Brocade Fabric OS Administrator's Guide Supporting Fabric OS v6.3.0 (53-1001336-02, November 2009)

212 Fabric OS Administrator’s Guide
53-1001336-02
Limitations and restrictions of Virtual Fabrics
10
Limitations and restrictions of Virtual Fabrics
The maximum number of logical switches per chassis varies depending on the switch model.
Table 45 lists the supported platforms and the maximum number of logical switches (including the
default logical switch) supported on each.
Following are restrictions on the default logical switch in the Brocade DCX and DCX-4S:
• The default logical switch cannot use extended ISLs (XISLs).
• The default logical switch cannot be a base switch.
FC-FC Routing Service All EX_Ports must reside in a base switch.
You cannot attach EX_Ports to a logical switch that has XISL use enabled. You must use
ISLs to connect the logical switches in an edge fabric.
Only 8-Gbps ports are allowed to be used as FC router EX_Ports, with the exception of
VEX_Ports on the FR4-18i blade.
See Chapter 21, “Using the FC-FC Routing Service,” for more information about Virtual
Fabrics and FC-FC routing.
FICON Up to two logical switches per chassis can run FICON Management Server (CUP), but the
FICON logical switch must use ISLs and not XISLs.
Interoperability mode In interoperability modes 2 and 3, you cannot use XISL in the logical fabric. The logical
switches must be connected only with ISLs.
Licensing Licenses are applicable for all logical switches in a chassis.
Performance
monitoring
Performance monitors are supported in a limited number of logical switches, depending
on the platform type. See Chapter 17, “Administering Advanced Performance
Monitoring,” for more information about performance monitoring when Virtual Fabrics
are enabled.
Port mirroring Port mirroring is not supported when Virtual Fabrics is enabled.
QoS QoS VCs are maintained across the base fabric. See Chapter 18, “Optimizing Fabric
Behavior,” for more information about using the Adaptive Networking features with
Virtual Fabrics.
Traffic Isolation Traffic Isolation zones with failover disabled are not supported in logical fabrics. See
Chapter 18, “Optimizing Fabric Behavior,” for additional information about using TI
Zones with Virtual Fabrics.
TABLE 44 Virtual Fabrics interaction with Fabric OS features (Continued)
Fabric OS feature Virtual Fabrics interaction
TABLE 45 Maximum number of logical switches per chassis
Platform Maximum number of logical switches
Brocade DCX 8
Brocade DCX-4S 8
Brocade 5300 4
Brocade 5100 3