The IBM® b-type Gen 5 Fibre Channel directors and switches provide reliable, scalable, and secure high-performance foundations for high-density server virtualization, cloud architectures, and next generation flash and SSD storage. They are designed to meet the demands of highly virtualized private cloud storage and data center environments. This IBM Redbooks® publication helps administrators learn how to implement or migrate to an IBM Gen 5 b-type SAN. It provides an overview of the key hardware and software products and explains how to install, monitor, tune, and troubleshoot your storage area network (SAN). Read this publication to learn about fabric design, managing and monitoring your network, key tools such as IBM Network Advisor and Fabric Vision, and troubleshooting.

This IBM® RedpaperTM publication helps network and storage administrators understand how to implement the IBM SAN42B-R Extension Switch and the IBM b-type Gen 6 Extension Blade for distance replication. It provides an overview of the IBM System Storage® SAN42B-R extension switch hardware and software features, describes the extension architecture, shows example implementations, and explains how to troubleshoot your extension products. IBM b-type extension products provide long-distance replication of your data for business continuity by using disaster recovery (BC/DR). This paper provides an overview of extension, detailed information about IBM b-type extension technologies and products, preferred topologies, example implementations with FCIP and TS7760/7700 Grid IP Extension, monitoring, and troubleshooting.

This IBM® Redbooks® Product Guide publication describes the IBM FlashSystem® 5200 solution, which is a next-generation IBM FlashSystem control enclosure. It is an NVMe end-to-end platform that is targeted at the entry and midrange market and delivers the full capabilities of IBM FlashCore® technology. It also provides a rich set of software-defined storage (SDS) features that are delivered by IBM Spectrum® Virtualize, including the following features: Data reduction and deduplication Dynamic tiering Thin provisioning Snapshots Cloning Replication Data copy services Transparent Cloud Tiering IBM HyperSwap® including 3-site replication for high availability (HA) Scale-out and scale-up configurations further enhance capacity and throughput for better availability. The IBM FlashSystem 5200 is a high-performance storage solution that is based on a revolutionary 1U form factor. It consists of 12 NVMe Flash Devices in a 1U storage enclosure drawer with full redundant canister components and no single point of failure. It is designed for businesses of all sizes, including small, remote, branch offices and regional clients. It is a smarter, self-optimizing solution that requires less management, which enables organizations to overcome their storage challenges. Flash has come of age and price point reductions mean that lower parts of the storage market are seeing the value of moving over to flash and NVMe--based solutions. The IBM FlashSystem 5200 advances this transition by providing incredibly dense tiers of flash in a more affordable package. With the benefit of IBM FlashCore Module compression and new QLC flash-based technology becoming available, a compelling argument exists to move away from Nearline SAS storage and on to NVMe. With the release of IBM FlashSystem 5200 Software V8.4, extra functions and features are available, including support for new Distributed RAID1 (DRAID1) features, GUI enhancements, Redirect-on-write for Data Reduction Pool (DRP) snapshots, and 3-site replication capabilities. This book is aimed at pre-sales and post-sales technical support and marketing and storage administrators.

IBM® System Storage® Gen 5 fabric backbones are among the industry's most powerful Fibre Channel switching infrastructure offerings. They provide reliable, scalable, and high-performance foundations for mission-critical storage. These fabric backbones also deliver enterprise connectivity options to add support for IBM FICON® connectivity, offering a high-performing and reliable FICON infrastructure with fast and scalable IBM System z® servers. Designed to increase business agility while providing nonstop access to information and reducing infrastructure and administrative costs, Gen 5 Fibre Channel fabric backbones deliver a new level of scalability and advanced capabilities to this robust, reliable, and high-performance technology. Although every network type has unique management requirements, most organizations face similar challenges managing their network environments. These challenges can include minimizing network downtime, reducing operational expenses, managing application service level agreements (SLAs), and providing robust security. Until now, no single tool could address these needs across different network types. To address this issue, the IBM Network Advisor management tool provides comprehensive management for data, storage, and converged networks. This single application can deliver end-to-end visibility and insight across different network types by integrating with Fabric Vision technology; it supports Fibre Channel SANs, including Gen 5 Fibre Channel platforms, IBM FICON, and IBM b-type SAN FCoE networks. In addition, this tool supports comprehensive lifecycle management capabilities across different networks through a simple, seamless user experience. This IBM Redbooks® publication introduces the concepts, architecture, and basic implementation of Gen 5 and IBM Network Advisor. It is aimed at system administrators, and pre- and post-sales support staff.

