CCIE Data Center 

Storage Networking

Fibre Channel Switching

Configuration

Nexus 5500UP FC Initialization

• Al
Allo
loca
cate
te int
inter
erfa
face
ces
s as typ
type
e FC
 – slot 1
port 25 – 32 type fc
 – FC must start at top of module and count down
 – Requires config save & reload
• Enable fea
featur
turee fc
fcoe
oe
 – FC (and FCoE) features are not activated until
FC_FEATURES_PKG is checked out
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 Fibre Channel Interfaces
• Like Ethernet, FC Auto Negotiation is on by default
 – Port Type
 – Trunk Mode
 – Speed
• In cases where negotiation fails, static config is…
 –  switchport mode [F | FL | E | SD | NP …]
 –  switchport tr unk mode [on | off | auto]
 –  switchport speed [1000 | 2000 | 4000 | 8000]
• Verified as show interface [brief]
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Fibre Channel Expansion Ports

• E_port - Expansion Port
 – Inter Switch Link (ISL)
• On certain MDS line cards, E cannot be auto-
negotiated
 – E_port requires dedicated rate-mode
• switchport r ate-mode dedicated
• Similar to how port groupings work on Nexus 7K
 – All ports on Nexus 5500 are dedicated rate mode
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 FC Trunking Expansion Ports
• TE_port – Trunking Expansion
 – Extended ISL, analogous to an 802.1Q Trunk
• Trunk negotiation is on for E ports
 –  trunk protoco l enable
 –  show trunk protocol
• Manually configured as combination of…
 –  switc hpor t mode [e | auto]
 –  switchport tru nk mode [on | auto]
 – There is no “switchport mode te” command
• Like Ethernet trunks, all VSANs are allowed
 –  switchport trunk allowed vsan
• Verified as show interface fc1/1 [tru nk vs an]
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SAN Port Channels

• Used to aggregate the bandwidth of physical links
• Ethernet PCs and SAN PCs use the same number space
• Created with link level channel-group 1
• New members added with link level channel-grou p 1
force
• Port Channeling Protocol (PCP) enabled with PC link level
channel mode activ e
 –  interface Port-Channel in MDS
 –  interface SAN-Port-Channel in Nexus
• Verified as show [san-]port-channel summary

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 Virtual SANs (VSANs)
• Use to segment Fabric Services into logical “SAN Islands”
 – FLOGI, FC Domain, FC Name Server, Zoning, Aliases, etc.
• Configured as…
 –  vsan database
 –  vsan 10
 –  vsan 10 interface fc1/1
• VSANs and EISLs
 – All VSANs allowed on trunk ports by default
 – Remotely un-configured VSANs automatically “pruned” off of trunks
• Similar to Ethernet Bridge Assurance
 – To avoid merging fabrics, VSANs should be pruned manually
• switchport trunk allowed vsan

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FC Fabric Services
• Fibre Channel networks are connection oriented
 – Nodes must first register with the control plane of the fabric before sending
any traffic
• FC Fabric Services include…
 – FC Domain
• Principle Switch Election & assignment of Domain IDs
 – FSPF
• Fabric Routing between Domain IDs
 – FLOGI
• End station registers with the fabric and are assigned FCID
 – FC Name Services / Directory Services
• Distributes FCID to pWWN/WWPN mappings through Fabric
 – Zoning
• Controls which Initiators can talk to which Targets

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 FC Domain
• Principle Switch assigns Domain IDs to Fabric
• PS Election
 – Based on lowest priority and SWWN
 – Modified as fcdomain priority 1 vsan 1
• Domain ID selection
 – Dynamic from PS by default
 – Static as fcdomain domain 0x51 [preferred | static]
• Preferred requests Domain ID but will join without the assignment
• Static requests Domain ID and isolates itself without the
assignment

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FC Domain
• FC Domain process restart
 – Graceful as fcdomain restart vsan 1
 – Forced as fcdomain restart disruptive vsan 1
• Not recommended
• Verified as…
 – show fcdomain [vsan]
 – show fcdomain domain-list [vsan]

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 Q&A

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