interconnectedfabrics.EvenasimpleSANoftenconsistsoftwofabricsfor
redundancy.

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 SAN Conceptual and Design Basics

! Connections:HostBusAdapters(5)andStorageProcessors(6)Hostservers
andstoragesystemsareconnectedtotheSANfabricthroughportsinthefabric.

! AhostconnectstoafabricportthroughanHBA.

! Storagedevicesconnecttofabricportsthroughtheirstorageprocessors.

ESX
Server
1

HBA 2 HBA 1
5
4 fabric A 4 fabric B

3 3

SAN switch SAN switch

6
SP SP

2 storage array

Figure 1. SAN Components

How a SAN Works

TheSANcomponentsinteractasfollows:

1 WhenahostwantstoaccessastoragedeviceontheSAN,itsendsouta
blockbasedaccessrequestforthestoragedevice.

2 SCSIcommandsareencapsulatedintoFCpackets.Therequestisacceptedbythe
HBAforthathostandisconvertedfromitsbinarydataformtotheopticalform
requiredfortransmissiononthefiberopticcable.

3 Atthesametime,therequestispackagedaccordingtotherulesoftheFCprotocol.

4 TheHBAtransmitstherequesttotheSAN.

5 DependingonwhichportisusedbytheHBAtoconnecttothefabric,oneofthe
SANswitchesreceivestherequestandsendsittothestorageprocessor,which
sendsitontothestoragedevice.

Theremainingsectionsofthiswhitepaperprovideadditionalinformationaboutthe
componentsoftheSANandhowtheyinteroperate.Thesesectionsalsopresentgeneral
informationonconfigurationoptionsanddesignconsiderations.

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 SAN Conceptual and Design Basics

SAN Components
ThecomponentsofanFCSANcanbegroupedasfollowsandarediscussedbelow:

! HostComponentsonpage 4

! FabricComponentsonpage 5

! StorageComponentsonpage 5

Figure 2showstheSANcomponentlayers.

ESX ESX
Server Server

host
components

HBA HBA HBA HBA

fabric A fabric B
fabric
components
SAN switch A SAN switch B

SP SP SP SP

storage
components

storage array storage array

Figure 2. SAN Component Layers

Host Components
ThehostcomponentsofaSANconsistoftheserversthemselvesandthecomponents
thatenabletheserverstobephysicallyconnectedtotheSAN.

! HBAsarelocatedintheservers,alongwithacomponentthatperforms
digitaltoopticalsignalconversion.Eachhostconnectstothefabricportsthrough
itsHBAs.

! HBAdriversrunningontheserversenabletheserversoperatingsystemsto
communicatewiththeHBA.

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 SAN Conceptual and Design Basics

Fabric Components
AllhostsconnecttothestoragedevicesontheSANthroughtheSANfabric.The
networkportionoftheSANconsistsofthefollowingfabriccomponents:

! SANSwitchesSANswitchescanconnecttoservers,storagedevices,andother
switches,andthusprovidetheconnectionpointsfortheSANfabric.Thetypeof
SANswitch,itsdesignfeatures,anditsportcapacityallcontributetoitsoverall
capacity,performance,andfaulttolerance.Thenumberofswitches,typesof
switches,andmannerinwhichtheswitchesareinterconnecteddefinethefabric
topology.

! ForsmallerSANs,thestandardSANswitches(calledmodularswitches)can
typicallysupport16or24ports(thoughsome32portmodularswitchesare
becomingavailable).Sometimesmodularswitchesareinterconnectedto
createafaulttolerantfabric.

! ForlargerSANfabrics,directorclassswitchesprovidealargerportcapacity
(64to128portsperswitch)andbuiltinfaulttolerance.

! DataRoutersDataroutersareintelligentbridgesbetweenSCSIdevicesandFC
devicesintheSAN.ServersintheSANcanaccessSCSIdiskortapedevicesinthe
SANthroughthedataroutersinthefabriclayer.

