HP StorageWorks Fabric OS 6.3.1c Release Notes (5697-0509 September 2010 - includes all 6.3.1x versions)

of multiple 2,112-size FC frames (batch) into smaller IP frames, compared to single-frame exchanges
(for example, FC frame generators).
• FCIP Trunking—This is a new feature available on the DC SAN Director Multiprotocol Extension
Blade and 1606 Extension SAN Switch that virtualizes two or more TCP connections as part of a
single FCIP tunnel. These connections, called circuits, are configured explicitly to be part of an
FCIP tunnel. Their primary purpose is to increase the tunnel bandwidth and provide failover paths
in the event of a network failure. FCIP Trunking functionality and the additional TCP connections
are transparent to the applications using the FCIP tunnel. FCIP Trunking requires the optional Ad-
vanced Extension license.
• Advanced Compression—The 1606 Extension SAN Switch allows FC data frames to be compressed
on a per-tunnel basis before they are sent over the tunnel as FCIP frames. The FC command frames
and all frames generated from or destined for the CP are not compressed, even when compression
is enabled on a tunnel. The uncompressed and compressed packets and bytes are counted and
maintained on a per-tunnel basis. The compression ratio can be found for a given polling interval
by reading the number of compressed and uncompressed bytes. The compression is performed
by the hardware on a frame-by-frame basis, and is performed on FC data frames in the ingress
direction before they are encapsulated as FCIP frames.
NOTE:
Advanced Compression is supported only with Fabric OS 6.3.0a and later.
• Adaptive Rate Limiting (ARL)—The DC SAN Director Multiprotocol Extension Blade and 1606
Extension SAN Switch allow an FCIP tunnel connection to dynamically change the rate at which
the tunnel transmits data through the TCP connections. ARL uses the information from the TCP
connections to determine and adjust the rate limit for the FCIP tunnel dynamically. This allows FCIP
connections to use the maximum available bandwidth. ARL requires the optional Advanced Extension
license.
FCR enhancements
• EX_Port Trunking—This feature was first introduced with Fabric OS 5.2.0. In that release, when
a master EX_Port in a trunk group goes offline, you must select a new area (master port). This
causes all slave EX_Ports of that trunk group to be disabled and brought online to select a new
master EX_Port. The Masterless EX_Port feature (introduced with Fabric OS 6.3.0a) uses the dy-
namic port binding capability first introduced with Fabric OS 6.2 to reassign the trunk area from
the old master port to the new master port. With the master port offline condition, one of the slave
ports becomes the new master port, and all of the other slave ports remain online. The new master
port uses the old master port’s area, and the old master port gets a new/unused area. The PID of
the trunk does not change with the master port offline condition.
• Adaptive Networking—New features were first introduced with Fabric OS 6.0, including FC QoS,
which allows users to establish flow-based prioritization of traffic over a SAN. Fabric OS 6.3 ex-
tends QoS over FCR configurations, allowing support of QoS for traffic flows originating in an
edge fabric, passing through the FC backbone fabric, and then continuing to a destination edge
fabric. This feature requires configuration of both LSAN zones and QoS zones, and requires that
the Adaptive Networking license be installed on switches in both the edge and backbone fabrics.
Adaptive Networking enhancements
If one or more applications running on the data center fabric are slowing down, the administrator
can enable the new Bottleneck Detection feature on all suspected edge switches to which F_Ports are
attached. Using this feature, the administrator can determine whether there are any slow-draining
devices causing network congestion. When this feature is enabled and a switch detects a condition
HP StorageWorks Fabric OS 6.3.1c Release Notes 7