fabric. For example, you can have a SAN that contains one host that runs on
an AIX
®
operating system and another host that runs on a Windows
®
operating system.
You can remove one SAN Volume Controller node in each I/O group from a
cluster when hardware service or maintenance is required. After you remove the
SAN Volume Controller node, you can replace the field replaceable units (FRUs) in
the SAN Volume Controller node. All communication between disk drives and all
communication between SAN Volume Controller nodes is performed through the
SAN. All SAN Volume Controller node configuration and service commands are
sent to the cluster through an Ethernet network.
Each SAN Volume Controller node contains its own vital product data (VPD). Each
cluster contains VPD that is common to all the SAN Volume Controller nodes in
the cluster, and any system that is connected to the Ethernet network can access
this VPD.
Cluster configuration information is stored on every SAN Volume Controller node
that is in the cluster to allow concurrent replacement of FRUs. When a new FRU is
installed and when the SAN Volume Controller node is added back into the
cluster, configuration information that is required by that SAN Volume Controller
node is read from other SAN Volume Controller nodes in the cluster.
SAN Volume Controller operating environment
You must set up your SAN Volume Controller operating environment using the
supported multipathing software and hosts.
Minimum requirements
You must set up your SAN Volume Controller operating environment according to
the following requirements:
v Minimum of one pair of SAN Volume Controller nodes
v Minimum of two uninterruptible power supplies
v One master console per SAN installation for configuration
Note:
You can order the master console for the SAN Volume Controller as a
master console hardware option that comes preloaded with the master
console software or a master console software option that you install on
your own hardware.
Features of a SAN Volume Controller 2145-8G4 node
The SAN Volume Controller 2145-8G4 node has the following features:
v 19-inch rack mounted enclosure
v One 4-port 4 Gbps fibre-channel adapter (four fibre-channel ports)
v 8 GB cache memory
v Two dual-core processors
Supported hosts
See the following Web site for a list of the supported operating systems:
http://www.ibm.com/servers/storage/software/virtualization/svc
Chapter 2. SAN Volume Controller overview 5