EMC VMAX 20/40K Back-End Connectivity

Posted on December 12, 2013 by Dave Ring

Each Engine has two Directors with each Director containing two Back-End Fibre Channel I/O Modules (Labeled MOD0 & MOD1 ! "hese #odules (also known as D$%s & Disk $da'ters 'ro(ide Fibre Channel Connecti(it) to the dri(es! $s )ou can see *ro# the i#age below there is +ust a single 'h)sical 'ort on the Back-end IO Module, this single 'ort is a -uad .F/ 'ort (QSFP ! "he connecting cable has a single co''er -.F/ transcei(er connector consisting o* 0 Fibre channel cables aggregated into one .ingle -.F/ 'ort! 1hile at the Dri(e Ba) side the 0 Fibre channel cables branch out as indi(idual connections to the link control cards (LCC as we will see shortl)! Each D$E contains two LCC cards (LCC$ & LCCB !

"he Engine diagra# below 'ro(ides the /ort la)out on the Engine and as )ou can see the lower director is the odd director and the u''er director is the e(en director! On both directors there are two Back-end IO #odules (MOD2 & MOD3 'er director, the Back End IO Module MOD0 has connections A0,A1,B0,B1

and MOD1 has connections C0,C1,D0,D1!

4ere is an e5a#'le o* a .tandard 6M$7 .torage Ba) Con*iguration *ull) 'o'ulated (8 Engines with 10 storage BAYS as i* (iewed *ro# the Front o* the 6M$7! In this *ull) 'o'ulated con*iguration )ou ha(e *our direct connect storage ba)s (Ba) 3%s and si5 dais) chained .torage Ba)s (8%s & 9%s ! Each octant re'resents connecti(it) *ro# a Single Engine (8 5 Directors !

In order to kee' this e5a#'le si#'le I will *ocus on the First Engine in the 6M$7 which is Engine 0! :nderstanding how one engine connects to the backend will hel' to understand the re#aining Back-end connecti(it) as the sa#e rules a''l)! Below is Disk Bay 1A with D$E%s 3-; 'o'ulated, these are the D$E%s that

Engine directl) connects to<

Engine 0 Backend IO Modules and -.F/ Cables< 4ere are the *our slics (MOD%s on the Engine with each slic 'ro(iding ! "ig FC links (Loo's

1e can see *ro# the labeling on the i#age below o* Engine0 that the E#en Dire$tor (DI=; connects to %CCB and the O&& Dire$tor (DI=> connects to %CCA! MOD0 on both the e(en and odd directors connect to DAEs 1,',(,)

with MOD1 on both directors connecting to DAEs *,+, ,8!

Checking the connecti(it) on D$E 3 )ou can see MOD2 *ro# the E(en Director (Dir; connects to the 'ri#ar) 'ort on LCCB and MOD2 *ro# the Odd Director (Dir> connects to the 'ri#ar) 'ort on LCC$! ?ote that all connections *ro# the E(en Directors connect to LCCB and all the Odd directors connect to the LCC$ cards! On the loo' con*iguration )ou can see that D$E3 is on Loo'2! "here are ; =edundant Loo's in total *ro# the Engine< D$E3@LOO/2 ($2(/3 D$E8@LOO/8 (B2(/9 D$E9@LOO/0 (C2(/3 D$E0@LOO/A (D2(/9 D$EB@LOO/3 ($3(/8 D$EA@LOO/9 (B3(/0 D$E>@LOO/B (C3(/8 D$E;@LOO/> (D3(/0

4ere is the *ull connecti(it) #a' *or Engine 0< $lso note the *ollowing translations *or MOD0 $2@/3 $3@/8 B2@/9 B3@/0 and likewise *or MOD1 C2@/3 C3@/8 D2@/9 D3@/0

"his co#'letes the e5a#'le o* the direct attach Back-end cabling *or Engine 0! "he sa#e rules a''l) as )ou add #ore engines! $s a result o* this design the backend cabling 'ro(ides dual access across directors to each dri(e eli#inating an) single 'oint o* *ailure (; =edundant Loo's !

"o .u##ariCe< D ; =edundant Loo's & $2,$3,B2,B3,C2,C3,D2,D3 D LCC$ Connects to the ODD nu#ber Director D LCCB Connects to the E6E? nu#ber Director D Each Engines su''orts a se'erate octant D Each .lic (MOD has 050Eig FC Links

Note: Please reference EMC Documentation for more detailed information specific to your configuration. Depending on Engine counts and Direct/Daisy configurations your cabling may expand differently.