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.
Key Features of SAN Switches:
- High Performance: Designed for low-latency, high-throughput storage communication.
- Fibre Channel (FC) or Ethernet-based: Supports Fibre Channel (FC) for traditional SANs and Ethernet-based protocols like iSCSI and FCoE.
- Zoning: Controls which devices can communicate with each other for security and performance optimization.
- Redundancy & High Availability: Supports multiple paths and failover mechanisms.
- Scalability: Allows the addition of more switches and ports as storage demands grow.
- 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