Qlogic StorEdge Sun StorEdge Supplementary Manual

Brand: Qlogic

Model: StorEdge Sun StorEdge

Type: Supplementary Manual

C A S E S T U D Y

CalTech

Sun StorEdge

™

Network 2Gb

Fibre Channel Switch-64 Final

Frontier for Science Lab’s SAN

Problem

To efﬁciently collect and share real-time scientiﬁc data

between three lab sites.

Solution

Innovative, cost-effective Sun/QLogic infrastructure

Result

A single SAN that bypasses the need for inter-

switch links.

By using three Sun StorEdge Network 2Gb Fibre Channel Switch - 64 products

(LIGO) created a highly reliable and available Storage Area Network (SAN)

— in three states — using fewer resources than a traditional mesh SAN

design, at a fraction of the cost.

Scientists avoid the pitfalls of a complex SAN environment and are free to

concentrate on such heady concepts as measuring gravitational waves from

black holes and The Big Bang Theory. LIGO, constructed by scientists at the

California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and the Massachusetts Institute of

Technology (MIT) and funded by the National Science Foundation, is a facility

dedicated to the detection of cosmic gravitational waves — ripples in the

fabric of space and time produced by violent events in the distant universe,

such as the collision of two black holes or shockwaves from supernova

explosions. LIGO was ﬁrst proposed to the National Science Foundation

in 1989, and construction on the facilities began in 1994. The goal of the

project is to prove whether Einstein’s theory of gravity — he called it a

curvature of space-time caused by the presence of matter — is correct.

“The Sun StorEdge Network 2Gb Fibre Channel Switch-64 has gone a

long way toward helping our research,” said Stuart Anderson, Senior Staff

Scientist at LIGO. “If this research works, it will help us look at gravity directly

and open an entirely new branch of astronomy.”

QLogic Systems Engineer Dan Heller agrees, “It’s critical that scientists

know their data will be easily shared among resources, which is why LIGO

created a SAN using the Sun StorEdge Network 2Gb Fibre Channel Switch -

64, rather than using more costly and complex direct-attach storage, which

can be difﬁcult to effectively share among network resources.”

“The real motivation was a less-expensive port cost and the simplicity of not

having more than one switch at any given location. We couldn’t be happier with

the way Sun and QLogic have tied this infrastructure together.”

— Stuart Anderson, LIGO Senior Staff Scientist

Corporate Headquarters QLogic Corporation 26650 Aliso Viejo Parkway Aliso Viejo, CA 92656 949.389.6000 www.qlogic.com

Europe Headquarters QLogic (UK) LTD. Surrey Technology Centre 40 Occam Road Guildford Surrey GU2 7YG UK +44 (0)1483 295825

C A S E S T U D Y

The Ultimate SAN Journey

LIGO’s quest for a more effective SAN started in the fall of 2002, when

it began upgrading its existing Sun Sunﬁre

™

V880 hosts, 1Gb QLogic

SANblade

™

host bus adapters and SANbox 16-port switches at all

three LIGO locations. The main LIGO site is located at Pasadena, CA,

while remote sites operate in Hanford, WA, and Livingston, LA. LIGO

needed to standardize an infrastructure solution to meet its needs.

“The real motivation was a less-expensive port cost and the simplicity

of not having more than one switch at any given location,” Stuart said,

adding that LIGO is using only 56 of its 64 ports, giving it room to

expand if the need arises. “We are pleased with the way Sun and

QLogic have tied this infrastructure together.”

All three LIGO sites are equipped with the Sun StorEdge Network

2Gb Fibre Channel Switch - 64. They are also using a combination of

Sun V880 hosts, Sun 2Gb dual Fibre Channel host bus adapters, Sun

StorEdge T3 and 3510FC storage arrays, as well as Sun StorEdge

L6000 and L700 tape libraries equipped with Sun StorEdge 9940B

Fibre Channel tape drives.

The Sun StorEdge Performance Suite and Sun StorEdge Utilization

Suite provide the high performance required by LIGO. The Sun

StorEdge Performance Suite (formerly known as QFS) eliminates

major bottlenecks by giving Caltech the ability to efﬁciently create

and manage multiple tiers of disk within a ﬁle system.

Sun’s StorEdge Utilization Suite (SAM-FS) provides unsurpassed

reliability, high-performance data storage management, archival and

retrieval services. In addition to high-speed disk access, SAM-FS

provides extensive and ﬂexible storage management capabilities.

The stakes are high and the facility’s SAN is running realtime between

hosts, disk and tape. Cosmic information is being streamed 24/7 —

300 terabytes of data will be collected and analyzed annually.

By taking advantage of the Sun/QLogic solution, LIGO is assured of

reliability with the conﬁguration’s redundant power supplies, fans and

modular design. Thus far, the switch has lived up to its ﬁve nines

of availability. “We’ve had zero switch failures since going live six

months ago,” Stuart said.

By offering a high port count at a competitive price, the innovative

QLogic/Sun switch design allows the lab to bypass more complex

and costly fabrics that traditionally use 16-port or director-class

switches to increase available ports.

“We just plug the switch in and it works; that’s the way I like it,” said

Anderson. “Our new SAN enables us to store and analyze more data

at the observatory — QLogic and Sun are a great match for us.”

The cost-effective Sun StorEdge 2Gb FC Switch - 64 Port scales from

a 32-port base conﬁguration to 64 ports in a chassis that is only 4U

high. Using a small amount of real estate is critical, and noteworthy

when comparing the QLogic/Sun product to the competition, which

takes up to 16Us. In addition to providing the lowest latency (less

than 400 nanoseconds per blade) in its class, the Sun StorEdge 2Gb

FC Switch - 64 Port boasts bladed architecture with a migration path

to 4Gb and 10Gb Fibre Channel.

CalTech

©2003 QLogic Corporation. All rights reserved. The QLogic logo, SANsurfer and SANbox are trademarks of QLogic Corporation, which may be registered in some jurisdictions. All other brands and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of

their respective holders. Information supplied by QLogic Corporation is believed to be accurate and reliable. QLogic Corporation assumes no responsibility for any errors in this brochure. QLogic Corporation reserves the right, without notice, to make changes

in product design or speciﬁcations.

SN0030907-00 Rev B 8/03