Storage Area Network Information Center

A comprehensive implementation plan helps you get started and guides you through successful testing and deployment of your Storage Area Network (SAN). Include the following as part of your implementation plan:

• Naming Plan
• Prototype and Testing Plan
• Production Deployment Plan

Naming Plan

Before you begin cabling, it is a good idea to give each switch a unique name, set the IP address, and possibly the gateway and subnet mask. An effective naming convention helps make it easy to identify components during testing and troubleshooting. The convention should also allow for significant growth across your enterprise, so you don't have to change the name of every switch at a later date. Switch names can be up to 19 characters long and can include letters, digits, and underscore characters, but no spaces. Consider incorporating meaningful naming elements that include:

• Organization or project ID
• Switch type (such as core or edge)
• Fabric name (if redundant fabrics are being used)
• Site or building location
• Floor and room location
• Rack location

Prototype and Testing Plan

Before transitioning a SAN into production, it is recommended that you test and validate your SAN. Creating a SAN prototype during the test phase is helpful in learning how to build a SAN, and for use in testing. An incremental and iterative approach to building a SAN prototype works well, since it is easier to identify and isolate problems as they arise. A testing plan is important to ensure that comprehensive testing is performed, including SAN design validation and failure and failover scenarios. Failure and failover scenarios will test your SAN to ensure the fabric successfully reroutes traffic and, once the failure has been corrected, re-establishes connectivity and reverts to normal routing.

Including storage and server vendors for this part of implementation will help ensure testing goes quickly, and give you direct access to an expert on detailed storage and server characteristics. Refer to Step 2, Prototype and Test Your SAN, for more details on testing.

Production Deployment Plan

It is best to deploy a SAN incrementally. An identified best practice is to deploy one or two servers of each operating system type, or one or two application platforms at a time, before rolling over the remaining servers or application platforms. That way, you can feel comfortable that each is working correctly before deploying the rest. You can learn more about production deployment in Step 3.

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