Chapter 11. Performance considerations 227
With two sets of HA chip sets the DS6000 series can configure up to eight FICON or FCP
ports.
Figure 11-5 Host adapter with 4 Fibre Channel ports
With eight 2 Gbps ports the DS6000 series provides a theoretical aggregated host I/O
bandwidth of 8 times 2 Gbps. Note that besides the adapter used and port technology,
throughput depends also on the firmware efficiency and how the channel protocol is
implemented.
11.3.4 Enterprise-class dual cluster design for the DS6800
The DS6000 series provides a dual cluster or rather a dual server design, which is also found
in the ESS and DS8000 series. This offers an enterprise-class level of availability and
functionality in a space efficient, modular design at a low price.
The DS6000 series incorporates the latest PowerPC processor technology. A simplified view
is in Figure 11-6 on page 228. The dual-processor complex approach allows for concurrent
microcode loads, transparent I/O failover and failback support, and redundant, hot-swapable
components.
Processor
Adapter
Adapter
Adapter
Adapter
To host servers
Storage server
Memory
2 Gbps Fibre Channel ports
Processor
chipset
Power PC
memory
Processor
Persistent
Volatile
chipset
Host adapter
2 Gbps Fibre Channel ports
chipset
Device adapter
Card 1
Controller