Switch
From i-doit documentation
Contents |
Introduction
Within i-doit you can document three different kind of switches: Standard switches, modular switches (chassis) and FC-switches.
Standard switches imply all kinds of standalone network switches, no matter what kind of plugs or media they use (e.g. RJ-45 Fast Ethernet or SC Short Wave Fibre) or how many ports they have. This kind of swithes can be documented using the category "Switch".
Modular switches are switches which have different slots filled with different modules which could even have differnet kinds of plugs and media. This kind of switches gets also documented at the category "Switch".
FC-Switches are a little bit different because they define Switches for SAN FibreChannel Environments. Due to this fact they have their own category called "FC-Switch".
Concept
Standard Switches
When you create a standard Switch you will have a device without any ports. To document ports you first have to create an interface in the category "Network/Interface" and add ports to it in the category "Network/Ports". For sure you can create as many ports as you want in just one adding procedure. Within this adding procedure you can define the kind of sockets and media the ports are and where they are connected to.
Modular Switche (Chassis)
Modular switches are created the same way as standard switches. After the creation of a "Switch" object you change to the category "Switch" and change the value from the field "Modular" from "No" to "Yes" and enter a number of slots the switch has.
The way you have to go to add modules to a modular switch is through the creation of an interface. The category "interface" in the context of a modular switch can also be understood as a module, in this context it is the same. Similar to the standard switch you can add as many ports as you want to an interface, even with mixed sockets and media. Of course you can connect each single port to another network port anywhere within your documentation.
FC Switch
The FC Switch has got its own object class. This is because you do not add network interfaces and ports but a storage controller in the category "Storage/Controller" of the type "FC-controller". After you have added a storage controller of the type "FC-controller" you can add "FC-ports" in the corresponding category. The method is similar to the way you add network interfaces and ports, but you can just connect FC-ports to other FC-ports and network ports just to network ports.
Scenarios
This is an example of a modular switch:
Chassis Switch 1 (Switch) ---> 48-Port RJ45 FE Module (Net./Interface) ---> Port 1-48 (Net./Port) ---> connected to many Clients (Net./Port)<--- Network Interface cards on Clients (Net./Interface)
Chassis Switch 1 (Switch) ---> 10-Port ST Fibre Module (Net./Interface) ---> Port 1-10 (Net./Port) ---> connected to many Servers (Net./Port)<--- Network Interface cards on Servers (Net./Interface)
And this is an example of a FC-Switch:
FC-Switch 1 (FC-Switch) ---> 12 Port FC Interface (Storage/Controller) ---> Port 1-12 (Storage/FC-Port) ---> connected to FC-Ports on HBAs on many servers (Storage/FC-Port)<--- HBA on many servers (Storage/Controller)
