Fiber optic switch is a high-speed network transmission relay equipment, also called fiber channel switch or SAN switch. Compared with ordinary switches, it uses fiber optic cable as the transmission medium. So, what is a fiber optic switch, what is the origin of the fiber optic switch, and what are the configurations of the fiber optic switch? Next, let's follow the editor of Feichang Technology to take a look!
1. Basic introduction
of fiber optic switch With the continuous increase of enterprise network data and frequent network applications, many enterprises have begun to realize that they need to build their own storage system network to meet the increasing data storage performance requirements. Currently, the most popular data storage network is SAN (Storage Area Network), which treats the entire storage as a separate network connected to the corporate LAN where the server is located.
It is characterized by the use of fiber channel with a higher transmission rate to connect to the server network or the internal components of the SAN network. In this way, the entire storage network has a very wide bandwidth, which provides a guarantee for high-performance data storage. In this kind of SAN storage network, the key role is the fiber optic switch (FC Switch, also called "Fibre Channel switch" and "SAN switch") that we often hear. Because this is a new type of equipment, and it is too different from the Ethernet switches we usually see and used (mainly reflected in the support of the protocol), so many readers have even used the SAN storage network Of enterprise users have a little knowledge of SAN switches. For this reason, this article specifically introduces you to the matters needing attention when purchasing SAN switches. In fact, it is to introduce the main features of SAN switches. First, let's briefly understand the origin of SAN switches, so that we can deepen our understanding of SAN switches and no longer be full of "mystery".
2. Fiber optic switch The
fiber optic Ethernet switch is a high-performance managed Layer 2 fiber optic Ethernet access switch. Users can choose all-optical port configuration or optical-electrical port hybrid configuration, and access to optical fiber media can be single-mode fiber or multi-mode fiber. The switch can support network remote management and local management at the same time to realize the monitoring of port working status and switch settings.
The optical fiber port is particularly suitable for situations where the access distance of information points exceeds the access distance of Category 5 lines, the need for anti-electromagnetic interference and the need for communication confidentiality, etc. The applicable fields include: residential quarters FTTH broadband access network; enterprise high-speed optical fiber LAN; Control system (DCS); optical fiber digital video surveillance network; hospital high-speed optical fiber local area network; campus network.
a. Functional description
Non-blocking store-and-forward switching mode, with 8.8Gbps switching capability, all ports can work at full wire speed at the same time in full duplex mode, support 6K MAC addresses, have automatic MAC address learning and update functions, support port aggregation, Provide 7 groups of aggregated broadband trunk roads, support priority queues, and provide quality of service guarantee;
support 802.1d spanning tree protocol/rapid spanning tree protocol;
support 802.1x port-based access authentication;
support IEEE802.3x full-duplex flow control/half-duplex Industrial back pressure flow control;
supports tag-based VLAN/port-based VLAN/protocol-based VLAN, and can provide 255 VLAN groups with up to 4K VLANs;
supports port-based network access control;
has port isolation function;
With header blocking (HOL) prevention mechanism to minimize packet loss;
support port and MAC address binding, MAC address filtering;
support port mirroring;
with SNIFF network monitoring function;
with port bandwidth control function;
support IGMP snooping multicast Control;
support broadcast storm control;
b. Network management:
remote centralized network management: support SNMP, Web-based management, Telnet; based on designated ports or 802.1Q VLAN to increase security.
Local independent network management: through standard RS-232 interface.
