HP Fibre Channel Fabric Migration Guide Manufacturing Part Number: J2635-90017 August 2003 United States © Copyright 2003 Hewlett Packard Development Company L. P.
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1 Fabric Migration Guide This document describes the fabric feature for the Fibre Channel PCI Tachyon TL, HSC TL, PCI XL2 and PCI Universal host bus adapters. It lists the requirements you will need to take advantage of this feature along with any restrictions in using fabric.
Fabric Migration Guide Migrating to Fabric Migrating to Fabric A Fibre Channel fabric (one or more switches in a configuration) can provide multiple benefits including independent bandwidth per port, greater reliability, and increased performance. Before you change your environment to a fabric supported environment, read the following sections carefully.
Fabric Migration Guide Migrating to Fabric This activity can cause long delays (approximately 10 sec) while the I/O is timed out and then retried for direct access devices. It can also cause a loss of position for sequential access devices, and the entire operation may need to be retried. • Simpler link level protocol results in fewer chances of encountering hardware, firmware, or software defects in the HBAs.
Fabric Migration Guide Migrating to Fabric Scalability • Fabrics allow you to expand beyond a single loop with a maximum of 126 loop ports to a SAN environment where it is possible to use multiple fabrics and attach virtually unlimited numbers of devices in several configurations. • In addition to attaching devices directly to the fabric or having public loops in the SAN, you can attach an existing (but separate) private loop to the fabric, and have all of the devices managed by the fabric.
Fabric Migration Guide Migrating to Fabric — HP-UX 11i v1.6 or later for IPF systems — A5158A HP-UX 11.00 or 11i v1.0 software driver for PA-RISC systems. The driver is available on the web at http://www.software.hp.com and on the HP-UX Application CD, AR0301 and later. The driver is always installed with the HP-UX 11i v1.0 Operating Environment. — Tachyon patch PHKL_23939 or later for HP-UX 11.00 — Tachyon patch PHKL_23626 or later for HP-UX 11i v1.
Fabric Migration Guide Migrating to Fabric — A6826A HP-UX 11i v1.0 software driver. The driver is available on the web at http://www.software.hp.com. — PHKL_28801 or later for HP_UX 11i v1.0 — PHKL_23445 or later for HP-UX 11i v1.0 • Supported hardware For the latest list of supported hardware and topologies, contact your HP representative, or visit the ITRC web site mentioned on page 6 in this manual. Restrictions 8 • All target loop devices are required to continue using hard physical addresses.
Fabric Migration Guide Supported Fabric Configurations Supported Fabric Configurations HP currently supports the following SAN configurations with the A5158A PCI Tachyon TL adapter, the A6684A and A6685A HSC Tachlite adapters, A6795A PCI 2Gb XL2 adapter and the A6826A PCI-X Dual Port adapter.
Fabric Migration Guide Supported Fabric Configurations Figure 1-1 Isolated Private Arbitrated Loop Configuration This isolated private loop is a typical configuration. It uses two hubs for some redundancy to the target devices. This configuration will continue to be supported. Direct Fabric Attachment A simple migration to a fabric configuration is to replace the two hubs with two Fibre Channel switches.
Fabric Migration Guide Supported Fabric Configurations Figure 1-2 Direct Fabric Attachment Configuration The advantages of this configuration are: • Additional cabling is unnecessary. • All devices are isolated. • Provides independent bandwidth for each device. QuickLoop Attachment for Fabric A migration path to a fabric configuration with devices that are not fabric capable is to use the QuickLoop fabric configuration.
Fabric Migration Guide Supported Fabric Configurations NOTE Translative mode does not allow private hosts to communicate with public devices on the switch. An example of a QuickLoop fabric configuration is to replace the two hubs shown in the previous illustration with a single Fibre Channel switch. You can connect Host 1 and Host 2 to F_Ports on the switch, and connect each private target device to a QuickLoop port.
