HP StorageWorks XPath OS 7.4.X Administrator Guide (AA-RVHDD-TE, February 2006)

52 Using the FC-FC Routing Service
For example, suppose the maximum number of Name Server entries is 1024. Consider Fabric A with 700
devices and Fabric B with 600 devices. If you try to merge Fabrics A and B, the result requires 1300 Name
Server entries, which exceeds the maximum of 1024. Using Fibre Channel routing, you can perform either
of the following:
• Import up to 324 hosts or targets to Fabric A from Fabric B (700 + 324 = 1024)
• Import up to 424 hosts to Fabric B from Fabric A (600 + 424 = 1024).
Scaling of SANs that comprise multiple vendor fabrics is limited by the native fabric scalability.
Configuring an interfabric link
Before you configure an IFL, consider the following rules:
• Devices, whether Fibre Channel initiators, Fibre Channel targets, or others, connected to an edge fabric
cannot be in an LSAN with devices attached to a backbone fabric.
• You cannot configure both IFLs (EX_Ports) and ISLs (E_Ports) from one MP Router to the same edge
fabric.
Configuring an interfabric link involves stopping ports and cabling them to other fabrics, configuring those
ports for their intended use, and then starting the ports. The following procedure demonstrates how to
configure for both edge and backbone connections:
1. Make sure that the FC-FC Routing Service license is installed.
See ”Licensed features” on page 24.
2. Issue the portStop command to stop all ports that are to be configured.
The ports must be stopped to prevent any backbone fabrics from merging with edge fabrics when their
ports are cabled into a fabric. For example, to stop ports 1 through 3:
3. Cable the ports to the edge and backbone fabrics.
4. Configure each port that connects to an edge fabric as an EX_Port.
5. Issue the portCfgExPort command to:
• Enable the EX_Port mode.
• Set the fabric ID (avoid using fabric ID 1, which is the default for backbone connections).
• Set the PID format, if necessary.
• Start routing between HP and McDATA fabrics.
For example:
portcfgexport port -a 1 -f fabricID -p pidformat
The fabric ID settings for all EX_Ports attached to the same fabric must match. EX_Ports attached to more
than one edge fabric must configure a different fabric ID for each edge fabric.
router:admin> portstop 1-3
port 1 stopped.
port 2 stopped.
port 3 stopped.
where:
-a Sets the EX_Port to enabled (1) or disabled (2).
-f Sets the fabric ID (1 to 128). Each edge fabric must have a unique ID, and
EX_Ports connected to the same edge fabric must have the same ID. The
default value is the port number plus 2.
-m Sets the connectivity mode (0 = Brocade Native, 1 = McDATA Open
-p Port ID format (1 = core, 2 = extended-edge, and 3 = native). The value
must match the edge fabric setting. The default value is 1.