https://community.hpe.com/t5/msa-storage/san-basics/m-p/1024413#M4307 Those switches are pretty reliable - I still have two 1 GBit switches from 2000:<BR />fcswa1:admin&gt; uptime<BR />Up for: 814 days, 13:07<BR />Powered for: 2583 days, 6:45<BR />Last up at: Mon Aug 14 08:43:50 2006<BR /><BR />More often a power line goes off or needs maintenance - for which I like to see redundant power-inlets even on base switches. Two switches allow for two different management domains - for example, a zoning error in one fabric will not kill everything.<BR /><BR />You can use 2 base switches without problems in a small environment. They don't even need a Fabric license, because they should not be interconnected anyway. The MSA2000fc and a server with two FC ports allow for a fully redundant setup.<BR /><BR />The MSA2012fc dual controller model work with its own interpretation of active/active:<BR /><BR />- a single virtual disk (vdisk) is managed by one controller and all the volumes contained in the vdisk can be presented in an active/active fashion to both controller ports (which should be connected to two different FC switches).<BR /><BR />- another virtual disk can be managed by the second controller and the same rules apply.<BR /><BR />You can create controller-based snapshots but how do you ensure data integrity / consistency? Wed, 05 Nov 2008 20:28:12 GMT Uwe Zessin 2008-11-05T20:28:12Z https://community.hpe.com/t5/msa-storage/san-basics/m-p/1024412#M4306 Hi,<BR /> <BR /> I'm looking to get an HP2012fc DC MSA with an HP StorageWorks 4/8 Base SAN switch for use in a VMWare ESX Vi environment and have a couple of basic questions that maybe someone can help with?<BR /> <BR /> I've read (on this forum) that it appears to be "the done thing" to use two switches with a DC MSA and was wondering on the reasoning behind this? Is it just for switch failure? Do they fail often?<BR /> <BR /> If I was to get two switches, would two SW 4/8 Base SAN switches work or would I need different models? I've been reading the docs and I'm not sure if they work in a redundant setup?<BR /> <BR /> Last and not least, I'm looking to backup the MSA. Ideally I'd like an active/passive setup, but am not really sure how to approach that. Can the 2012fc DC be used in this way? Would I need extra licences? If I was to just use one SAN, could I create snapshotable (I think I just invented a word) volumes that would allow me to easily backup live VMFS volumes?<BR /> <BR /> Thanks! Wed, 05 Nov 2008 17:21:02 GMT https://community.hpe.com/t5/msa-storage/san-basics/m-p/1024412#M4306 Dave Smif 2008-11-05T17:21:02Z https://community.hpe.com/t5/msa-storage/san-basics/m-p/1024413#M4307 Those switches are pretty reliable - I still have two 1 GBit switches from 2000:<BR />fcswa1:admin&gt; uptime<BR />Up for: 814 days, 13:07<BR />Powered for: 2583 days, 6:45<BR />Last up at: Mon Aug 14 08:43:50 2006<BR /><BR />More often a power line goes off or needs maintenance - for which I like to see redundant power-inlets even on base switches. Two switches allow for two different management domains - for example, a zoning error in one fabric will not kill everything.<BR /><BR />You can use 2 base switches without problems in a small environment. They don't even need a Fabric license, because they should not be interconnected anyway. The MSA2000fc and a server with two FC ports allow for a fully redundant setup.<BR /><BR />The MSA2012fc dual controller model work with its own interpretation of active/active:<BR /><BR />- a single virtual disk (vdisk) is managed by one controller and all the volumes contained in the vdisk can be presented in an active/active fashion to both controller ports (which should be connected to two different FC switches).<BR /><BR />- another virtual disk can be managed by the second controller and the same rules apply.<BR /><BR />You can create controller-based snapshots but how do you ensure data integrity / consistency? Wed, 05 Nov 2008 20:28:12 GMT https://community.hpe.com/t5/msa-storage/san-basics/m-p/1024413#M4307 Uwe Zessin 2008-11-05T20:28:12Z