53-1003506-02

29 May 2015

Access Gateway
Administrator's Guide

Supporting Fabric OS v7.4.0

© 2015, Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

ADX, Brocade, Brocade Assurance, the B-wing symbol, DCX, Fabric OS, HyperEdge, ICX, MLX, MyBrocade, OpenScript, The Effortless
Network, VCS, VDX, Vplane, and Vyatta are registered trademarks, and Fabric Vision and vADX are trademarks of Brocade
Communications Systems, Inc., in the United States and/or in other countries. Other brands, products, or service names mentioned may be
trademarks of others.
Notice: This document is for informational purposes only and does not set forth any warranty, expressed or implied, concerning any
equipment, equipment feature, or service offered or to be offered by Brocade. Brocade reserves the right to make changes to this document
at any time, without notice, and assumes no responsibility for its use. This informational document describes features that may not be
currently available. Contact a Brocade sales office for information on feature and product availability. Export of technical data contained in
this document may require an export license from the United States government.
The authors and Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. assume no liability or responsibility to any person or entity with respect to the
accuracy of this document or any loss, cost, liability, or damages arising from the information contained herein or the computer programs that
accompany it.
The product described by this document may contain open source software covered by the GNU General Public License or other open
source license agreements. To find out which open source software is included in Brocade products, view the licensing terms applicable to
the open source software, and obtain a copy of the programming source code, please visit http://www.brocade.com/support/oscd.
Contents

Preface..................................................................................................................................... 7
Document conventions......................................................................................7
Text formatting conventions.................................................................. 7
Command syntax conventions.............................................................. 7
Notes, cautions, and warnings.............................................................. 8
Brocade resources............................................................................................ 9
Contacting Brocade Technical Support.............................................................9
Document feedback........................................................................................ 10

About This Document.............................................................................................................. 11

Supported hardware and software.................................................................. 11
What's new in this document...........................................................................11
Key terms for Access Gateway....................................................................... 12

Access Gateway Basic Concepts..............................................................................................15

Brocade Access Gateway overview ...............................................................15
Comparing Native Fabric and Access Gateway modes......................15
Fabric OS features in Access Gateway mode................................................ 17
Buffer credit recovery support............................................................. 20
Forward error correction support.........................................................20
Virtual Fabrics support........................................................................ 21
Device authentication support.............................................................21
AG mode without all PoD licenses...................................................... 23
Password distribution support............................................................. 23
FDMI support...................................................................................... 24
NTP configuration distribution to Access Gateways........................... 24
Access Gateway port types.............................................................................24
Comparison of Access Gateway ports to standard switch ports ........ 25
Access Gateway hardware considerations..................................................... 27

Configuring Ports in Access Gateway Mode..............................................................................29

Enabling and disabling Access Gateway mode.............................................. 29
Port state description.......................................................................... 30
Access Gateway mapping...............................................................................31
Port mapping.......................................................................................31
F_Port Static Mapping.........................................................................38
Device mapping.................................................................................. 39
Considerations for Access Gateway mapping.................................... 45
N_Port configurations......................................................................................46
Displaying N_Port configurations........................................................ 47
Unlocking N_Ports ............................................................................. 47
Persistent port online state .................................................................48
D_Port support................................................................................................ 48
Limitations and considerations............................................................49
Saving port mappings ........................................................................ 50

