A zone in Fibre Channel is a segment of a fabric that is composed of selected targets and initiators. Like with a VLAN, only the members of a zone have access to one another. Simply because the switch allows the members to access one another doesn’t mean you can’t still limit access more granularly. You can use storage-based filters, such as LUN Masking, for which devices can access one another based on WWNN information from the initiator port. With Xsan, you can use LUN Masking to limit which of the hosts on your SAN have access to your Xserve RAIDs. UPDATE: LUN Masking was removed as a feature from the Xserve…
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Xsan: Qlogic Licensing
In order to stack Qlogic switches all 20 ports must be active. Not all ports are active on all switches. Good to know… THIS POSTING IS OUT OF DATE
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Xsan: Metadata Network
Xsan needs an out-of-band metadata network. This network is used to transfer information, or metadata on files being written to the SAN. The metadata network on an Xsan should be low latency. Nothing should potentially interfere with the transfer of data. Therefore, make sure that you disable all the management features of your switch. But make sure it’s a good switch. I prefer to use a managed switch, disabling all the management features.