Users Guide

13–Fibre Channel Over Ethernet
N_Port ID Virtualization (NPIV)
247 BC0054508-00 M
5. (optional) To enable or disable FCoE-Offload or iSCSI-Offload in single
function or NPAR mode on Windows or Linux using QCS CLI, see the User’s
Guide, QLogic Control Suite CLI (part number BC0054511-00). To enable or
disable FCoE-Offload or iSCSI-Offload in single function or NPAR mode on
Windows or Linux using the QCC PowerKit, see the User’s Guide,
PowerShell (part number BC0054518-00). To locate these documents, see
“Downloading Documents” on page xxiii.
N_Port ID Virtualization (NPIV)
NPIV is a Fibre Channel protocol that allows multiple, virtual N_Ports to be
instantiated on a single physical N_Port.
 Each NPIV port is provided with a unique identification in the fabric and
appears as a distinct initiator port at the operating system level.
 The BCM57712/578xx FCoE drivers support NPIV by default, without
requiring any user inputs.
 The quantity of NPIV ports that can be created depends on the individual
operating system drivers and the capabilities/limits of the fabric (FCoE/FC
switch). Operating system driver limits for the BCM57712/578xx FCoE
adapters are:
 Microsoft Windows: 256
 Linux: 64
 ESXi 6.0: Not supported
 ESXi 6.5/6.7: 64 (using only the native qfle3f driver)