Compaq StorageWorks Enterprise Storage Array 12000 Fibre Channel 

Models
ESA12000 Fibre Channel
The ESA12000 Fibre Channel is a Fibre Channel (FC) storage solution 
with industry-leading storage area network (SAN) support in easy to 
configure building blocks. It has the latest FC switched fabric (FC-SW) 
and arbitrated loop (FC-AL) support, and it provides data protection, high 
availability, exceptional performance, and multi-vendor platform support 
for the most demanding storage requirements.

ESA Building Blocks
High-capacity/General Business –Dual Controllers 48 Slots
High Bandwidth Quad controllers 48 slots 
Single expansion Dual controllers 24 slots, 25U extra cabinet space
Expansion - 48 slots

StorageWorks Enterprise Storage Array 12000 Fibre Channel (ESA12000 FC)
ESA12000 FC is the latest in a fully integrated FC storage solution for 
the enterprise. It is the outgrowth of years of StorageWorks experience, 
delivering quality solutions into applications in which the name 
StorageWorks has become synonymous with business-critical 
requirements.
ESA12000 FC is designed for the data center where there is a need to 
configure high-capacity systems matched with application-specific 
performance demands. ESA12000 building blocks can be configured to 
provide unlimited capacity and scalable performance in a small footprint 
using pre-configured building blocks in industry standard-size cabinets. 
ESA12000 includes built-in and optional features for multi-vendor 
operating environments, and stringent data center availability 
requirements. 
For data centers having continuously increasing capacity requirements, 
the highest performance demands, and ever increasing business 
continuance needs, ESA12000 FC is the clear choice.

FC Technology 
ESA12000 takes advantage of fibre channel benefits in distance, 
performance and connectivity. Optical fibre cabling allows distances 
between connected segments with standard 500 meters using 
50-micron cable, and up to 10 kilometers when using single mode 
9-micron cable between FC switches. Options allow distances of 40 
kilometers. Fibre channel rated speed is 100 MB per second on each 
FC path. ESA12000 storage area networks (SANs) can be constructed 
using 8- or 16-port switches for fabric connectivity (FC-SW) and 7 or 12 
port hubs for arbitrated loop (FC-AL) connectivity.

ESA12000 Product Packaging
ESA12000 products are pre-configured building blocks with one or two 
24-slot disk enclosures mounted in top gun blue or opal retma cabinets. 
Enclosures containing a pair of storage controllers are ready for dual 
redundant controller operation. Enclosures without controllers are used 
for expansion. Each pair of controllers can support up to 72 disk drives 
in three enclosures. Performance scaling is done by limiting pairs of 
controllers to 24 drives for high- performance, 48 drives for balanced 
performance/capacity, and 72 drives for high-capacity. Capacity scaling 
is done by selecting as many building blocks as are required to meet 
your capacity and performance needs.

Multi-Vendor Platform Support
Support for industry-leading platforms including: Windows 2000, 
Windows NT/x86, Windows NT/Alpha, Novell NetWare®, Tru64™ UNIX, 
Sun Solaris™, IBM AIX, HP-UX, OpenVMS and SGI IRIX.

High Availability
All ESA12000 models provide redundant cooling, N+1 power 
redundancy and environmental monitoring facility. StorageWorks disks 
and ESA12000 components are hot-swappable. ESA12000 is 
configured with dual controllers that can operate in dual redundant 
mode. Each controller has a pair of FC host ports, and, in the event of a 
path failure, the controllers can automatically fail-over to the remaining 
path. In dual redundant controller operation the controllers’ four (4) ports 
can be configured to be active.

No-Single-Point-Of-Failure
Multi-bus Host Bus Adapter (HBA) failover software such as 
StorageWorks Secure Path for Windows NT is available on a number of 
platforms. The ESA12000 FC redundant architecture eliminates single 
points-of-failure from server to storage in clustered or single server 
configurations.

Clustered Server and High Availability System Support
ESA12000 has dual and multi-node cluster support for host level fault 
tolerance and high system availability. Microsoft Cluster Server (MSCS) 
support for Windows NT platforms and Windows 2000, Tru Clusters 
support on Tru64 UNIX, OpenVMS clusters. Multi-vendor HA support 
with HACMP, VERITAS FirstWatch, VERITAS Cluster Server and MC 
ServiceGuard. Visit www.compaq.com for additional support information.

Multi-Server Shared Support for storage consolidation
Heterogeneous (multi-vendor) and homogeneous (same vendor) host 
support provide the ability to share storage between multiple servers. 
The RA8000 FC provides storage access control assuring that a host 
cannot access data intended for exclusive access by another host. 

Fibre Channel Switch Support (FC-SW)
Support for 8- and 16-port fibre channel switches allows a customer to 
receive the full benefits of a storage area network (SAN) in a fabric 
environment, providing exceptional connectivity while increasing the 
effective bandwidth of the network. Supported SAN features include 
zoning for communication isolation, switch to switch segments up to 
10KM, and FC-AL connections into Brocade Quickloop port handling.

Fault Tolerance
Redundant power supplies, fans, controllers, cache battery backup, hot 
global spare drives and a multi-level RAID architecture (0, 1, 3/5, 1+0) 
ensure fault tolerance against system outages and data loss.

Remote Data Replication for Disaster Tolerance Applications
Optional software products provide remote mirroring using the fibre 
channel array controller. This allows a host system to copy critical data 
to a system at a remote location through an optical fibre link. 

Scalability
A choice of 4-GB, 9-GB, 18-GB, and 36-GB 1.6-inch Ultra-SCSI drives 
in a modular 24-drive array enclosure with expansion to 48 or 72 drives 
allows up to 2.6 TB (72 x 36 GB) of storage capacity in a single storage 
system. Any number of storage systems can be used in a configuration 
for unlimited capacity. 

Performance
Fibre Channel host connections provide up to 100 MB/s bandwidth for 
each path. Each controller has two FC host ports or four ports in a dual 
redundant pair of controllers, assuring the availability of bandwidth for 
the most stringent applications. In addition, up to 1 GB of cache per 
redundant controller pair ensures high controller performance. Mirrored 
cache write capability maintains optimal performance, while assuring 
data integrity in the event of a failure. 

Bandwidth
The ESA12000 has two Fibre Channel ports per storage controller or 
redundant controller pair. Each controller-to-host interface provides up to 
100 MB/s of data throughput for 200 MB/s available capacity in each 
controller. 

Hot Pluggable Drives
Hot Pluggable SCSI backplane allows drives to be added and removed 
without powering down the system.

Manageability
StorageWorks Command Console (SWCC) provides a graphical user 
interface (GUI) to setup/configure, monitor, and troubleshoot storage 
subsystems. 

Servers - Single and clustered systems

Specifications

Physical Specifications