! CablesSANcablesareusuallyspecialfiberopticcablesthatareusedtoconnect
allofthefabriccomponents.ThetypeofSANcableandthefiberopticsignal
determinethemaximumdistancesbetweenSANcomponentsandcontributeto
thetotalbandwidthratingoftheSAN.

! CommunicationsProtocolFabriccomponentscommunicateusingtheFC
communicationsprotocol.FCisthestorageinterfaceprotocolusedformostof
todaysSANs.FCwasdevelopedasaprotocolfortransferringdatabetweentwo
portsonaserialI/Obuscableathighspeeds.FCsupportspointtopoint,
arbitratedloop,andswitchedfabrictopologies.Switchedfabrictopologyisthe
basisformostcurrentSANs.

Storage Components
ThestoragecomponentsofaSANarethestoragearrays.Storagearraysincludestorage
processors(SPs).TheSPsarethefrontendofthestoragearray.SPscommunicatewith
thediskarray(whichincludesallthedisksinthestoragearray)andprovidethe
RAID/LUNfunctionality.

Storage Processors
SPsprovidefrontsidehostattachmentstothestoragedevicesfromtheservers,either
directlyorthroughaswitch.TheserverHBAsmustconformtotheprotocolsupported
bythestorageprocessor.Inmostcases,thisistheFCprotocol.

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 SAN Conceptual and Design Basics

Storageprocessorsprovideinternalaccesstothedrives,whichcanbeusingaswitchor
busarchitecture.Inhighendstoragesystems,drivesarenormallyconnectedinloops.
ThisbackendlooptechnologyemployedbytheSPprovidesseveralbenefits:

! Highspeedaccesstothedrives

! Abilitytoaddmoredrivestotheloop

! Redundantaccesstoasingledrivefrommultipleloops(whendrivesare
dualportedandattachedtotwoloops)

Storage Devices
Dataisstoredondiskarraysortapedevices(orboth).

DiskarraysaregroupsofmultiplediskdevicesandarethetypicalSANdiskstorage
device.Theycanvarygreatlyindesign,capacity,performance,andotherfeatures.

Storagearraysrarelyprovidehostsdirectaccesstoindividualdrives.Instead,the
storagearrayusesRAID(RedundantArrayofIndependentDrives)technologyto
groupasetofdrives.RAIDusesindependentdrivestoprovidecapacity,performance,
andredundancy.Usingspecializedalgorithms,severaldrivesaregroupedtoprovide
commonpooledstorage.TheseRAIDalgorithms,commonlyknownasRAIDlevels,
definethecharacteristicsoftheparticulargrouping.

InsimplesystemsthatprovideRAIDcapability,aRAIDgroupisequivalenttoasingle
LUN.ALUNisasingleunitofstorage.Dependingonthehostsystemenvironment,a
LUNisalsoknownasavolumeoralogicaldrive.FromaVIClient,aLUNlookslike
anyotherstorageunitavailableforaccess.

Inadvancedstoragearrays,RAIDgroupscanhaveoneormoreLUNscreatedfor
accessbyoneormoreservers.TheabilitytocreatemorethanoneLUNfromasingle
RAIDgroupprovidesfinegranularitytothestoragecreationprocess.Youarenot
limitedtothetotalcapacityoftheentireRAIDgroupforasingleLUN.

Note ASANadministratormustbefamiliarwiththedifferentRAIDlevelsandunderstand
howtomanagethem.Discussionofthosetopicsisbeyondthescopeofthisdocument.

Moststoragearraysprovideadditionaldataprotectionandreplicationfeaturessuchas
snapshots,internalcopies,andremotemirroring.

! AsnapshotisapointintimecopyofaLUN.Snapshotsareusedasbackupsources
fortheoverallbackupproceduresdefinedforthestoragearray.

! InternalcopiesallowdatamovementfromoneLUNtoanotherforanadditional
copyfortesting.

! RemotemirroringprovidesconstantsynchronizationbetweenLUNsonone
storagearrayandasecond,independent(usuallyremote)storagearrayfor
disasterrecovery.

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 SAN Conceptual and Design Basics

Tape Storage Devices

TapestoragedevicesarepartoftheSANbackupcapabilitiesandprocesses.

