.Part 2 Fabric Infrastructure Rules HP SAN Design Reference Guide 785352-001

Core switch addressing mode
B-series Fibre Channel switches using firmware 4.1 (or later) and all MP Router models are shipped
with the Core switch PID parameter bit set to 1. Legacy switches using firmware 4.0 or 3.1 (or
earlier) were shipped with this bit set to 0, which limited the number of switches in a fabric and
the number of ports on a switch. HP recommends that you set the Core switch PID parameter bit
to 1 in all B-series fabrics. Use the configure command to modify the Core switch PID setting.
NOTE: Beginning with Fabric OS 6.x, the only supported PID format is core pid (1). For more
information, see the HP StorageWorks Fabric OS Administrator Guide.
If you change the Core switch addressing mode for a fabric, consider the following:
• If a B-series Fibre Channel fabric contains a SAN Director 4/256, or SAN Switch 4/8, 4/16,
4/32B, or 4/64, you must set the Core switch PID parameter bit for all other switches in the
fabric.
• All switches in the fabric must have the same Core switch PID parameter bit setting; otherwise,
the fabric will segment.
• For multi-fabric SANs, you can change the Core switch PID parameter bit setting on one fabric
at a time, allowing SAN operations to continue without interruption.
• The MP Router supports using different Core PID formats on different fabrics and routing frames
between them.
• HP-UX and IBM AIX systems use the address bits to identify logical units. Therefore, if you
change the Core switch PID setting, you must also change the logical unit definitions. After
making these changes, you must reboot all servers in the SAN.
• If you add switches (other than the switches that require the Core switch PID settings) to a
fabric in which the Core switch PID parameter bit is cleared, you must clear this bit on the
new switches.
For more information about Core switch addressing mode, see the HP SAN Infrastructure website:
http://h18006.www1.hp.com/storage/saninfrastructure.html
Zoning limits and enforcement
Table 36 (page 121) describes zoning enforcement for B-series Fibre Channel switches and MP
Router LSANs. See also “Zoning” (page 387).
120 B-series switches and fabric rules