A collapsed architecture uses director-class switches to concentrate ports in a single enclosure, potentially providing a single management interface for the entire SAN.
The graphic illustrates a simple but highly scalable collapsed architecture—a single director-class switch.
Fabrics consisting of many interconnected switches can become very complex:
• Cabling can be a management issue, especially in dense data center environments.
• Managing many separate switches can be labor-intensive and prone to error.
• Maintenance and upgrades become more difficult as the SAN grows.