! SmallerSANsmightusehighcapacitytapedrives.Thesetapedrivesvaryintheir
transferratesandstoragecapacities.Ahighcapacitytapedrivemightexistasa
standalonedrive,oritmightbepartofatapelibrary.

! Typically,alargeSAN,oraSANwithcriticalbackuprequirements,isconfigured
withoneormoretapelibraries.Atapelibraryconsolidatesoneormoretapedrives
intoasingleenclosure.Tapescanbeinsertedandremovedfromthetapedrivesin
thelibraryautomaticallywitharoboticarm.Manytapelibrariesofferlargestorage
capacitiessometimesintothepetabyte(PB)range.

Understanding SAN Interactions

TheprevioussectionsprimaryfocuswasthecomponentsofaSAN.Thissection
discusseshowSANcomponentsinteract:

! SANPortsandPortNamingonpage 7

! MultipathingandPathFailoveronpage 7

! Active/ActiveandActive/PassiveDiskArraysonpage 8

! Zoningonpage 9

SAN Ports and Port Naming

! Inthecontextofthisdocument,aportistheconnectionfromadeviceintothe
SAN.EachnodeintheSANeachhost,storagedevice,andfabriccomponent
(routerorswitch)hasoneormoreportsthatconnectittotheSAN.Portscanbe
identifiedinanumberofways:

! WWPNWorldWidePortName.Agloballyuniqueidentifierforaportwhich
allowscertainapplicationstoaccesstheport.TheFCswitchesdiscovertheWWPN
ofadeviceorhostandassignaportaddresstothedevice.

! Port_ID(orportaddress)WithintheSAN,eachporthasauniqueportIDthat
servesastheFCaddressfortheport.ThisenablesroutingofdatathroughtheSAN
tothatport.TheFCswitchesassigntheportIDwhenthedevicelogsintothe
fabric.TheportIDisvalidonlywhilethedeviceisloggedon.

IndepthinformationonSANportscanbefoundathttp://www.snia.org,theWebsite
oftheStorageNetworkingIndustryAssociation.

Multipathing and Path Failover

AnFCpathdescribesaroute:
! FromaspecificHBAportinthehost,

! Throughtheswitchesinthefabric,and

! Intoaspecificstorageportonthestoragearray.

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 SAN Conceptual and Design Basics

AgivenhostmightbeabletoaccessaLUNonastoragearraythroughmorethanone
path.HavingmorethanonepathfromahosttoaLUNiscalledmultipathing.

Bydefault,VMwareESXServersystemsuseonlyonepathfromthehosttoagiven
LUNatanytime.IfthepathactivelybeingusedbytheVMwareESXServersystem
fails,theserverselectsanotheroftheavailablepaths.Theprocessofdetectingafailed
pathandswitchingtoanotheriscalledpathfailover.Apathfailsifanyofthe
componentsalongthepathHBA,cable,switchport,orstorageprocessorfails.

Active/Active and Active/Passive Disk Arrays

Itisusefultodistinguishbetweenactive/activeandactive/passivediskarrays:

! Anactive/activediskarrayallowsaccesstotheLUNssimultaneouslythroughall
thestorageprocessorsthatareavailablewithoutsignificantperformance
degradation.Allthepathsareactiveatalltimes(unlessapathfails).

! Inanactive/passivediskarray,oneSPisactivelyservicingagivenLUN.Theother
SPactsasbackupfortheLUNandmaybeactivelyservicingotherLUNI/O.I/O
canbesentonlytoanactiveprocessor.Iftheprimarystorageprocessorfails,one
ofthesecondarystorageprocessorsbecomesactive,eitherautomaticallyor
throughadministratorintervention.

Note Usingactive/passivearrayswithpathpolicyFixedcanpotentiallyleadtopath
thrashing.SeeESXServerSANConfigurationGuideformoreinformationonresolving
paththrashing.

