User guide

switches/Integrated Routing (IR) capabilities, FCoE/CEE switches, encryption switch and
blade, and Brocade HBAs. Enterprise-class customers who want to manage departmental
SANs can consider deploying this product.
• HP Network Advisor Enterprise—An application designed for enterprise-class customers that
provides unparalleled performance and scalability (24 physical fabrics, up to 9,000 switch
ports). HP Network Advisor Enterprise configures and manages the same switches and directors
as Professional and Professional Plus, but also adds support for the DC SAN Backbone Director
and SN8000B 8-Slot SAN Backbone Director Switch. HP Network Advisor Enterprise is
required to manage FICON fabrics. Existing DCFM customers that have active Maintenance
and Support contracts are provided a seamless migration path to HP Network Advisor
Enterprise.
DCFM Compatibility
With the introduction of HP Network Advisor, DCFM has been put into sustaining mode. DCFM
is not qualified or supported for management of switches operating with Fabric OS 7.0.0a and
later firmware versions.
IMPORTANT: You must first upgrade DCFM to Network Advisor 11.1.0 or later if you are planning
to upgrade devices to Fabric OS 7.0.0c or you risk losing management connectivity.
Fabric OS compatibility
“Supported Fabric OS versions” (page 20) lists the earliest versions of software supported in this
release, that is, the earliest supported software versions that interoperate. HP recommends using
the latest software versions to get the greatest benefit from the SAN.
When using the Virtual Fabrics (VF) feature, HP recommends that all switches participating in a
fabric with a logical switch use the latest firmware available. All switches must be operating at the
minimum firmware levels or later, as noted in the Fabric OS Interoperability table.
Web Tools compatibility
Fabric OS 7.0.0c is qualified and supported only with Oracle JRE 1.6.0 update 24.
SMI compatibility
• Host SMI-S agents cannot be used to manage switches running Fabric OS 7.0.0c.
• To manage a switch running Fabric OS 7.0.0c using the SMI-S interface, you must use HP
Network Advisor’s integrated SMI agent.
Other recommendations
Adaptive Networking/flow-based QoS prioritization
• Any 8 Gbps or 4 Gbps FC platform running Fabric OS 6.2.2e or earlier version of firmware
cannot form an E_Port with a 16 Gbps FC platform when Adaptive Networking QoS is enabled
at both ends of the ISL. Users must disable QoS at either end of the ISL in order to successfully
form an E_Port under this condition.
Users can disable QoS via the portcfgQos --disable command. See the Brocade Fabric
OS Command Reference Guide for specific details of the portcfgQoS command.
• When using QoS in a fabric with 4 Gbps ports or switches, Fabric OS 6.2.2 or later must be
installed on all products in order to pass QoS information. E_Ports from the DC SAN Backbone
Director or DC04 SAN Director to other switches must come up after 6.x is running on those
switches.
Important notes and recommendations 25