Service manual

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McDATA Eclipse 2640 SAN Router Installation and Service Manual
You aren’t sure which Fibre Channel port
type to assign.
Fibre Channel port parameters that you can configure through the FC/Ethernet Port
Configuration dialog box in the Element Manager include:
• FC Auto - Ports that automatically sense whether the type of connection is F_Port
or FL_Port. Use FC-Auto for connecting Fibre Channel devices such as host bus
adapters and storage targets. This will negotiate either arbitrated loop or
point-to-point connections with the connected devices.
• F_Port - A port to which non-loop N_Ports are attached.
• FL_Port - A port to which one or more NL_Ports in an arbitrated loop are attached.
• L_Port - Private loop or filer mode. In this mode, the port will come up in loop mode
without requesting devices to do FLOGI; in other words, the connecting device is
forced to be a private device. Most NAS filers need the port to be configured in this
mode.
• R_Port - a fabric extension port used to establish inter-switch links (ISLs) between
a SAN Routers and FC switches. R_Ports allows you to interconnect, zone, and
manage existing fabrics with mSANs. R_Port is an added-cost option; it is not
available in the basic SAN Router software package. Use R_port to establish
inter-switch links (ISLs) between FC switches and Eclipse SAN Routers. R-Port
alows you to interconnect, zone and manage existing fabrics with mSANs.
You don’t know whether to set your Fibre
Channel devices to Arbitrated Loop or
Point-to-Point.
The SAN Router will support either arbitrated loop or point-to-point. Certain host bus
adapter drivers or firmware have preferred modes in which they will try to negotiate
one topology and revert to the other if that is not available. This is an unreliable
method therefore we recommend you set your devices to point-to-point or arbitrated
loop only mode.
Problem Meaning and Solution