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Oracle Solaris 11.1 Administration: SAN Configuration and Multipathing     Oracle Solaris 11.1 Information Library
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Document Information

Preface

1.  Solaris I/0 Multipathing Overview

What's New in Solaris I/O Multipathing?

Overview of Solaris I/O Multipathing

Fibre Channel Software Features

iSCSI Software Features

SAS Software Features

Solaris I/O Multipathing Features

Supported Device Standards

2.  Fibre Channel Multipathing Configuration Overview

3.  Configuring Solaris I/O Multipathing Features

4.  Administering Multipathing Devices

5.  Configuring Fabric-Connected Devices

6.  Configuring Solaris iSCSI Initiators

7.  Configuring Virtual Fibre Channel Ports

8.  Configuring FCoE Ports

9.  Configuring SAS Domains

10.  Configuring IPFC SAN Devices

11.  Booting the Oracle Solaris OS From Fibre Channel Devices on x86 Based Systems

12.  Persistent Binding for Tape Devices

A.  Manual Configuration for Fabric-Connected Devices

B.  Supported FC-HBA API

C.  Troubleshooting Multipathed Device Problems

Index

Overview of Solaris I/O Multipathing

The Solaris I/O multipathing features enable multiple access paths for systems that are running the Oracle Solaris OS. Multipathing provides higher availability for storage devices through the use of multipathed connections. This section provides the following information:

The Solaris I/O multipathing features identify the storage devices on your SAN or SAS Domain. The software enables you to attach Fibre Channel storage devices in either loop, fabric, or point-to-point mode. The software provides a common interface for managing both Fibre Channel, iSCSI, and SAS storage devices.

For information on how to configure targets and initiators in preparation for multipathing, see Chapter 11, Configuring Storage Devices With COMSTAR (Tasks), in Oracle Solaris 11.1 Administration: Devices and File Systems.

Fibre Channel Software Features

Solaris I/O multipathing provides the following key features:

iSCSI Software Features

iSCSI is an acronym for Internet SCSI (Small Computer System Interface), an Internet Protocol (IP)-based storage networking standard for linking data storage subsystems. By carrying SCSI commands over IP networks, the iSCSI protocol enables you to access block devices from across the network as if they were connected to the local system.

This feature means that a Solaris system can act as either an iSCSI server (target) or a client (initiator). The advantage of setting up Solaris iSCSI targets is you might have existing fibre-channel devices that can be connected to clients without additional FC HBAs. In addition, systems with dedicated arrays can now share replicated storage with ZFS or UFS file systems.

For more information, see Chapter 6, Configuring Solaris iSCSI Initiators.

SAS Software Features

Solaris I/O Multipathing Features

Solaris I/O multipathing is enabled by default for x86 based platforms and optional for SPARC based systems that run the Oracle Solaris OS. The software contains the following features: