Quick question on stacking with SAS interconnects installed.

[chuckk281]

Chris had a SAS question:

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When joining enclosures in a single VC Domain, do the SAS interconnects have to be installed in the other enclosures?

I know all VC and VC-FC modules need to be in each enclosure in the same locations. I would assume the SAS interconnects to a P4800 would also have to follow the same rules, but I am unsure.

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From Armand:

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SAS switches have no relationship with a VC domain. They could be plugged in the same enclosure.

SAS switches are part of a zone, very similar to SAN zoning.

However, they cannot be stacked, so the SAS zone would be limited to a single enclosure + P2000 or MDS600 connected to it using SAS cables.

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And from Dan:

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I think you are slightly confusing 2 different things.

1)      Stacking in a single domain only requires FC connections to be mirrored on all chassis.  Ethernet connections can be setup however you like.

2)      Multiple VC Domains in the same Domain Group managed by VCEM require that Ethernet uplinks be the same across all domains in the group because otherwise if you migrated a profile from Domain A to Domain B, there is no guarantee you would have a network waiting for you.  I am less than 100% sure here though as I think there may have been recent changes on this topic.

But both of these, at least my understanding of them anyway, is predicated on the fact that these items are all VC modules being controller by either the domain or VCEM.

I don’t believe that VC imposes any such similarity rules on NON-VC modules under which the SAS Switches would be categorized.

Along those lines, if you had Brocade FC switches in the same chassis as Flex-10 modules, those would not have to be identical in order to stack a second Flex-10 chassis, because VC is not controlling the Fibre Channel modules or HBAs.

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Any other comments or suggestions?