.SAN design reference guide Vol. 1-5 785350-001

are mid-range switches; the SN6000C and 91nn switches are entry-level switches. For the 92nn,
91nn, and 90nn, the nn value indicates the number of fixed ports.
Multiprotocol and Multiservice products are designated with the i suffix, such as the MDS 9216i
and MDS 9222i, or as IP storage services modules, such as the IPS-4, IPS-8, 14/2, and 18/4.
For IPS products, the number indicates the total number of IP ports available. For example, the
IPS-4 has 4 IP ports and the IPS-8 has 8 IP ports.
Switch models
NOTE: Starting with release 4.1(1b), MDS 9000 SAN-OS software is rebranded to MDS 9000
NX-OS software. Software prior to NX-OS 4.1(1b) uses the SAN-OS name and remains on the
3.x code stream. NX-OS is designed to operate with switches running SAN-OS software.
Table 37 (page 127), and Table 38 (page 128) describe the C-series Fibre Channel switches, and
Table 39 (page 128) describes the legacy C-series Fibre Channel switches.
HP supports all C-series Fibre Channel switches in a fabric if you:
• Use the firmware versions listed in Table 37, Table 38, and Table 39.
When using NX-OS, SAN-OS, and FabricWare in the same fabric, HP highly recommends
upgrading all fabric switches in the SAN to the latest supported software version. All switches
in the same major NX-OS/SAN-OS/FabricWare family must use the same software version.
When updating switch firmware, you can use two successive NX-OS/SAN-OS/FabricWare
versions temporarily. Do not enable new switch features until the upgrade is complete.
• Follow the fabric rules. See “Fibre Channel switch fabric rules” (page 135).
For the latest information on supported C-series Fibre Channel switches and firmware versions, see
the HP SAN Infrastructure website:
http://h18006.www1.hp.com/storage/saninfrastructure.html
126 C-series switches and fabric rules