C H A P T E R 8 - Combining Sun StorEdge 3510 FC Arrays and Sun StorEdge 3511 SATA Expansion Units

C H A P T E R 8

Combining Sun StorEdge 3510 FC Arrays and Sun StorEdge 3511 SATA Expansion Units

You can connect both Sun StorEdge 3510 and 3511 expansion units to a Sun StorEdge 3510 RAID array. This makes it possible to combine fast, reliable online data processing with less expensive near-line storage and backup.

See the release notes and Installation, Operation, and Service Manual for your array for information about appropriate uses for these products and limitations on their use.

If you are using a Sun StorEdge 3510 FC array and wish to add Sun StorEdge 3511 SATA expansion units, as many as five expansion units can be added. These can include any combination of Sun StorEdge 3510 expansion units and Sun StorEdge 3511 expansion units. In contrast, if using only Sun StorEdge 3510 expansion units, a maximum of eight expansion units can be added to a Sun StorEdge 3510 array.

Restrictions on the Use of Expansion-Unit Combinations

Some practices that involve combining Sun StorEdge 3511 SATA expansion units with Sun StorEdge 3510 FC arrays and expansion units are not supported. Observe the following restrictions.

Connect Sun StorEdge 3511 SATA expansion units only to host channels on the Sun StorEdge 3510 FC array that have been converted to drive channels. Do not use channels 2 and 3 for Sun StorEdge 3511 SATA expansion units. For information about converting host channels to drive channels, refer to the Sun StorEdge 3000 RAID Firmware User's Guide for your array.

Do not combine Sun StorEdge 3510 FC drives and Sun StorEdge 3511 SATA drives on the same Fibre Channel loop. Use them only on separate loops.

Manage and monitor SATA arrays and expansion units out-of-band. Due to the slower performance of SATA drives, managing and monitoring Sun StorEdge 3511 SATA arrays and expansion units using in-band connections may result in contention between I/O operations and monitoring operations.

Connecting Two FC Expansion Units and Three SATA Expansion Units to a Sun StorEdge 3510 RAID Array

Under certain conditions it may be appropriate to combine Sun StorEdge 3510 FC expansion units and Sun StorEdge 3511 SATA expansion units attached to a Sun StorEdge 3510 RAID array. For instance, in a transaction-processing environment a configuration such as the one shown in FIGURE 8-1 might be appropriate.

During the day, logical drives using only FC disks could be dedicated to mission-critical online transaction processing I/O operations.

After working hours, other logical drives composed of the slower SATA drives in the two Sun StorEdge 3511 SATA expansion units could be used to backup the transaction data from the FC logical drives. They could also be used for onsite disk-based storage of previous days' transactions until they could be backed up weekly to tape and stored offsite.

This sample configuration shows two Sun StorEdge 3510 FC expansion units (above the RAID array in the illustration) and Sun StorEdge 3510 FCSun StorEdge 3511 SATA expansion units (below the RAID array in the illustration). This high-capacity configuration requires the configuration of RAID channels 4 and 5 as drive channels. This restricts host connections to RAID channels 0 and 1.

Note - Do not connect Sun StorEdge 3511 SATA expansion units to the Sun StorEdge 3510 RAID array's dedicated drive channels or to channels also used by Sun StorEdge 3510 FC expansion units.

FIGURE 8-1 Sun StorEdge 3510 FC Array with Two FC Expansion Units and Three SATA Expansion Units

Sample Diagram showing a Sun StorEdge 3510 FC array configuration with two 3510 expansion units and three 3511 expansion units.