SAN Switches

Rear view shapes for SAN switches are used to document Front-End SAN cabling. Like LAN switched these were designed to work with NetApp installations, but could be used for other purposes as well

Stencil:

• DontPokeThePolarBear-Essentials-Switches-SAN-Stencil-<DD-MM-YY>

Original Switch shapes by:

• Brocade

Switch Grouping Box:

• Switches are grouped together in pairs inside a Switch Grouping Box
• Properties for Switch Grouping Box
  • Switch Type:
    • Typically switch speed
  • If switch type is denoted with “*”
    • Indicates that this is customer supplied
• Grouping boxes come in two form factor
  • Rack
    • To be placed in the same rack as other gear
  • Mid
    • To be place between the racks

Switch variants:

• There are few variants per switch type
  • Port Count
    • Depending on how many ports are needed for documentation
    • With 2×4 port assignment box
    • With 12d port assignment box
    • With 24d port assignment box
    • Most often I used “12d” variants, but if space is tight, you might need to use “2×4” variants instead (less ports, uses less space)

Brocade Switches:

Brocade 6505

• 24-port SAN switch
  • By default equiped with 16 Gbps optics in stencils
  • Can be changed to  8 Gbps with groping box shape data pull-down menu

Brocade 6510

• 48-port SAN switch
  • By default equiped with 16 Gbps optics in stencils
  • Can be changed to 8 Gbps with groping box shape data pull-down menu

Switch Properties:

• Click swich shape to show data in Shape Data Window
  • Switch Number
  • Site Name for Switch (typically only used with MetroCluster)
  • Switch Name Body
  • Edit as required and device label will change accordingly

Screenshot: Brocade 6505 / 6510 switch shapes in Visio Shapes Window:

Port assignment box:

• Click the shape to show data in Shape Data Window
  • Use pull-down menus to assign correct port combinations
  • Text in shape will be changed accordingly
  • Only if suitable port combinations cannot be found in shape data pull-down menus,  then edit text manually but this will break connection to data

Make your own Switch rear view Shapes:

SAN Stencil includes empty SAN Switch Groping boxes. These grouping boxes are equipped with “anchoring” points so that you can pull a 19″ wide switch into the shape and place it correctly.

If you do make your own shapes, you will have to edit the label of the switch manually, I am using “Calibri” 6pt font for switch names.

Additionally data in switch port assignment box might not match your switch / use case, edit as required.

Ontop of “Rack” form factor empty shapes, there are also one  “Mid” 12d form factor shape