Course 324: Storage Area Networks (SAN) Fundamentals

SAN Fundamentals course provides attendees with an introduction to designing, implementing, maintaining, and administering storage area networks (SANs) using Fibre Channel switches. Through hands-on labs*, workshops* and interactive discussions, the course presents attendees with the opportunity to explore how a SAN implementation can benefit a variety of organizations. Key design considerations, installation, administration, and troubleshooting skills are addressed.

Topics Covered:

• The evolution of the technology
• Overview of SANs Technology
• Killer applications for SANs
• Designing SANs
• Planning for SANs
• Installing and Deploying SANs
• Maintaining the SANs
• SAN Solutions and Future Directions
• Full coverage of storage networking
• Storage, network, and software components of storage networking workshops
• Issues for implementation and adoption

*Labs and workshops are available upon request with the 3-day course program.

The course provides attendees with the technical skills they need to perform detailed planning and to design SAN

Discuss concepts of SANs, such as Fibre Channel, Fibre Channel topologies, SAN components, SAS, SATA and storage issues addressed by a SAN solution Design a SAN solution based on an analysis of specific business requirements Discuss SAN management in enterprise environments Clustering and backup requirements Install and test SAN hardware and software Administer changes, backups, and disaster recovery in a SAN environment Troubleshoot and manage the SAN environment

• SAN Fundamentals
• SAN Attached Storage (SAS)
• SAN Interfaces
• SAN Interconnects
• SAN Fabrics
• Building a SAN
• SAN Applications

Storage Networking Architecture

• Direct Attached Storage (DAS)
• Network Attached Storage (NAS)
• Compare and contrast the DAS, NAS models to SAN model
• NAS-SAN Integration
• Analyzing Fibre Channel's Role in a SAN

SAN Design Issues

• Fibre Channel Topologies
• Customer Selection of Fibre Channel Products
• Designing Storage Networks
• Application Requirements
• Protocol Support
• Accommodation of Legacy Devices
• Anticipated Growth
• Traffic Volumes
• Redundancy
• Disaster Recovery
• SNMP Management
• Cost Justification and Consideration
• Financial Impact of a SAN
• Capital Savings
• Backup Savings
• Data Management
• Cost/Performance Ratio

Standards Design Issues

• Designing Distributed SAN Standards
• lnfiniband Technology Adoption
• Internet Data Centers
• SAN Standard Design Implications

Analyzing SCSI, Serial Attached SCSI (SAS), Serial ATA (SATA) and Fibre Channel's Role in a SAN

• Discuss the SCSI, SAS and SATA standard as a foundation for SAN
• Discuss the SCSI standard as a foundation for Fibre Channel
• Compare and contrast Fibre Channel and SCSI the Fibre Channel protocol
• Analyze the Fibre Channel physical layer 8b/10b encoding in the Fibre Channel protocol
• Fibre Channel data delivery mechanisms
• Examining Fibre Channel Topologies in a SAN

Fibre Channel Topologies and Architecture

• Parallel vs. Serial
• Fibre Channel Layered Model
• Frames and Primitives
• Link Services
• Fibre Channel Operations
• Flow Control and Addressing
• Identify the benefits and constraints of different topologies Point-to-point topology
• Arbitrated loop topology
• FC-AL topology design
• Loop Initialization
• Arbitration
• Switched fabric topology

Fabric Architecture

• Services
• Topology Design
• Zoning, Routing and Login

Exploring SAN Hardware Components

• Servers in a SAN
• Storage devices in a SAN
• Interconnect hardware in a SAN
• Firmware and device drivers in a SAN

Formulating SAN Management Concepts

• In-band and out-of-band fabric management functionality
• Monitoring, servicing, and controlling functions of fabric management in a SAN environment
• Zoning in a SAN environment Multipathing in SANs

Exploring Switch Hardware and Administration

• Fibre Channel hubs with Fibre Channel switches
• Fibre Channel switches
• Fibre Channel switch hardware features
• Fibre Channel switch management features

Designing a SAN Solution

• Perform a storage needs assessment
• Perform a storage policies assessment
• Outline the requirements for an initial SAN design
• Identify software tools appropriate to the planned architecture

Implementing a Solution

• Configure the cable plant for redundant and cascaded SANs
• Redundant and cascaded SAN configuration
• Configure port types and zones for the switch

Testing the SAN Environment

• State general rules for testing the SAN
• Installation tuning process
• Identify processes associated with network connectivity tests
• Verification tests performed at the installation of two similar Sans
• Restore the switch configuration file
• SAN administration tasks and administration tasks

Backing Up a SAN Environment

• Analyze issues for selecting a backup tool
• Data mover in a server-free backup configuration
• Disaster recovery planning
• Three disaster recovery models considered for a SAN
• Design a backup plan for a SAN

Troubleshooting Problems in a SAN Environment

• Storage media and Fibre Channel transport integrity can pose problems in your SAN Describe how pattern tests can help to isolate problems in transport integrity Discuss the troubleshooting capabilities of SAN management software Run loop back pattern tests on Fibre Channel switch ports

Architectural Design Considerations

• Traditional Captive Storage Architecture
• SAN Architecture
• Interface Comparison
• SAN's Shared Storage versus Traditional Captive Storage Availability/Reliability Performance Configuration Flexibility

WORKSHOPS

Workshop 1: Planning for SANs

• Implementation of Plan Development
• Scalability
• Security Issues
• Management Issues
• Advanced Scalability and Manageability
• Business Continuance through High Availability
• Disaster Recovery Plan
• Remote Disaster Recovery Capabilities
• Virtual Storage Area Networks Planning Techniques
• Making the Web Mission-Critical
• SAN Clustering Technologies
• Traditional IP Clustering and SANs
• Nonvirtualized versus Virtualized Storage in the Real World Nonvirtualized Storage and True Storage Virtualization

Workshop 2: Installing, Deploying and Maintaining SANs

• Testing Techniques
• Physical Layer Testing
• Application Layer Testing
• Management Layer Testing
• Maintaining Sans
• Management of Storage Area Networks
• Data Management Solution
• Improved Backup and Recovery

2-day "SAN Fundamentals" course provides attendees with an introduction to designing, implementing, maintaining, and administering storage area networks (SANs) using Fibre Channel switches.
Through hands-on labs and interactive discussions, the 3-day course presents attendees with the opportunity to explore how a SAN implementation can benefit a variety of organizations.
Key design considerations, installation, administration, and troubleshootin skills are addressed