Brocade , bolstered by support from Hitachi Data Systems , has extended the capabilities of the Fabric OS software used by the SilkWorm 12000 Director SAN switch and announced the release of Fabric Manager 4.0. The new features are aimed at improving fabric-based security and providing centralized management functions. Brocade’s SilkWorm 12000 Director is part […]
, bolstered by support from Hitachi Data Systems, has extended the capabilities of the Fabric OS software used by the SilkWorm 12000 Director SAN switch and announced the release of Fabric Manager 4.0.The new features are aimed at improving fabric-based security and providing centralized management functions. Brocade’s SilkWorm 12000 Director is part of Hitachi’s Freedom SAN offerings. Existing customers can get the updates via a software upgrade.
The upgrades to Fabric OS help the Silkworm 12000 secure SAN environments by incorporating Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) authentication, digital certificates and signatures, and 1024-bit encryption support for the switch’s private key. Additionally, the switch now offers encryption of data used for switch management functions such as passwords.
On the management side of the equation, Fabric Manager 4.0 now includes integrated HBA management and “call home” remote monitoring capabilities. Also new are upgraded failover capabilities that further minimize system downtime caused by failed disks.
The 12000 is a 2 Gbps switch with up to 128 Fibre Channel ports, scalability support for up to 239 switches, and redundant processors, each with dual-flash memory capable of storing two software images.
Performance-wise, the 12000 is capable of reaching line speeds of 2.125 Gigabits per second in full-duplex mode, and inter-switch link (ISL) Trunking speeds of up to 8.5 Gigabits per second. In total, the switch is capable of carrying 512 Gigabits per second end-to-end.
The news quickly follows an announcement by HP stating that Brocade’s software is the basis for the HP StorageWorks Secure Fabric OS used to secure the company’s B-series Fibre Channel SANs. HP has shipped 1 million Brocade ports to date.
This story originally appeared on Enterprise IT Planet.
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Pedro Hernandez is a contributor to Datamation, eWEEK, and the IT Business Edge Network, the network for technology professionals. Previously, he served as a managing editor for the Internet.com network of IT-related websites and as the Green IT curator for GigaOM Pro.
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