HP C-Series, StorageWorks C-Series, StorageWorks B-Series Compatibility Manual

HP StorageWorks
Fabric interoperability: Merging fabrics

based on C-series and B-series Fibre
Channel switches application notes

Abstract

This document is intended for customers who are merging one SAN fabric constructed with C-series SAN switches
and another fabric constructed with B-series SAN switches.

Part number: AA-RV1ZP-TE
Fourteenth edition: May 2009

Legal and notice information

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The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the
express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional
warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.

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Introduction

This document discusses the details on merging fabrics based on C-series and B-series Fibre Channel
switches into a single, standards-based, interoperable fabric. This document also provides information
on:

• Supported configurations

• Expected behavior

• Exceptions in the interoperability mode.

How to use this document

To configure and merge the C-series and B-series fabrics, see:

• Checklists for merging fabrics, page 3

• Merging fabrics and verification, page 9

For information about supported features, configurations, switch, OS, and storage system versions,
see:

• Expected behavior from Fibre Channel services, page 10

• Interoperability mode behavior summary by switch type, page 11

• Supported configuration rules and guidelines, page 16

Checklists for merging fabrics

This section lists the procedures for merging SAN fabrics based on B-series and C-series switches.

B-series merge preparation

Step 1: Verify switch firmware versions, page 4

Step 2: Verify/configure switch domain IDs and verify switch/fabric default settings, page 4

Step 3: Disable management server, page 5

Step 4: Verify and configure fabric operating mode, page 5

Step 5: Verify zoning configuration, page 6

Fabric interoperability: Merging fabrics based on C-series and B-series Fibre Channel switches applic-

ation notes 3

C-series merge preparation

Step 1: Verify switch firmware versions, page 6

Step 2: Verify switch/fabric default settings, page 7

Step 3: Verify the fabric operating mode, page 7

Step 4: Verify and configure switch domain IDs, page 8

Step 5: Verify zoning configuration, page 8

B-series configuration steps

The following steps provide information about verifying and configuring B-series switches for
interoperability with a C-series SAN fabric. Although Fabric Manager, the embedded Web Tools, or
the CLI (through Telnet) can be used to configure the switches, the following steps use CLI.

Step 1: Verify switch firmware versions

Before merging the fabrics, ensure that all the B-series switches in the fabric have supported firmware.
See Table 2 for the supported firmware version to be used and update the switches if necessary. Login
to the switch as admin and verify the firmware version using the Telnet version command. An
example follows:

Switch: login

Password:
Switch:admin>
Switch:admin> version

Kernel: 2.4.19
Fabric OS: v4.1.1
Made on: Wed Jun 18 02:59:09 2003
Flash: Thu Sep 4 19:36:06 2003
BootProm: 3.2.4
Switch:admin>

xxxxxxxx

For firmware upgrade procedures see the B-series documentation available on the HP B-series Switches
website:

http://h18006.www1.hp.com/storage/networking/b_switches/index.html

Step 2: Verify/configure switch domain IDs and verify switch/fabric default
settings

Ensure that all the switches in both fabrics have unique domain IDs before the merge. List the domain
ID addresses of each switch in each fabric and verify there are no duplicate IDs. If any duplicate
addresses exist, change the IDs by assigning different domain numbers.

Use a Telnet session to perform the domain ID configurations. This requires disabling the switch
temporarily. In the following example, domain IDs on B-series switches are changed:

Switch:admin> switchdisable
Switch:admin>
Switch:admin> configure

4

Configure...
Fabric parameters (yes, y, no, n): [no] y

Domain: (1..239) [97]
BB credit: (1..27) [16]

R_A_TOV: (4000..120000) [10000]

E_D_TOV: (1000..5000) [2000]
WAN_TOV: (1000..120000) [0]
Data field size: (256..2112) [2112]
Sequence Level Switching: (0..1) [0]
Disable Device Probing: (0..1) [0]
Suppress Class F Traffic: (0..1) [0]
SYNC IO mode: (0..1) [0]
VC Encoded Address Mode: (0..1) [0]
Core Switch PID Format: (0..1) [1]
Per-frame Route Priority: (0..1) [0]
Long Distance Fabric: (0..1) [0]
Virtual Channel parameters (yes, y, no, n): [no]
Zoning Operation parameters (yes, y, no, n): [no]
RSCN Transmission Mode (yes, y, no, n): [no]
Arbitrated Loop parameters (yes, y, no, n): [no]
System services (yes, y, no, n): [no]
Portlog events enable (yes, y, no, n): [no]
No changes.
Switch:admin>

