Question 1: What are the two Fibre Channel ports on the Xserve RAID used for?
Answer: The two Fibre Channel ports are used to connect the Xserve RAID to the host computer(s), thereby achieving Fibre Channel speed for data transfer.
Question 2: At what speed do the Fibre Channel ports transfer data?
Answer: The Fibre Channel ports transfer data at up to 2 Gb/s (gigabits per second). The controller will auto-negotiate itself to a lower speed in the event that the link partner is configured for 1 Gb/s operation.
Question 3: Which Fibre Channel card for the host computer is available from Apple?
Answer: The Apple Fibre Channel PCI card is a 64-bit, 66 MHz card with dual SFP 2 GB Fibre Channel ports; compatible with 64-bit, 33 MHz slots.
Question 4: Which computers can act as host to the Xserve RAID?
Answer: The Xserve RAID can be hosted by Xserve and Power Mac G4 computers with 800 MHz or faster microprocessor speed running Mac OS X 10.2.4 or Mac OS X Server 10.2.4.
Question 5: In what slot of the Xserve must the Apple Fibre Channel card be installed?
Answer: In G4-based Xserves, the Apple Fibre Channel card has been EMI certified for use in the top PCI slot only. In Xserve G5, the Apple Fibre Channel card can be installed in either of the two PCI slots.
Question 6: In what slot of the Power Mac G4 computer can the Apple Fibre Channel card be installed?
Answer: The card can be installed in any of the PCI slots on the Power Mac G4 computer.
Question 7: In what slot of the Power Mac G5 computer can the Apple Fibre Channel card be installed?
Answer: The card can be installed in any of the PCI or PCI-X slots (depending on purchased configuration) on the Power Mac G5 computer.
Question 8: How many ports are on the Apple Fibre Channel card?
Answer: There are two ports on the Apple Fibre Channel card.
Question 9: One Xserve RAID can be connected directly to either one or two hosts. How do you connect to one host?
Answer: Use two Fibre Channel cables from the host computer to the Xserve RAID. Connect one port on the host Fibre Channel card to the port on one of the Xserve RAID controller modules. Connect the other port on the host Fibre Channel card to the port on the second controller module.
Question 10: How many Xserve RAID arrays can you see from the one host?
Answer: A single host can see up to six arrays per Xserve RAID--three per side.
Question 11: How do you connect two hosts to an Xserve RAID?
Answer: Install a host Fibre Channel card in each host computer and use one Fibre Channel cable from each host to the Xserve RAID. Connect one Fibre Channel cable to the port on one Xserve RAID controller module. Connect the other Fibre Channel cable to the port on the second controller module.
Question 12: How many Xserve RAID arrays can you see from each of two hosts?
Answer: Two hosts can see up to three arrays per host.
Question 13: How do you connect the Xserve RAID to a hub or switch?
Answer: To connect the Xserve RAID to a hub or switch, install a Fibre Channel card in a host and use one Fibre Channel cable from the host to the hub or switch. If you use two cables to connect the Fibre Channel card to the hub or switch, you may see two images (duplicates) of all devices on the hub or switch.
Question 14: What kind of Fibre Channel cable comes with the Apple Fibre Channel PCI card?
Answer: The Apple Fibre Channel PCI card ships with two 2.9 m Copper Fibre Channel SFP to SFP (small form factor pluggable) interconnect cables. See 32493 for more information.
Question 15: What type of Fibre Channel cable can be used?
Answer: Both copper and optical Fibre Channel cable can be used. Be aware that connectors on hubs and switches may differ from connectors on the cable provided with the Xserve RAID.
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