The superabundance of data that is created by today's businesses is making storage a strategic investment priority for companies of all sizes. As storage takes precedence, the following major initiatives emerge: Flatten and converge your network: IBM® takes an open, standards-based approach to implement the latest advances in the flat, converged data center network designs of today. IBM Storage solutions enable clients to deploy a high-speed, low-latency Unified Fabric Architecture. Optimize and automate virtualization: Advanced virtualization awareness reduces the cost and complexity of deploying physical and virtual data center infrastructure. Simplify management: IBM data center networks are easy to deploy, maintain, scale, and virtualize, delivering the foundation of consolidated operations for dynamic infrastructure management. Storage is no longer an afterthought. Too much is at stake. Companies are searching for more ways to efficiently manage expanding volumes of data, and to make that data accessible throughout the enterprise. This demand is propelling the move of storage into the network. Also, the increasing complexity of managing large numbers of storage devices and vast amounts of data is driving greater business value into software and services. With current estimates of the amount of data to be managed and made available increasing at 60% each year, this outlook is where a storage area network (SAN) enters the arena. SANs are the leading storage infrastructure for the global economy of today. SANs offer simplified storage management, scalability, flexibility, and availability; and improved data access, movement, and backup. Welcome to the cognitive era. The smarter data center with the improved economics of IT can be achieved by connecting servers and storage with a high-speed and intelligent network fabric. A smarter data center that hosts IBM Storage solutions can provide an environment that is smarter, faster, greener, open, and easy to manage. This IBM® Redbooks® publication provides an introduction to SAN and Ethernet networking, and how these networks help to achieve a smarter data center. This book is intended for people who are not very familiar with IT, or who are just starting out in the IT world.

This IBM® Redbooks product guide describes Fabric Vision technology. The use of virtualization, flash storage, and automation tools has allowed applications and services to be deployed faster while shattering performance barriers. The unprecedented number of application and service interactions has also increased the complexity, risk, and instability of mission-critical operations. As a result, IT organizations need flexible storage networks that can adapt to dynamic environments and performance requirements for high-density virtualization, flash storage, and cloud infrastructures. To achieve Service Level Agreement (SLA) objectives, IT administrators also need new tools that can help ensure non-stop operations, quickly identify potential points of congestion, and maximize application performance, while simplifying administration. Fabric Vision technology with IO Insight, an extension of Gen 6 Fibre Channel, provides outstanding insight and visibility across the storage network with powerful, integrated monitoring, management, and diagnostic tools that help organizations to simplify monitoring, increase operational stability, and dramatically reduce costs.

This IBM® Redbooks® publication will help you design and manage an end-to-end, extended distance connectivity architecture for IBM System z®. This solution addresses your requirements now, and positions you to make effective use of new technologies in the future. Many enterprises implement extended distance connectivity in a silo manner. However, effective extended distance solutions require the involvement of different teams within an organization. Typically there is a network group, a storage group, a systems group, and possibly other teams. The intent of this publication is to help you design and manage a solution that will provide for all of your System z extended distance needs in the most effective and flexible way possible. This book introduces an approach to help plan, optimize, and maintain all of the moving parts of the solution together.

Almost all technological components in the data center are getting faster: central processing units, networks, storage area networks (SANs), and memory. All of them have improved their speed by a minimum of 10X; some of them by 100X, for example, data networks. However, spinning disk performance has only increased by 1.2 times. IBM® FlashSystemTM 840 version 1.3 closes this gap. The FlashSystem 840 is optimized for the data center to enable organizations of all sizes to strategically harness the value of stored data. It provides flexible capacity and extreme performance for the most demanding applications, including virtualized or bare-metal online transaction processing (OLTP) and online analytical processing (OLAP) databases, virtual desktop infrastructures (VDI), technical computing applications, and cloud environments. The system accelerates response times with IBM MicroLatency® access times as low as 90 μs write latency and 135 μs read latency to enable faster decision making. The introduction of a low capacity 1 TB flash module allows the FlashSystem 840 to be configured in capacity points as low as 2 TB in protected RAID 5 mode. Coupled with 10 GB iSCSI, the FlashSystem is positioned to bring extreme performance to small and medium-sized businesses (SMB) and growth markets. Implementing the IBM FlashSystem® 840 provides value that goes beyond those benefits that are seen on disk-based arrays. These benefits include better user experience, server and application consolidation, development cycle reduction, application scalability, data center footprint savings, and improved price performance economics. This IBM Redbooks® publication discusses IBM FlashSystem 840 version 1.3. It provides in-depth knowledge of the product architecture, software and hardware, its implementation, and hints and tips. Also illustrated are use cases that show real-world solutions for tiering, flash-only, and preferred read, as well as examples of the benefits gained by integrating the FlashSystem storage into business environments. Also described are product integration scenarios running the IBM FlashSystem 840 with the IBM SAN Volume Controller, and the IBM Storwize® family of products such V7000, V5000, and the V3700, as well as considerations when integrating with the IBM FlashSystem 840. The preferred practice guidance is provided for your FlashSystem environment with IBM 16 Gbps b-type products and features, focusing on Fibre Channel design. This book is intended for pre-sales and post-sales technical support professionals and storage administrators, and for anyone who wants to understand and learn how to implement this exciting technology.

This IBM® Redbooks® publication will help you install, configure, and use the new IBM Fibre Channel Endpoint Security function. The focus of this publication is about securing the connection between an IBM DS8900F and the IBM z15TM. The solution is delivered with two levels of link security supported: support for link authentication on Fibre Channel links and support for link encryption of data in flight (which also includes link authentication). This solution is targeted for clients needing to adhere to Payment Card Industry (PCI) or other emerging data security standards, and those who are seeking to reduce or eliminate insider threats regarding unauthorized access to data.