[Select the domain ID in the range 97-127, if change is required]

[Ensure this value is 2000 for all switches in the fabric]

Step 3: Disable management server

[Ensure this value is 10000 for all switches in the fabric]

Platform management services must be disabled fabric-wide before enabling the interopmode and
merging the fabrics. The msPlMgmtDeactivate command deactivates the Platform Database
Management Service of each switch in the fabric:

Switch:admin> msPlMgmtDeactivate
This will erase all Platform entries. Are you sure? (yes, y, no, n): [no] y

Committing configuration...done.

Request Fabric to Deactivate Platform Management services....

Done.
Switch:admin>

NOTE:

You must reboot the switch after executing the msPlMgmtDeactivate command. However, you
can avoid multiple reboots by delaying the switch reboot until after completing the next step (4).

Step 4: Verify and configure fabric operating mode

For B-series switches the interopmode 1 must be enabled before merging with C-series switches.
This command enables interopmode on individual switches only and therefore, must be executed on
each B-series switch in the fabric. Use the following Telnet command to change the operating mode:

login: admin

Password:
Switch:admin> switchDisable

Switch:admin> 0x101a8dd0 (tThad): Jan 20 10:47:55
WARNING FW-STATUS_SWITCH, 3, Switch status changed from HEALTHY/OK to Marginal/Warning
Switch:admin>

xxxxxxxx

Fabric interoperability: Merging fabrics based on C-series and B-series Fibre Channel switches applic-

ation notes 5

Switch:admin> interopmode 1
The switch effective configuration will be lost when the operating mode is changed;
do you want to continue? (yes, y, no, n): [no] y
Committing configuration...done.
cfgDisable: no EFFECTIVE configuration
interopMode is 1
NOTE: It is required that you boot this switch to make this change take effect
Switch:admin> fastboot

[reboots the switch faster, bypassing POST]

Step 5: Verify zoning configuration

Inspect for duplicate zone sets (zones)

To ensure proper zoning merge and operation, verify there are no duplicate active zone sets or zones
across the two fabrics that are to be merged. If any duplicate zones exist, rename them using the
following Telnet commands. For detailed explanation of these commands, see the B-series software
manual.

• cfgShow

• zoneCreate

• cfgCreate

Verify zone naming

Ensure that zone names adhere to the following guidelines:

• All characters must be ASCII

• A name must be between 1 and 64 characters in length

• The first character of a name must be a letter, either an upper case (A–Z) or lower case (a–z)

character

• Any character other than the first character must be either an upper case (A–Z) or lower case (a–z)

letter, a number (0–9), or an underscore symbol (_).

Configure zones using port WWNs

In interoperability mode, all zone members must be defined using port World Wide Names (WWNs).
Defining them any other way is not supported. Zones cannot be defined using Fibre Channel port
addresses or domain and port combinations. If there are any zones not defined with the port WWN,
you must redefine them.

C-series configuration steps

This section provides information about how to configure C-series switches for interoperability. Although
you can use either the Fabric Manager or the CLI, the following steps use CLI (Telnet).

Step 1: Verify switch firmware versions

Verify all C-series switches are configured with supported firmware as shown in Table 3. If necessary,
upgrade the switches with the supported firmware and see the Cisco MDS 9000 Family Configuration
Guide, available for download from the HP Manuals website:

http://www.hp.com/support/manuals

In the Storage section, click Storage Networking, and then select your C-series switch.

6

Use the sho ver command to verify the firmware version:

MDS9509# show ver
Cisco Storage Area Networking Operating System (SAN-OS) Software
TAC support: http://www.cisco.com/tac
Copyright (c) 1986-2002 by cisco Systems, Inc.
Software
kickstart: version 1.0(1) [build 1.0(0.260c)] [gdb]
system: version 1.0(1) [build 1.0(0.260c)] [gdb]
Hardware
RAM 1932864 kB
bootflash: 503808 blocks (block size 512b)
slot0: 0 blocks (block size 512b)
kickstart compile time: 11/7/2002 21:00:00
system compile time: 11/7/2002 20:00:00

Step 2: Verify switch/fabric default settings

Verify that the Fibre Channel timers are set to the system default values. The MDS 9000 and B-series
FC Error Detect (ED_TOV) and Resource Allocation (RA_TOV) timers default to the same values.
However, they can be changed if necessary. The RA_TOV default is 10 seconds, and the ED_TOV
default is 2 seconds. Per the FC-SW2 standard, these values must be the same on each switch within
the fabric.

