| Q1. |
Why should I purchase the HP StorageWorks Data Center Fabric Manager Software? |
| A1. |
HP’s B-series Data Center Fabric Manager Enterprise and Pro+ Software are compatible with a large percentage of the HP switch installed base. They are unique products in that they are highly scalable with deep, active management features that can be aggregated across multiple switches and fabrics. Data Center Fabric Manager Enterprise and Pro+ Software are complementary to HP Storage Essentials and can be launched via a SE window. Key attributes include: Quality of Service (QoS), Change Management, ISL performance monitoring, HBA discovery, multi-switch provisioning, simplify and streamline B-series and M-series SAN management, Fibre Channel over IP (FCIP tunnels across WAN links, comprehensive support for Fibre Channel routing single seat multi-fabric management, and comprehensive views of fabric and attached devices. |
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| Q2. |
What are some of important capabilities of HP Data Center Fabric Manager Enterprise and Professional Plus Software? |
| A2. |
The top capabilities in HP Data Center Fabric Manager Enterprise and Professional Plus include:
Unprecedented scalability, HP DCFM Enterprise scales up to 24 SAN fabrics, 9,000 switch ports, and 20,000 end devices while HP DCFM Professional Plus scale up to 4 SAN fabrics 2560 switch ports, and 4096 end devices.
An overarching view of fabric health with at a glance views of switch and Inter Switch Link (ISL) health status, including a connectivity map for status per device, performance utilization rate per ISL, and visualization of end devices.
Performance monitoring proactively addresses issues with both real-time and historical performance data collection, monitoring, and graphical displays (across Fibre Channel, FCIP, and Fibre Channel Routing ports and connections).
Fault management helps manage events and failures in the data center by configuring rule based events.
Advanced called home enables automatically call into HP Service Centers when specified triggering conditions are met.
Extensive Zoning capabilities support analysis of the impact of zoning changes offline without affecting the production fabric.
Configuration management enables automated backup of critical configurations across data centers and promotes configuration consistency across the fabric.
Security management allows multiple levels of user access and views with flexible definitions of administrators responsibilities; helps maintain consistent security settings across multiple switches by leveraging the security replication wizard; and manages the configuration, settings.
FICON and cascaded FICON environment configuration and management provides powerful analysis and diagnostic capabilities, as well as SAN-level RNID data display, Port Connectivity Dialog, FICON Emulation support, and Multi-PDCM matrix display.
Fibre Channel over IP (FCIP) and Fibre Channel Routing support enables the configuration and monitoring of FCIP tunnels across WAN links, as well as confirmation, zoning, visualization, analysis, and troubleshooting tools. |
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| Q3. |
What are the significant improvements in HP StorageWorks Data Center Fabric Manager Enterprise Software? |
| A3. |
HP StorageWorks Data Center Fabric Manager Enterprise Software supports both FOS and M-EOS products, providing complete DC SAN Backbone Director management including enterprise-class features/environments such as FICON, Fibre Channel routing, FCIP, and adaptive networking for Quality of Service.
It delivers unprecedented scalability to 9,000 ports compared to 2,500 ports for HP's Fabric Manager.
It offers a brand-new GUI which features easy to use administration tools that streamline or automate repetiive tasks so organizations can achieve unprecedented levels of productivity and efficiency.
Performance monitoring proactively addresses issues with both real time and historical performance data collection, monitoring, and graphical displays (across Fibre Channel, FCIP, and Fibre Channel Routing ports and connections).
HP Data Center Fabric Manager Enterprise will also be available for a 75 day trial period with no financial commitment in order to test the software. |
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| Q4. |
Who should use HP Data Center Fabric Manager Enterprise? |
| A4. |
HP Data Center Fabric Manager Enterprise provides end to end management across 24 fabrics. It is designed for enterprise class director based installations, FICON environments, and fabrics leveraging routing and extensions as well as virtualization. |
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| Q5. |
Are evaluation copies of Data Center Fabric Manager Enterprise and Professional Plus available? |
| A5. |
HP provides fully functional evaluation versions that operate for 75 days after installations. The evaluation software can be easily be upgraded to the fully licensed product with the purchase of a software key. |
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| Q6. |
What is Data Center Fabric Manager Professional? |
| A6. |
Data Center Fabric Manager Professional is a fabric management application included with B-series switches that contains a subset of the Data Center Fabric Manager Enterprise features. Data Center Fabric Manager Professional enables the centralized management of up to 1000 switch ports in a single SAN fabric. It performs important functions, including firmware downloads and fabric configuration for groups of switches while accessing device-level information. |
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| Q7. |
What are the key features of Data Center Fabric Manager Professional? |
| A7. |
Data Center Fabric Manager Professional features include the ability to:
Visualize a fabric topology by viewing fabric membership, monitoring switch health, and tracking topology changes (offline devices, switches, and links)
Collect Transmit/Receive performance and Error Counter data in real time with configurable 10- to 60-second granularity for performance monitoring
Provide a level of data persistence per fabric through a data repository that automatically stores change history in open-source RDBMS for fabric events, zoning changes, and more
Back up and restore last-known configurations on an automatic, scheduled backup of critical data to enable fast restore in case of application failure
Easily pinpoint and diagnose trouble spots using data collections, interrogate why two devices can’t communicate, and determine the latency of Fibre Channel traffic between devices
Configure actions in response to certain events, such as sending proactive e-mail notifications to specific users
Trap monitoring events and pass them to third-party data automation applications using SNMP Trap Forwarding |
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| Q8. |
Who should use Data Center Fabric Manager Professional? |
| A8. |
Data Center Fabric Manager Professional is designed for IT organizations that use FOS-based fabrics and want a management solution for smaller SANs based on a single fabric. |
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| Q9. |
What is the difference between HP Data Center Fabric Manager Professional Software and HP Data Center Fabric Manager Enterprise Software? |
| A9. |
The main difference is that Data Center Fabric Manager Professional manages FOS-based devices for a single fabric, whereas Data Center Fabric Manager Enterprise manages both FOS and M-EOS devices across multiple fabrics. In addition, Data Center Fabric Manager Professional provides real-time performance monitoring while Data Center Fabric Manager Enterprise provides both real-time and historical performance monitoring. |
| Q10. |
What is the difference between HP Data Center Fabric Manager Enterprise Software and HP Data Center Fabric Manager Professional+ Software? |
| A10. |
There are three main differences between HP DCFM Enterprise and HP DCFM Professional Plus:
First, HP DCFM Enterprise supports up to (24) SAN Fabrics and 9,000 switch ports while HP DCFM supports (4) SAN Fabrics and 2,560 switch ports. Second, HP DCFM Enterprise supports the Brocade DCX Backbone while the HP DCFM Professional Plus does not. Lastly, DCFM Enterprise supports the FICON connectivity for mainframes while DCFM Professional Plus does not. |
| Q11. |
Who should use Data Center Fabric Manager Professional Plus? |
| A11. |
Data Center Fabric Manager Professional Plus is designed for mid-size enterprises with up to (4) SAN Fabrics that do not require FICON connectivity or management of a Brocade DCX Backbone. |
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