InFigure 3,onestorageprocessorisactive,theotherispassive.Dataarrivesthrough
theactivearrayonly.

storage storage
processor processor
active passive

physical
disks

storage array
Figure 3. Active/passive Storage Array

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 SAN Conceptual and Design Basics

Zoning
ZoningprovidesaccesscontrolintheSANtopology;itdefineswhichHBAscan
connecttowhichSPs.YoucanhavemultipleportstothesameSPindifferentzonesto
reducethenumberofpresentedpaths.

WhenaSANisconfiguredusingzoning,thedevicesoutsideazonearenotvisibleto
thedevicesinsidethezone.Inaddition,SANtrafficwithineachzoneisisolatedfrom
theotherzones.

WithinacomplexSANenvironment,SANswitchesprovidezoning.Zoningdefines
andconfiguresthenecessarysecurityandaccessrightsfortheentireSAN.

Typically,zonesarecreatedforeachgroupofserversthataccessasharedgroupof
storagedevicesandLUNs.Youcanusezoninginseveralways.Herearesome
examples:

! ZoningforsecurityandisolationYoucanmanagezonesdefinedfortesting
independentlywithintheSANsotheydontinterferewiththeactivitygoingonin
theproductionzones.Similarly,youcouldsetupdifferentzonesfordifferent
departments.

! ZoningforsharedservicesAnotheruseofzonesistoallowcommonserver
accessforbackups.SANdesignsoftenhaveabackupserverwithtapeservicesthat
requireSANwideaccesstohostserversindividuallyforbackupandrecovery
processes.Thesebackupserversneedtobeabletoaccesstheserverstheybackup.
ASANzonemightbedefinedforthebackupservertoaccessaparticularhostto
performabackuporrecoveryprocess.Thezoneisthenredefinedforaccessto
anotherhostwhenthebackupserverisreadytoperformbackuporrecovery
processesonthathost.

! MultiplestoragearraysZonesarealsousefulwhentherearemultiplestorage
arrays.Throughtheuseofseparatezones,eachstoragearrayismanaged
separatelyfromtheothers,withnoconcernforaccessconflictsbetweenservers.

LUN Masking
LUNmaskingiscommonlyusedforpermissionmanagement.LUNmaskingisalso
referredtoasselectivestoragepresentation,accesscontrol,andpartitioning,
dependingonthevendor.

LUNmaskingisperformedattheSPorserverlevel;itmakesaLUNinvisiblewhena
targetisscanned.Theadministratorconfiguresthediskarraysoeachserverorgroup

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 SAN Conceptual and Design Basics

ofserverscanseeonlycertainLUNs.Maskingcapabilitiesforeachdiskarrayare
vendorspecific,asarethetoolsformanagingLUNmasking.

ESX ESX
Server Server
Mask LUN 11 Mask LUN 12

21:00:00:E0:8B:19:AB:31 HBA HBA 21:00:00:E0:8B:19:B2:33

LUN masking:
zoning: done at SP or server level;
done at switch level; makes a LUN invisible
used to segment FC switch
when a target is scanned
the fabric
50:05:01:60:10:20:AD:87
SP WWN
(world-wide name)
LUNs unique, 64-bit
address assigned
0 11 12 to Fibre Channel node

storage array

Figure 4. LUN Zoning and Masking

SAN Installation Considerations

InstallingaSANrequirescarefulattentiontodetailsandanoverallplanthataddresses
allthehardware,software,storage,andapplicationsissuesandtheirinteractionsasall
thepiecesareintegrated.

Requirements
TointegrateallcomponentsoftheSAN,youmustmeetthevendorshardwareand
softwarecompatibilityrequirements,includingthefollowing:

! HBA(firmwareversion,driverversion,andpatchlist)

! Switch(firmware)

! Storage(firmware,hostpersonalityfirmware,andpatchlist)

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 SAN Conceptual and Design Basics

SAN Setup
WhenyourereadytosetuptheSAN,completethesetasks.

To prepare the SAN

1 Assembleandcabletogetherallhardwarecomponentsandinstallthe
correspondingsoftware.

a Checktheversions.

b SetuptheHBA.

c Setupthestoragearray.

