Users Guide

14–Fibre Channel Over Ethernet
N_Port ID Virtualization (NPIV)
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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.
 QLogic NetXtreme II BCM57xx and BCM57xxx 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 QLogic NetXtreme II BCM57xx
and BCM57xxx FCoE adapters are:
 Microsoft Windows: 256
 Linux: 64
 ESXi 6.0: Not supported
 ESXi 6.5: 64