Access Gateway Administrator's Guide 3

53-1003506-02
 Managing Policies and Features in Access Gateway Mode..................................................... 51
Access Gateway policies overview............................................................... 51
Displaying current policies ............................................................... 51
Access Gateway policy enforcement matrix .................................... 51
Advanced Device Security policy ................................................................. 52
How the ADS policy works................................................................ 52
Enabling and disabling the ADS policy............................................. 52
Allow lists.......................................................................................... 53
ADS policy considerations................................................................ 55
Upgrade and downgrade considerations for the ADS policy............ 55
Automatic Port Configuration policy ............................................................. 55
How the APC policy works................................................................ 55
Enabling and disabling the APC policy............................................. 55
APC policy considerations................................................................ 56
Upgrade and downgrade considerations for the APC policy............ 56
Port Grouping policy......................................................................................56
How port groups work....................................................................... 56
Adding an N_Port to a port group..................................................... 58
Deleting an N_Port from a port group............................................... 58
Removing a port group .....................................................................58
Renaming a port group..................................................................... 58
Disabling the Port Grouping policy....................................................58
Port Grouping policy modes..............................................................59
Creating a port group and enabling Automatic Login Balancing
mode............................................................................................59
Enabling MFNM mode...................................................................... 60
Disabling MFNM mode......................................................................61
Displaying the current MFNM mode timeout value........................... 61
Setting the current MFNM mode timeout value.................................61
Port Grouping policy considerations................................................. 61
Upgrade and downgrade considerations for the Port Grouping
policy........................................................................................... 62
Device Load Balancing policy....................................................................... 62
Enabling the Device Load Balancing policy...................................... 62
Disabling the Device Load Balancing policy..................................... 62
Device Load Balancing policy considerations................................... 63
Persistent ALPA policy..................................................................................63
Enabling the Persistent ALPA policy.................................................63
Disabling the Persistent ALPA policy................................................ 64
Persistent ALPA device data.............................................................64
Clearing ALPA values....................................................................... 64
Persistent ALPA policy considerations..............................................65
Failover policy............................................................................................... 65
Failover with port mapping................................................................ 65
Failover with device mapping ...........................................................68
Enabling and disabling the Failover policy on an N_Port..................69
Enabling and disabling the Failover policy for a port group.............. 69
Upgrade and downgrade considerations for the Failover policy....... 70
Failback policy...............................................................................................70
Failback policy configurations in Access Gateway............................70
Enabling and disabling the Failback policy on an N_Port ................ 71
Enabling and disabling the Failback policy for a port group..............72
Upgrade and downgrade considerations for the Failback policy...... 72
Failback policy disabled on unreliable links (N_Port monitoring)...... 72
Trunking in Access Gateway mode...............................................................73
How trunking works...........................................................................73

4 Access Gateway Administrator's Guide

53-1003506-02
 Configuring trunking on the Edge switch.............................................73
Configuration management for trunk areas.........................................74
Enabling trunking ............................................................................... 76
Disabling F_Port trunking....................................................................76
Monitoring trunking .............................................................................76
AG trunking considerations for the Edge switch................................. 76
Trunking considerations for Access Gateway mode........................... 79
Upgrade and downgrade considerations for trunking in Access
Gateway mode.............................................................................. 80
Adaptive Networking on Access Gateway...................................................... 80
QoS: Ingress rate limiting ...................................................................80
QoS: SID/DID traffic prioritization .......................................................80
Upgrade and downgrade considerations for Adaptive Networking
in AG mode....................................................................................81
Adaptive Networking on Access Gateway considerations.................. 81
Per-Port NPIV login limit................................................................................. 82
Setting the login limit........................................................................... 82
Duplicate PWWN handling during device login...............................................82
Performance Monitoring..................................................................................83
Flow Monitor........................................................................................83
Considerations for the Brocade 6505 and 6510..............................................84

SAN Configuration with Access Gateway.................................................................................. 85

Connectivity of multiple devices overview.......................................................85
Considerations for connecting multiple devices.................................. 85
Direct target attachment..................................................................................85
Considerations for direct target attachment........................................ 86
Target aggregation..........................................................................................87
Access Gateway cascading............................................................................ 88
Access Gateway cascading considerations........................................ 88
Fabric and Edge switch configuration............................................................. 89
Verifying the switch mode................................................................... 89
Enabling NPIV on M-EOS switches.................................................... 90
Connectivity to Cisco fabrics........................................................................... 90
Enabling NPIV on a Cisco switch........................................................90
Rejoining Fabric OS switches to a fabric........................................................ 91
Reverting to a previous configuration..................................................91

Troubleshooting......................................................................................................................93

Access Gateway Administrator's Guide 5

53-1003506-02
6 Access Gateway Administrator's Guide
53-1003506-02
Preface

● Document conventions......................................................................................................7
● Brocade resources............................................................................................................ 9
● Contacting Brocade Technical Support.............................................................................9
● Document feedback........................................................................................................ 10

Document conventions
The document conventions describe text formatting conventions, command syntax conventions, and
important notice formats used in Brocade technical documentation.

Text formatting conventions

Text formatting conventions such as boldface, italic, or Courier font may be used in the flow of the text
to highlight specific words or phrases.