2 Changeanyconfigurationsettingsthatmightberequired.

3 Testtheintegration.

Duringintegrationtesting,testalltheoperationalprocessesfortheSAN
environment.Theseincludenormalproductionprocessing,failuremodetesting,
backupfunctions,andsoforth.

4 EstablishabaselineofperformanceforeachcomponentandfortheentireSAN.

Eachbaselineprovidesameasurementmetricforfuturechangesandtuning.See
ESXServerSANConfigurationGuideforadditionalinformation.

5 DocumenttheSANinstallationandalloperationalprocedures.

SAN Design Basics

WhendesigningaSANformultipleapplicationsandservers,youmustbalancethe
performance,reliability,andcapacityattributesoftheSAN.Eachapplicationdemands
resourcesandaccesstostorageprovidedbytheSAN.TheSANsswitchesandstorage
arraysmustprovidetimelyandreliableaccessforallcompetingapplications.

ThissectiondiscussessomeSANdesignbasics.ItdoesnotfocusonSANdesignforESX
Serverhosts,butonthefollowinggeneraltopicsofinterest:

! DefiningApplicationNeedsonpage 11
! ConfiguringtheStorageArrayonpage 12

! ConsideringHighAvailabilityonpage 13

! PlanningforDisasterRecoveryonpage 13

Defining Application Needs

TheSANmustsupportfastresponsetimesconsistentlyforeachapplicationeven
thoughtherequirementsmadebyapplicationsvaryoverpeakperiodsforbothI/Oper
secondandbandwidth(inmegabytespersecond).

AproperlydesignedSANmustprovidesufficientresourcestoprocessallI/Orequests
fromallapplications.DesigninganoptimalSANenvironmentisthereforeneither

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 SAN Conceptual and Design Basics

simplenorquick.ThefirststepindesigninganoptimalSANistodefinethestorage
requirementsforeachapplicationintermsof:

! I/Operformance(I/Opersecond)

! Bandwidth(megabytespersecond)

! Capacity(numberofLUNsandcapacityofeachLUN)

! Redundancylevel(RAIDlevel)

! Responsetimes(averagetimeperI/O)

! Overallprocessingpriority

Configuring the Storage Array

Storagearraydesigninvolvesmappingthedefinedstoragerequirementstothe
resourcesofthestoragearrayusingtheseguidelines:

! EachRAIDgroupprovidesaspecificlevelofI/Operformance,capacity,and
redundancy.LUNsareassignedtoRAIDgroupsbasedontheserequirements.

! IfaparticularRAIDgroupcannotprovidetherequiredI/Operformance,capacity,
andresponsetimes,youmustdefineanadditionalRAIDgroupforthenextsetof
LUNs.YoumustprovidesufficientRAIDgroupresourcesforeachsetofLUNs.

! ThestoragearraysneedtodistributetheRAIDgroupsacrossallinternalchannels
andaccesspaths.ThisresultsinloadbalancingofallI/Orequeststomeet
performancerequirementsofI/Ooperationspersecondandresponsetimes.

Peak Period Activity

BasetheSANdesignonpeakperiodactivityandconsiderthenatureoftheI/Owithin
eachpeakperiod.Youmayfindthatadditionalstoragearrayresourcecapacityis
requiredtoaccommodateinstantaneouspeaks.

Forexample,apeakperiodmayoccurduringnoontimeprocessing,characterizedby
severalpeakingI/Osessionsrequiringtwiceorevenfourtimestheaverageforthe
entirepeakperiod.Withoutadditionalresources,I/Odemandsthatexceedthecapacity
ofastoragearrayresultindelayedresponsetimes.

Caching
ThoughESXServersystemsbenefitfromwritecache,thecachecouldbesaturatedwith
sufficientlyintenseI/O.Saturationreducesthecacheseffectiveness.

Becausethecacheisoftenallocatedfromaglobalpool,itshouldbeallocatedonlyifit
willbeeffective.

! AreadaheadcachemaybeeffectiveforsequentialI/O,suchasduringcertain
typesofbackupactivities,andfortemplaterepositories.

