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About IVR
S e n d d o c u m e n t a t i o n c o m m e n t s t o m d s f e e d b a c k - d o c @ c i s c o . c o m .
About IVR
Virtual SANs (VSANs) improve storage area network (SAN) scalability, availability, and security by
allowing multiple Fibre Channel SANs to share a common physical infrastructure of switches and ISLs.
These benefits are derived from the separation of Fibre Channel services in each VSAN and isolation of
traffic between VSANs. Data traffic isolation between the VSANs also inherently prevents sharing of
resources attached to a VSAN, such as robotic tape libraries. Using IVR, you can access resources across
VSANs without compromising other VSAN benefits.
Data traffic is transported between specific initiators and targets on different VSANs without merging
VSANs into a single logical fabric. Fibre Channel control traffic does not flow between VSANs, and
initiators cannot access any resource across VSANs other than the resources designated.
IVR is not limited to VSANs present on a common switch. Routes that traverse one or more VSANs
across multiple switches can be established, if necessary, to establish proper interconnections. IVR used
in conjunction with FCIP provides more efficient business continuity or disaster recovery solutions (see
Figure
See the
Note
scenario shown in
Figure 18-1
Traffic Continuity Using IVR and FCIP
IVR-Enabled
Switch
MDS1
FC
FC
VSAN 1
OX ID based load balancing of IVR traffic from IVR- enabled switches is not supported on Generation
Note
1 switching modules. OX ID based load balancing of IVR traffic from a non-IVR MDS switch should
work. Generation 2 switching modules support OX ID based load balancing of IVR traffic from
IVR-enabled switches.
Cisco MDS 9000 Family Configuration Guide
18-2
18-1).
"Example Configurations" section on page 18-31
Figure
18-1.
FC or FCIP links (multiple links for redundancy)
Transit VSAN (VSAN 4)
MDS2
FC
FC
FC
T
for procedures to configure the sample
MDS3
FC
FC
FC
FC
FC
FC
FC
FC
S1
VSAN 2
Chapter 18
Configuring Inter-VSAN Routing
MDS4
FC
FC
FC
S2
VSAN 3
OL-6973-03, Cisco MDS SAN-OS Release 2.x
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