Fabric Migration Guide Supported Fabric Configurations In a private loop environment, a QuickLoop configuration can allow private hosts with a Tachyon adapter attached to a QL_Port to access private devices on the loop by using the switch as a hub. Figure 1-4 shows that Tachyon Host 1 is a private host which has access to the private target devices connected to a QuickLoop port. TL Host 2, a public host connected to a fabric port, also has access to the private devices and any future public devices.
Fabric Migration Guide Supported Fabric Configurations Figure 1-5 shows that Host 1 and Host 2 are public hosts connected through a hub to an FL_Port on the switch. The target devices are public devices (NL_Ports) connected to other FL_Ports. Host 1 and 2 have access to any of the public devices. Figure 1-5 Public Loop Attachment To use this or any other configuration shown in this guide, check to see if your devices support the configuration.
Fabric Migration Guide Fabric Device Addressing Changes Fabric Device Addressing Changes When you migrate from an existing Fibre Channel private loop configuration to a switched Fibre Channel fabric configuration, the hardware path to the attached target devices will change to reflect the presence of a fabric/switch in the route from the host initiator to the target device. When the I/O path information to a given disk changes, a new device file is created for this device.
Fabric Migration Guide Fabric Device Addressing Changes Device Addressing in a Fabric Environment HP’s current model of addressing associates devices with their hardware path information. In the case of Fibre Channel disk devices, the device file names are little more than tags that are associated with a node in the system iotree. Using the ioscan command, ioscan -kfn -C disk, you can obtain this association.
Fabric Migration Guide Fabric Device Addressing Changes Figure 1-6 Annex-K - Assigned Loop Identifier Note that the values are from lowest to highest priority. AL_PA=00 is reserved for an FL_Port; “-” is not available. Because HP continues to use Physical Path addressing, loop devices (public and private) will be required to continue using Hard Physical Addresses.
Fabric Migration Guide Fabric Device Addressing Changes Private Loop to Fabric Example Following is a simple example of migrating an HP disk device from a private loop configuration to a fabric topology. Figure 1-7 shows a private loop configuration.
Fabric Migration Guide Fabric Device Addressing Changes Class I H/W Path Driver S/W State H/W Type Description ----------------------------------------------------------------------------fc 0 0/1/2/0 td CLAIMED INTERFACE HP Tachyon TL/TS Fibre Channel Mass Storage Adapter fcp 1 0/1/2/0.1 fcp CLAIMED INTERFACE FCP Domain ext_bus 3 0/1/2/0.1.19.0.0 fcparray CLAIMED INTERFACE FCP Array Interface target 6 0/1/2/0.1.19.0.0.0 tgt CLAIMED DEVICE disk 3 0/1/2/0.1.19.0.0.0.
Fabric Migration Guide Fabric Device Addressing Changes • The fabric configuration now contains an iotree node of 0/1/2/0.1 described as FCP Domain. A node of this type will be built for each domain the fabric contains. (Domains generally correspond one to one with a physical instance of a switch). • The FCP Array Interface iotree node has changed from 0/1/2/0.8.0.11.0 to 0/1/2/0.1.19.0.0.
Glossary A AL Boot - the process of booting from a device that is on the same arbitrated loop as the host adapter. No switch is required. Arbitrated Loop - a Fibre Channel topology where information is routed around the loop from port to port until it arrives at its destination. This is a private loop configuration. Area - the second field of the 3-byte address assigned to an attached N_Port in a Fabric configuration. The Area is generally associated with an F/FL port on a switch.
Glossary IODC I IODC (Input/Output Dependent Code) firmware that implements a simplified driver for an adapter card. It is analogous to card BIOS in a PC. IODC is included in the PDC (Processor Dependent Code). See also See also PDC.. L LIP (Loop Initialization Primitive) used to initiate a procedure on the loop. This initialization state usually causes activity on the loop to suspend briefly.
Glossary Zoning Translative Mode - a technique by which a switch allows public hosts on a private loop connected to a fabric to communicate with private target devices. In translative mode, these private target devices operate as public devices. Z Zoning - a logical grouping of Fabric-attached devices that are isolated from other devices and other zones by the switch.
Glossary Translative Mode 24 Glossary