Verify the timer values as follows:

MDS9509 login: admin

Password:
MDS9509# show fctimer

F_S_TOV : 5000 milliseconds
D_S_TOV : 5000 milliseconds
E_D_TOV : 2000 milliseconds
R_A_TOV : 10000 milliseconds

xxxxxxxx

To modify the timer values, use the following commands. Note that these changes cannot be made
unless all VSANs in the switch are suspended.

MDS9509# config t
MDS9509(config)# vsan database
MDS9509(config-vsan-db)# vsan 1 suspend
MDS9509# config t
MDS9509(config)# fctimer e_d_tov 2000

<1000-100000> E_D_TOV in milliseconds(1000-100000)
MDS9509(config)# fctimer r_a_tov 10000
<5000-100000> R_A_TOV in milliseconds(5000-100000)

Step 3: Verify the fabric operating mode

To enable interoperability mode on C-series switches, you must place the VSAN of the E_Ports that
connect to the B-series in interoperability mode.

MDS9509# config t
MDS9509(config)# vsan database
MDS9509(config-vsan-db)# vsan 1 interop

Fabric interoperability: Merging fabrics based on C-series and B-series Fibre Channel switches applic-

ation notes 7

Step 4: Verify and configure switch domain IDs

Assign a domain ID in the range of 97–127 (0x61–0x7F). There is a maximum of 31 switches allowed
in the fabric while in interoperability mode. In the MDS the default is to request an ID from the principal
switch. If the preferred keyword is used, the MDS requests a specific ID, but still join the fabric if the
principal switch assigns a different ID. If the static keyword is used, the MDS will not join the fabric
unless the principal switch agrees, and assigns the requested ID.

To configure the switch domain ID:

MDS9509# config t
MDS9509(config)# fcdomain domain 100 preferred vsan 1

When making changes to the domain, you can restart the MDS domain manager function for the
altered VSAN. You can use the disruptive keyword to force a fabric reconfiguration:

MDS9509(config)# fcdomain restart disruptive vsan 1

However, forcing a fabric reconfiguration is a requirement when restarting:

MDS9509(config)# fcdomain restart vsan 1

Step 5: Verify zoning configuration

To ensure proper zoning merge and operation, verify there are no duplicate active zone sets or zones
across the two fabrics that need to be merged. If any duplicate zones exist, you must rename them.
You can verify zoning information with the show zone command.

For example, to verify all active zones:

MDS9509# show zoneset active
zoneset name mdscore vsan 1
zone name vz1 vsan 1
* fcid 0x630500 [pwwn 50:06:01:60:88:02:90:cb]
* fcid 0x610400 [pwwn 10:00:00:00:c9:24:3d:90]
zone name vz2 vsan 1
* fcid 0x630400 [pwwn 10:00:00:00:c9:24:3f:75]
* fcid 0x6514e2 [pwwn 21:00:00:20:37:a7:ca:b7]
* fcid 0x6514e4 [pwwn 21:00:00:20:37:a7:c7:e0]
* fcid 0x6514e8 [pwwn 21:00:00:20:37:a7:c7:df]
zone name vz3 vsan 1
* fcid 0x651500 [pwwn 10:00:00:e0:69:f0:43:9f]
* fcid 0x6105dc [pwwn 21:00:00:20:37:28:31:6d]
* fcid 0x6105e0 [pwwn 21:00:00:20:37:28:24:7b]
* fcid 0x6105e1 [pwwn 21:00:00:20:37:28:22:ea]
* fcid 0x6105e2 [pwwn 21:00:00:20:37:28:2e:65]
* fcid 0x6105e4 [pwwn 21:00:00:20:37:28:26:0d]
zone name $default_zone$ vsan 1

Verify zone naming

Ensure that zone names adhere to the following guidelines.

• All characters must be ASCII.

• A name must be between 1 and 64 characters in length.

• The first character of a name must be a letter, either an upper case (A–Z) or lower case (a–z)

character

8