c. Network standards and protocols:
IEEE: 802.3, 802.3u, 802.3z, 802.3ab, 802.1d, 802.1p, 802.1q, 802.1v, 802.3ad, 802.3x, 802.1x
IEFT：RFC1157 SNMP, RFC 1112/2236 IGMP, RFC854 Telnet, RFC 1123/1493/1643 MIB
d. Precautions for purchase The purchase of
optical fiber Ethernet switches mainly needs to consider the configuration of optical port modules
100M ports
Single fiber single mode, dual wavelength 1550nm/1310nm, 20/40km
dual fiber single mode, single wavelength 1310nm or 1550nm, 20/40/60km
dual fiber multimode, single wavelength 1310nm, 2km
Gigabit port
dual fiber 50/125μm multimode, wavelength 850nm, 550m;
dual fiber 62.5/125μm multimode, wavelength 850nm, 275m;
dual fiber single mode, wavelength 1310nm or 1550nm, 10/20/40/60km
10G port
SFP+, 10GBase-SR 10G optical module, wavelength 850nm, multimode 300m
SFP+, 10GBase-LR 10G optical module, wavelength 1310nm or 1550nm, single mode 10/20/40/60/80km
3. What is the origin of fiber optic switch?
In the past, the data storage we saw was basically connected directly to a few SCSI, IDE and other disks on the server. This is what we often hear about DAS (Direct Connected Storage) )the way. This kind of point-to-point disk system obviously has the disadvantages that it is difficult to expand and storage performance is difficult to improve. Not only that, but due to the physical performance of IDE and SCSI interfaces, the disk connected to it can usually only have a connection distance of up to 20 meters, which greatly limits the expansion of the disk storage system.
In order to solve the many shortcomings of the above DAS storage methods, network equipment vendors and standard-setting experts began to consider the development of a new type of storage technology to fundamentally solve the transmission rate and connection distance problems of the DAS storage method. At first, people thought of a way to separate the storage system and place it on the network node as a network device, which can greatly reduce the data storage load of the server and greatly expand the disk storage system. This is the later NAS (network Additional storage) method.
This storage method does solve the deficiencies of the previous DAS storage method to a considerable extent, and can meet the needs of most small and medium-sized enterprises for local storage. And its biggest feature is that it is simple and easy to use. It uses the same IP protocol as Ethernet. Network administrators can easily master the deployment of NAS storage systems, which is widely welcomed by many companies. However, NAS still does not fundamentally solve the problem of disk storage performance and connection distance. In general, disk storage performance has not been fundamentally improved, but the network outlet bandwidth has been increased.
It is precisely because NAS still has the above-mentioned shortcomings, so people continue to develop a new network storage method, that is, the SAN storage method introduced earlier in this article. The network structure is shown in the figure below. The biggest feature of this storage method is the Fibre Channel (Fibre Channel) protocol that provides Gigabit serial network access capabilities for storage devices, and then establishes a Fibre Channel based on the fourth layer of the Fibre Channel protocol. The SCSI protocol used for storage, the IP protocol used for the network, and the virtual interface (VI) protocol used for clusters mapped to the network architecture can support various bus types of network devices and channels in many aspects. The Fibre Channel protocol combines many advantages, such as the maximum distance of the network range of up to 10 kilometers, simple serial cables that can use multiple media, gigabit network speeds, and the ability to use multiple protocols on the same cable at the same time.
SAN is a network composed of storage devices and system components. All communications are completed on a Fibre Channel network. It can be used to centralize and share storage resources, instead of just acting as a network node like NAS storage. Network equipment. SAN not only provides high-performance connections to data equipment, improves data backup speed, but also adds redundant connections to storage systems and provides support for highly available cluster systems. Simply put, SAN is a dedicated Fibre Channel network (different from Ethernet) that connects storage devices and servers, but it has a similar architecture to Ethernet. It is also composed of servers that support Fibre Channel, Fibre Channel cards (network cards), and Fibre Channel It consists of hubs/switches and Fibre Channel storage devices. Technically speaking, the three most important components of a SAN network are: device interfaces (such as SCSI, Fibre Channel, ESCON, etc.), connecting devices (switches, gateways, routers, Hubs, etc.), and communication control protocols (such as IP and SCSI) Wait). These three components, together with additional storage devices and servers, form a SAN system.
Well, the above content is the detailed introduction of Feichang Technology on the configuration and origin of the optical fiber switch, I hope it can be helpful to everyone! Feichang Technology has been specialized in the R&D, production and sales of industrial communication equipment such as optical transceivers, industrial switches, optical fiber transceivers, and protocol converters for 20 years. Welcome to come to understand and exchange.