Connecting disk shelves to a storage appliance

Considerations for connecting the disk shelves

This section describes how to connect the disk shelf to a supported storage appliance. The following table presents what to consider when connecting the disk shelf to a storage appliance.

Type and number of FC-AL adapters in the storage appliance	LRC connectivity	ESH connectivity
1 copper adapter	A single loop is the supported configuration for an unclustered storage appliance. LRC B must be terminated.	Unsupported
2 copper adapters	A dual loop is a supported configuration for an unclustered storage appliance. LRCs B must be terminated. A single loop is the preferred configuration for an unclustered storage appliance because it provides for load balancing on the shelf.	Unsupported
4 copper adapters	For a clustered or mirrored storage appliance, a dual loop is the supported configuration. Mirroring requires Data ONTAP^TM 6.1 software or later.	Unsupported
1 dual optical adapter	A single loop is the supported configuration for an unclustered storage appliance.
2 to 4 dual optical adapters	A multiple loop is the supported configuration for a clustered or mirrored storage appliance.

Disk shelf cabling requirements

The following table lists the cabling requirements for the disk shelves.

Type of device	Cabling requirements
LRC	Can only connect to another LRC. Uses HSSDC to DB9 cables when connecting to copper FC-AL adapters and SC to LC cables when connecting to optical FC-AL adapters. Uses DB9 to DB9 cables for connections between shelves.
ESH	Can only connect to another ESH. Uses LC to LC cables when connecting to optical FC-AL adapters. Note Connecting to copper adapters is unsupported. Uses HSSDC2 to HSSDC2 cables for connections between shelves.

For detailed information

The following sections provide detailed information about connecting one or more disk shelves in a rack: