SAN Switches

SAN (Storage Area Network) switches are specialized network switches designed to manage and route storage traffic within a SAN environment. They enable high-speed communication between storage devices and servers, ensuring efficient data transfer and storage management.

SAN Switch
SAN Switch

Key Features of SAN Switches:

  1. High Performance: Designed for low-latency, high-throughput storage communication.
  2. Fibre Channel (FC) or Ethernet-based: Supports Fibre Channel (FC) for traditional SANs and Ethernet-based protocols like iSCSI and FCoE.
  3. Zoning: Controls which devices can communicate with each other for security and performance optimization.
  4. Redundancy & High Availability: Supports multiple paths and failover mechanisms.
  5. Scalability: Allows the addition of more switches and ports as storage demands grow.
  6. Management & Monitoring: Comes with tools for monitoring performance, troubleshooting, and automation.

Types of SAN Switches:

  • Director-class switches: Large, enterprise-grade switches with hundreds of ports for high-availability environments.
  • Edge switches: Smaller switches that connect servers and storage devices at the network’s edge.

Popular SAN Switch Vendors:

  • Brocade (now Broadcom)
  • Cisco

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