! AreadcacheisoftenineffectivewhenappliedtoaVMFSbasedLUNbecause
multiplevirtualmachinesareaccessedconcurrently.Becausedataaccessis
random,thereadcachehitrateisoftentoolowtojustifyallocatingareadcache.

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 SAN Conceptual and Design Basics

! Areadcacheisoftenunnecessarywhentheapplicationandoperatingsystem
cachedataarewithinthevirtualmachinesmemory.Inthatcase,thereadcache
cachesdataobjectsthattheapplicationoroperatingsystemalreadycache.

Considering High Availability

Productionsystemsmustnothaveasinglepointoffailure.Makesurethatredundancy
isbuiltintothedesignatalllevels.Buildinadditionalswitches,HBAs,andstorage
processors,creating,ineffect,aredundantaccesspath.

! RedundantSANComponentsRedundantSANhardwarecomponents
includingHBAs,SANswitches,andstoragearrayaccessports,arerequired.In
somecases,multiplestoragearraysarepartofafaulttolerantSANdesign.

! RedundantI/OPathsI/Opathsfromtheservertothestoragearraymustbe
redundantanddynamicallyswitchableintheeventofaport,device,cable,orpath
failure.

! I/OConfigurationThekeytoprovidingfaulttoleranceiswithinthe
configurationofeachserversI/Osystem.

WithmultipleHBAs,theI/OsystemcanissueI/OacrossalloftheHBAstothe
assignedLUNs.Failurescanhavethefollowingresults:

! IfanHBA,cable,orSANswitchportfails,thepathisnolongeravailableand
analternatepathisrequired.

! IfafailureoccursintheprimarypathbetweentheSANswitchandthestorage
array,thenanalternatepathatthatlevelisrequired.

! IfaSANswitchfails,theentirepathfromservertostoragearrayisdisabled,
soasecondfabricwithacompletealternatepathisrequired.

! MirroringProtectionagainstLUNfailureallowsapplicationstosurvivestorage
accessfaults.Mirroringcanaccomplishthatprotection.

MirroringdesignatesasecondnonaddressableLUNthatcapturesallwrite
operationstotheprimaryLUN.MirroringprovidesfaulttoleranceattheLUN
level.LUNmirroringcanbeimplementedattheserver,SANswitch,orstorage
arraylevel.

Note UsuallyRAIDSdontmirror.

! DuplicationofSANEnvironmentForextremelyhighavailability
requirements,SANenvironmentsmaybeduplicatedtoprovidedisasterrecovery
onapersitebasis.TheSANenvironmentmustbeduplicatedatdifferentphysical
locations.ThetworesultantSANenvironmentsmayshareoperationalworkloads
orthesecondSANenvironmentmaybeafailoveronlysite.

Planning for Disaster Recovery

Ifasitefailsforanyreason,youmayneedtoimmediatelyrecoverthefailed
applicationsanddatafromaremotesite.TheSANmustprovideaccesstothedatafrom

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 SAN Conceptual and Design Basics

analternateservertostartthedatarecoveryprocess.TheSANmayhandlethesitedata
synchronization.

ESXServermakesdisasterrecoveryeasierbecauseyoudonothavetoreinstallan
operatingsystemonadifferentphysicalmachine.Justrestorethevirtualmachine
imageandcontinuewhatyouweredoing.

VMware, Inc. 3145 Porter Drive Palo Alto, CA 94304 www.vmware.com

Copyright 1998-2006 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved. Protected by one or more of U.S. Patent Nos. 6,397,242, 6,496,847,
6,704,925, 6,711,672, 6,725,289, 6,735,601, 6,785,886, 6,789,156, 6,795,966, 6,880,022 6,961,941, 6,961,806 and 6,944,699;
patents pending. VMware, the VMware boxes logo and design, Virtual SMP and VMotion are registered trademarks or
trademarks of VMware, Inc. in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. Microsoft, Windows and Windows NT are registered
trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. All other marks and names mentioned
herein may be trademarks of their respective companies. Revision yyyymmdd Version: x.y Item: TBD

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