Storage Networking
How Cisco IT Deployed a SAN for ERP
Data Storage
A Cisco on Cisco Case Study: Inside Cisco IT
Cisco_IT_Case_Study © 2008 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
Cisco Public
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Overview
ƒ Challenge
Storage growth within Cisco far outpaced the capabilities of direct
attached storage (DAS) or early storage area network (SAN) solutions
on the market
ƒ Solution
Migration and consolidation of specific ERP SAN islands to Cisco MDS
9509 and Cisco 9513 Multilayer Director Switches
ƒ Results
Offering storage as a utility service and moving away from a “servercentric” model (DAS) to a “network-centric” model, in which storage is
pooled within the network, increases utilization, improves
manageability, and saves money
ƒ Next Steps
Migrate other business functions to a single Cisco MDS SAN-based
infrastructure
Cisco IT Case Study
© 2008 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco Public
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Challenge
Handle growth in ERP data storage
ƒ Enterprise Resource Planning
(ERP) is an enterprisewide
business function that requires
tremendous amounts of data
storage
ƒ Storage growth far outpaced
the capabilities of available
storage management tools
ƒ DAS architecture could not
scale adequately
ƒ Storage support was
expensive
Cisco IT Case Study
© 2008 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco Public
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Solution
Implement a SAN Architecture
ƒ Migrate from DAS to a SAN
ƒ Deliver storage as a network
service using pooled resources
ƒ Deploy Cisco MDS 9509 and
Cisco MDS 9513 Multilayer
Director Switches
ƒ Migrate storage environment in
three phases to minimize
impact on application
availability
Cisco IT Case Study
© 2008 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco Public
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Solution
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Results
Better Positioned for Growth
ƒ Improved data availability
ƒ Lower capital and management
costs
ƒ Simplified storage
management
ƒ Increased network
performance
ƒ Enhanced data security and
integrity
ƒ Better positioned for storage
growth
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© 2008 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco Public
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Next Steps
Storage Consolidation
ƒ Consolidate islands into a single
data center SAN
ƒ Migrate other business
functions onto the SAN
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© 2008 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco Public
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To read the entire case study or for additional Cisco IT case studies on a
variety of business solutions, visit Cisco on Cisco: Inside Cisco IT
www.cisco.com/go/ciscoit
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© 2008 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco Public
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