In a fabric-attached MetroCluster, what is the maximum number of disk shelves allowed per loop?

In a fabric-attached MetroCluster, what is the maximum number of disk shelves allowed per loop?

• A. 1
• B. 2
• C. 6
• D. 4

Answer: (B)

In fabric-attached MetroCluster, a loop is the Fibre Channel path that carries access to disk shelves. The design limits how many shelves share a single loop to keep arbitration simple and ensure adequate bandwidth on each path. Allowing more than a small number on one loop would risk contention and unpredictable performance, especially since there are typically two redundant fabric loops providing failover. Keeping the limit to two shelves per loop preserves reliable access and balanced load across the two loops. Therefore, the maximum number of disk shelves per loop is two.

In fabric-attached MetroCluster, a loop is the Fibre Channel path that carries access to disk shelves. The design limits how many shelves share a single loop to keep arbitration simple and ensure adequate bandwidth on each path. Allowing more than a small number on one loop would risk contention and unpredictable performance, especially since there are typically two redundant fabric loops providing failover. Keeping the limit to two shelves per loop preserves reliable access and balanced load across the two loops. Therefore, the maximum number of disk shelves per loop is two.