Planning for a direct-attached configuration
A direct-attached configuration dedicates entire port bandwidth to be used for a specific connection. Planning must account for the volume of expected traffic before you decide how many ports are used in a direct-attached configuration. Direct attached connections are supported on the same speed at both ends.
The system offers multiple options in deciding how to create a direct-attached configuration. Bandwidth requirements for a direct-attached configuration make it important to determine the volume of expected traffic in deciding the number of ports. Ensure you have accounted for sufficient bandwidth, in particular node to node as the bandwidth between nodes determines write speed for replicated workloads. For example, if a system to system direct-attached link is configured between nodes, then the link might carry inter-node traffic such as FlashCopy data. Hence, enough system to system bandwidth needs to be available so that it can carry all possible intra-node traffic without any bandwidth bottleneck.
Node to host and node to node direct attachment is supported on all 32 Gb Fibre Channel ports.