HP StorageWorks Fabric Manager 5.x Administrator Guide (AA-RUQSF-TE, September 2005)

Fabric Manager 5.x administrator guide 207
17 Working with Fibre Channel routers
Switches running XPath OS 7.1.0 or later can run a software application that enables you to share devices
between two or more fabrics by using that switch as a Fibre Channel (FC) Router to connect to the different
fabrics (see Figure 136). The FC Router has a new port type (EX_Port) that provides the connectivity
between edge fabrics by using Interfabric links (see Figure 137 on page 208) or a backbone fabric (see
Figure 138 on page 208).
Figure 136 Simple meta-SAN
Fabric Manager scans all switches discovered. Any switches running the XPath OS are considered FC
Router-capable. If an EX_Port is configured for that switch, the switch is FC-Router enabled. Switches that
are FC Router-capable and FC-Router enabled have special icons associated with them in the SAN
Elements tab, the Device Ports view, the Topology view, and in the At-A-Glance windows in the Overview
view. You can use Fabric Manager to manage FC Routers and EX_Ports.
This chapter provides information on using Fabric Manager with an FC Router to share devices between
fabrics, and describes how to connect edge fabrics and display Logical SANs (LSANs). Consult the
following sections:
• Sharing devices between fabrics, page 208
• Connecting edge fabrics, page 210
• Displaying logical SANs, page 212
Edge Fabric 1
Edge Fabric 3
Edge Fabric 2
= LSAN
Fibre Channel
Router
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