HP StorageWorks Multi-protocol Router XPath OS 7.4.1c Release Notes (AV-RW5LL-TE, December 2006)

Issue
Description
FCIP and firew alls The Multi-protocol Router uses XPP as the transport layer for FCIP transmission.
When a firewall is in the path of the FCIP tunnel, the firewall must be configured
to allow protocol type 206 in the IP header. The purpose of this protocol type is to
establish a connection and e nable the FCIP trafficthattraversesthefirewall.
FCIP link
The FCIP select
ive acknowledgement feature was added i n a previous version
of firmware.
This feature improves FCIP performance in conditions with high latency and
pack et loss.
To ensure this feature is ava ilable, verify that MP Routers on both sides of the
link are using 7.4.0 version firmware.
Ifonesideof
the link is running fi rmware that does not support this feature, the
link will not
be established and switchShow will di splay incompatible
firmware fo
rthatVE_PORT.
Wide area network
services and FCIP
Available Bandwidth Parameter.
Previous releases of FCIP demonstrated performance degradation and intermittent
ISL failure if the IP network’s available bandwidth for the ISL was restricted to less
than 400 Mbps.
This release includes a new parameter for the portCfgFcip CLI command.
The parameter is -b i where i is the available ISL bandwidth in Mbps, rounded
down to the closest integer value.
Due to the various link-encapsulation methods, header sizes, and so forth, it might
be d if ficult to determine the exact available bandwidth for a particular link. HP
recommends setting the bandwidth parameter to 96 % of the advertised link
bandwidth (for exa mple, -b 96 for a 100 Mbps link).
Additional tuning of the bandwidth parameter might be necessary for optimal
throughput.
Jumbo Frame Support. Pre vious releases of FCIP segmented FCIP-encapsulated
FC frames into two Ethernet frames if the encapsulated FC frame would exceed
standard Ethernet maximum frame size. To improve ISL throughput and bandwidth
efficiency for an FCIP ISL capable of supporting jumbo Ethernet frames, this
release includes a new portCfgFcip CLI command. The parameter is -j n.
The n is set to 1 to enable jumbo frame transmission and 2 to disable jumbo
frame transmission. This option is disabled by default.
NOTE:
The sys
tem does not attempt to verify that the link can support jumbo frames
(there is no path MTU discovery). If configured to enable jumbo frame
supportonanetworkthatdoesnotsupportjumboEthernetframesend-to-end,
the link will fail if a 2KB FC frame is sent across the FCIP ISL.
Table 8 iSCSI Gateway service
Releasing the IP address for a GbE port Releasing the IP address of a Multiprotocol Router Gigabit Ethernet port
requires setting the IP address of the por t to 0.0.0.0. For example:
portcfgGbE 15 -i 0.0.0.0
Upon releasing the IP address, the address can be used by other ports.
iSCSI Gateway Service support
The MP Router provides iSCSI support allowing iSCSI Initiators to access
Fibre Ch annel based storage subsystems. For the latest information on
supported configurations limitations, see the HP StorageWorks SAN
design reference guide: h
ttp://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/
storageworks/san/documentation.html
iSCSI Multi-path
iSCS I configurations using the MP Router are not supported with
multi-path software. Window s servers using an iSCSI initiator must not
have multi-path software installed.
Microsoft iSCSI version This release of XPath supports Microsoft iSCSI initiator 1.06.
Multi-protocol Router XPath OS 7.4.1c
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