
272 SAN Multiprotocol Routing: An Introduction and Implementation
9.1 To route or not to route?
That is the question. If you think about an Ethernet network, typically you do not
want to introduce multiple routers into your core network, and the same applies
to your Fibre Channel network. Because every port on a Cisco MDS is also a
router port, it can be easy to overuse virtual storage area network (VSAN) and
Inter-VSAN Routing (IVR). The guideline is to
resist the urge to route.
Chapter 8, “Cisco routing solutions” on page 255, has examples of scenarios
where you might want to route. These include the following situations:
SAN extension ov