HP A7985A Hewlett-Packard HP ProCurve networking / enterprise server hardware Datacentre Switch

The HP A7985A is an HP StorageWorks 4/16 SAN Switch, a 4Gb Fibre Channel fabric switch offering 16 ports, part of the same Brocade-built B-series SAN switch platform as HP’s smaller 4/8 and larger 4/32 models. It provides redundant power and cooling plus standard Fibre Channel fabric services (zoning, name server) for a mid-size SAN fabric sitting between the entry-level 4/8 and the higher-density 4/32 in HP’s B-series range. As with the rest of the family, the underlying switch hardware is common across the 4/8-4/32 range, with port count (and on some models, licensing) the main difference between them. It remains in service in any storage estate still running Fibre Channel hosts and arrays rather than iSCSI or NVMe/TCP, and a spare or replacement unit of this kind is a routine requirement for maintaining fabric redundancy. Tech-Star (UK-based, shipped worldwide) supplies HP StorageWorks SAN switches for ongoing fabric maintenance.