Authored by bharthi amlani
There are piles of data, and due to flash, the storage facility is also 
getting more efficient and faster. In this condition, it is essential for the networks that link it all together to become compatible with all of these.
Traditional fiber channel as well as the general use protocols applied in data storage, are steadily ratcheting up performance. Recently, Cisco System has boosted the speed / performance of long distance, storage links for disaster recovery and business functioning. The company has also introduced speed reforms for internet protocol storage networks in data centers and enhancing its software for simplification of storage management.
Steven Hill, a research analyst says “Fiber Channel hangs on as the glue that binds together SANs (storage area networks) because it’s dependable and secure. A majority of large enterprise installations uses it even though typically cheaper IP-based systems like ISCSI have been around for years.”
But there is a limit with fiber channels as they cannot reach far enough to connect two storage systems in different locations in a huge metropolitan city. In this situation, the enterprises have to look for a better option in order to replicate their data between widely separated SANs. This kind of setup mainly aims business continuity and rapid recovery from a disaster.
Cisco has launched a SAN Extension Module with additional ports and improved speed for FCIP (Fiber Channel over IP). With this step, it can help its MDS 9700 storage switch better connect Fiber Channel system over wide-area networks. The new module has eight ports of 10-Gigabit Ethernet, up from four ports of Gigabit Ethernet for this purpose of the previous line card. The new card will also be able to host two 40-Gigabit Ethernet ports next year through a software upgrade at no extra cost.
Cisco further introduced new speed options for IP storage networking on its Nexus 9000 Series datacenter switches. Now, you have25Gbps, 50Gbps and 100 Gbps connection options. Before this the series offered IP storage connections at 10 Gbps and 40 Gbps. Analyst Hill says “ The 25/50/100-Gigabit speeds are popular mostly for big cloud-scale companies that deploy equipment very densely and need as much speed as possible at each port.”
The next thing that Cisco came out with is a step designed to streamline storage management. In order to enhance its DCNM (Data Center network Manager) that the company applies to managing SANs and LANs both, it is combining it with some storage array management functions. The software now can automatically kick off functions when the administration does certain configuration on the SAN.
As the ultimate outcome of the entire practice, many storage setup process may become easier. Such as creating a storage volume, assigning it to a host, and assigning that host to a target used to require administrators to switch back and forth between separate pieces of software for managing the SAN and the array. Now it all happens on one screen, and that process should be simplified down from 40 clicks to 3 clicks, Cisco said.
