Other Topic Library Versions

K2 RAID Fibre Channel port redundant configuration

In addition to the Level 3 non-redundant and Level 3 redundant configurations, you can also cable and use K2 RAID Fibre Channel ports for Fibre Channel port redundancy, as explained in this section.

For clarity, Level 3 non-redundant and Level 3 redundant configurations are included in the following illustrations:

L3 non-redundant

Two K2 Servers connect to one RAID controller.



L3 redundant

Four K2 Servers connect to two RAID controllers. Servers 1A and 1B are redundant. Servers 2A and 2B are redundant.



In the above examples, one K2 Server connects to one RAID controller only. This means there is no redundancy (failover) at the Fibre Channel port level. Redundancy in a system that uses this configuration must therefore be at the K2 Client/K2 Server level. For example, in a L3 redundant system, K2 clients can connect to either of a redundant K2 Server pair. This means that if K2 Server 1A goes down, K2 Clients connect to K2 Server 1B.

FC port redundant

Note: Do not use the FC port redundant configuration without first consulting with Grass Valley Server Engineering.
Two K2 Servers each connect to two RAID controllers. Servers A and B are redundant.



With this configuration the redundancy is at the Fibre Channel port level. If one of the FC ports, cables, or RAID controllers fails, the redundant connection takes over.

The following rules and policies apply to the FC port redundant configuration:
  • Only use this configuration on systems that do not have a conflicting failover policy. For example, if a system is assembled with an iSCSI failover mechanism AND a Fibre Channel port failover mechanism, the policies of these two failover mechanisms can conflict during a failover event and result in scrambled data pathways. Examples of systems without conflicting failover policies are as follows:
    • A system with iSCSI clients that are non-redundant. This means the clients have just one connection to the iSCSI VLAN (media ports on GigE switch). Since there is no iSCSI failover in this type of system, there is no conflict with the Fibre Channel failover policy.
    • A system with Fibre Channel connected clients. Fibre Channel clients can be non-redundant (one FC cable connected to the FC switch) or redundant (two FC cables connected to the FC switch). The Fibre Channel failover policy is cohesive between FC client connections and FC RAID connections, so there is no conflict.
  • Do not use this configuration on a system with redundant iSCSI clients, as this introduces a conflicting failover policy. If iSCSI clients are redundant and K2 Server FC ports are redundant, failover conflicts occur that render the system inoperable.

Copyright © 2017 Grass Valley Canada. All rights reserved. K2 Summit 9.7 gvtp_20170117_17:59:42