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Other Information You May Need
In addition to this document, see the documentation provided with the HBA and Fibre Channel switch
hardware for vendor-specific information required to complete Fibre-Channel setup on your storage
array.
Installing Supported Fibre Channel HBAs
The storage array supports a specific set of Fibre Channel HBAs, each requiring a unique driver and
firmware level. See the Dell PowerVault MD Series Support Matrix at dell.com/powervaultmanuals for a
list of supported HBAs.
If an HBA is already installed on your host server, verify that it is supported in the Dell PowerVault MD
Series Support Matrix. If the HBA is not listed, it should not be used to connect to the storage array.
CAUTION: Connecting the storage array to a non-supported host server HBA or installing non-
qualified HBA drivers or firmware can cause instability or loss of access to your data.
Installing Fibre Channel HBA On Your Host Server
For instructions about physically installing an HBA in your host server and loading supported drivers and
firmware, see the documentation supplied with your HBA hardware.
NOTE: During installation you must enter the manufacturer-specific timeout and/or node time
values. See the Dell PowerVault MD Series Support Matrix at dell.com/powervaultmanuals for
information related to your specific HBA.
Using Fibre Channel Switch Zoning
A Fibre Channel switch allows you to connect multiple devices to the SAN without compromising
bandwidth or data throughput. Switch zoning implemented on each Fibre Channel switch hardware
component using the manufacturer’s embedded utility, allows you to divide port traffic between the host
server and storage array to maintain the highest level of redundancy.
The following figure shows each connection to the host server(s) routed to an individual logical zone on
the SAN. Two physical switches provide an alternate (redundant) data path to the storage array. If a single
HBA, switch or RAID controller fails, the host server(s) can still access data on the storage array through
one of the alternate paths provided by the switches.
NOTE: For a list of supported Fibre Channel switches, see the Dell PowerVault MD Series Support
Matrix at dell.com/powervaultmanuals.
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