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What's extending the network fabric?

Marc,

When someone says "extend the network fabric" are they referring to a protocol or something else?

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Hmm "extend the network fabric." Without context it's a little hard to guess. In general this refers to connecting switches together over FC/E-ports. (I'm assuming FC is the network here?). Now, it is possible to do this with network devices that are not switches, for instance a SAN/WAN device could be used that connects to a local switch over an E-port, but then communicates over a metropolitan or wide area link using a TCP/IP network. The remote site could be the same configuration where the SAN/WAN device connects to the MAN or WAN with TCP/IP and connects to the SAN using an E-port connection to the switch.

Regards,
Marc

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This was first published in February 2002

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