SAN Switches

Shikhar Bhargava
IBM SAN Team - Hess
 Zoning
 ISLTrunking
 Routing
 Exchange
 Sequence
 Frames
“Control over which nodes in a network can view and access each
other has become a necessary part of configuring your SAN. Act of
doing so using command or GUI is called Zoning.”

The simplest kind of zoning is port-based zoning, or zoning by a

physical port on the switch.

A port zoning entry could be translated something like, “Only

allow devices on switch 1, port 1 to talk to devices on switch 3,
port 2.”
Port Based

The simplest kind of zoning is port-based zoning, or zoning by a physical

port on the switch.
A port zoning entry could be translated something like, “Only allow
devices on switch 1, port 1 to talk to devices on switch 3, port 2.”

WWN Based

WWN-based zoning provides the capability to restrict devices, specified

by a port or node WWN, into zones.This is much more flexible, since it
allows nodes anywhere in a network to maintain the zones they are
restricted to.
However, it does have its disadvantages. For example, if you replace a
device, the WWN might change, while the port address stays the same.
# switchshow
# licenseshow # alishow

# alicreate

# alicreate “STx_port0”, “1,0”

# zonecreate

# zonecreate "STx_NT_zone", "ST1_port0; ST1_port1"

# cfgcreate

# cfgcreate "cfgportx", "ST1_NT_zone"

# cfgenable

# cfgenable “cfgportx”

# portzoneshow
# cfgshow
The maximum size of a zone database is the upper limit for the defined configuration, and it
is determined by the amount of flash memory available for storing the defined configuration.
Use the cfgSize command to display the zoning database size.

The supported maximum zoning database size is 1 MB.

The trunking feature optimizes the use of bandwidth by allowing a
group of inter-switch links (ISLs) to merge into a single logical link.

Trunking is automatically implemented for any eligible ISLs after

you install the Brocade ISL Trunking license. The license must be
installed on each switch that participates in trunking.
Brocade ISL Trunking enables as many as four Fibre Channel links
between switches to be combined to form a single logical ISL with an
aggregate speed of up to 8 Gbit/sec.
# licenseshow

switch:admin> licenseshow
AbbbcDefcQxdezdr:
Web license
Zoning license
Fabric license
Remote switch license
Extended fabric license
Fabric Watch license
Performance Monitor license
Trunking license
Security license
switch:admin>
NOTE:
If the licensed feature is displayed, the feature is installed and
immediately available.
# switchcfgTrunk

0 or 1 Disables or enables the trunking

# islShow

Displays the ISL between the quad on switch

# portCfgTrunkPort

Enables or disables trunking on ports.

portCfgTrunkPort 12, 1
portCfgTrunkPort 13, 1
portCfgTrunkPort 14, 1
portCfgTrunkPort 15, 1
# switchShow

# Trunkshow

These are commands that display trunking membership information

or trunk groups. The first configured ISL that comes up in a group is
the trunk master

If you set up two trunking groups, although groups have trunking

masters, only one group contains a principal ISL.

If trunking does not work, use the portCfgSpeed command to lock

down the ISL speeds on all ISL trunking ports to 2 Gb/s. Trunking
requires the automatic negotiation or 2-Gb/s setting.
frame The Fibre Channel structure used to transmit data between
ports. Consists of a start-of-frame delimiter, header, optional
headers, data payload, cyclic redundancy check, and
end-of-frame delimiter. There are two types of frames: link
control frames and data frames
 sequence A group of related frames transmitted in the same
direction between two N_ports.

Information transfer in Fibre Channel is analogous to writing a paper.A

total message or idea is broken down into parts. Like a paragraph made
up of sentences, it is a collection of related information composed of
sequences.A sequence (sentence) is a collection of frames (words) that
fit together logically. In Fibre Channel there is punctuation around the
“words” as well. Frames start with an SOF and end with an End Of
Frame (EOF).There are multiple fields in a frame—the first six words,
fields zero through five, are mandatory and are called a frame
header.The frame header specifies the source of the frame, the
destination of the frame, and what type of frame it is.The payload
contains the data from the ULP frame.
Exchange : The highest-level FC mechanism used for communication
between N_Ports. Composed of one or more related sequences; can
work in one or both directions.