Qlogic StorEdge Sun StorEdge Supplementary Manual

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 inter­switch links.

C A S E S T U D Y

By using three Sun StorEdge Network 2Gb Fibre Channel Switch - 64 products
powered by QLogic, Laser Interferometer Gravitational - Wave Observatory
(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

CalTech

C AS E S T U DY

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.

Corp orat e He adquarters QLogic Corporation 26 650 Aliso V iejo Parkway Ali so Viejo, C A 92656 94 9.38 9.6000 www.qlogic.com

Euro pe Headquarters QLo gic (UK) LTD. Surrey Technology Centre 4 0 Oc cam Road Guil dfor d Surrey GU2 7 YG UK [phone]

©2003 QLogi c Corporation. All rig hts reserved. The QLog ic logo, SANsurfer a nd SANbox are t rademarks of QLogic Corporation, which may be registered in some jurisdi ctions. All other brand s and product na mes are trademarks or registered tr ademarks of
their respecti ve holders. Information su pplied by QLogic Corpora tion is believed to be accurate and reliable. QLo gic Corporation assumes no responsibility for any errors in this broc hure. QLogic Corporation r eserves the right, without notice, to make changes
in product des ign or specifications.

SN0030907-00 R ev B 8/03