Format Description
bold text Identifies command names
Identifies keywords and operands
Identifies the names of user-manipulated GUI elements
Identifies text to enter at the GUI

italic text Identifies emphasis

Identifies variables
Identifies document titles

Courier font Identifies CLI output

Identifies command syntax examples

Command syntax conventions

Bold and italic text identify command syntax components. Delimiters and operators define groupings of
parameters and their logical relationships.

Convention Description
bold text Identifies command names, keywords, and command options.
italic text Identifies a variable.
value In Fibre Channel products, a fixed value provided as input to a command
option is printed in plain text, for example, --show WWN.

Access Gateway Administrator's Guide 7

53-1003506-02
Notes, cautions, and warnings

Convention Description

[] Syntax components displayed within square brackets are optional.

Default responses to system prompts are enclosed in square brackets.

{x|y|z} A choice of required parameters is enclosed in curly brackets separated by

vertical bars. You must select one of the options.
In Fibre Channel products, square brackets may be used instead for this
purpose.

x|y A vertical bar separates mutually exclusive elements.

<> Nonprinting characters, for example, passwords, are enclosed in angle

brackets.

... Repeat the previous element, for example, member[member...].

\ Indicates a “soft” line break in command examples. If a backslash separates

two lines of a command input, enter the entire command at the prompt without
the backslash.

Notes, cautions, and warnings

Notes, cautions, and warning statements may be used in this document. They are listed in the order of
increasing severity of potential hazards.

NOTE
A Note provides a tip, guidance, or advice, emphasizes important information, or provides a reference
to related information.

ATTENTION
An Attention statement indicates a stronger note, for example, to alert you when traffic might be
interrupted or the device might reboot.

CAUTION
A Caution statement alerts you to situations that can be potentially hazardous to you or cause
damage to hardware, firmware, software, or data.

DANGER
A Danger statement indicates conditions or situations that can be potentially lethal or
extremely hazardous to you. Safety labels are also attached directly to products to warn of
these conditions or situations.

8 Access Gateway Administrator's Guide

53-1003506-02
 Brocade resources

Brocade resources
Visit the Brocade website to locate related documentation for your product and additional Brocade
resources.

You can download additional publications supporting your product at www.brocade.com. Select the
Brocade Products tab to locate your product, then click the Brocade product name or image to open the
individual product page. The user manuals are available in the resources module at the bottom of the
page under the Documentation category.

To get up-to-the-minute information on Brocade products and resources, go to MyBrocade. You can
register at no cost to obtain a user ID and password.
Release notes are available on MyBrocade under Product Downloads.
White papers, online demonstrations, and data sheets are available through the Brocade website.

Contacting Brocade Technical Support

As a Brocade customer, you can contact Brocade Technical Support 24x7 online, by telephone, or by e-
mail. Brocade OEM customers contact their OEM/Solutions provider.

Brocade customers
For product support information and the latest information on contacting the Technical Assistance
Center, go to http://www.brocade.com/services-support/index.html.
If you have purchased Brocade product support directly from Brocade, use one of the following methods
to contact the Brocade Technical Assistance Center 24x7.

Online Telephone E-mail

Preferred method of contact for non- Required for Sev 1-Critical and Sev [email protected]
urgent issues: 2-High issues:
Please include:
• My Cases through MyBrocade • Continental US: 1-800-752-8061
• Problem summary
• Software downloads and licensing • Europe, Middle East, Africa, and
• Serial number
tools Asia Pacific: +800-AT FIBREE
(+800 28 34 27 33) • Installation details
• Knowledge Base
• For areas unable to access toll • Environment description
free number: +1-408-333-6061
• Toll-free numbers are available in
many countries.

Brocade OEM customers

If you have purchased Brocade product support from a Brocade OEM/Solution Provider, contact your
OEM/Solution Provider for all of your product support needs.
• OEM/Solution Providers are trained and certified by Brocade to support Brocade® products.
• Brocade provides backline support for issues that cannot be resolved by the OEM/Solution Provider.

Access Gateway Administrator's Guide 9

53-1003506-02
Document feedback

• Brocade Supplemental Support augments your existing OEM support contract, providing direct
access to Brocade expertise. For more information, contact Brocade or your OEM.
• For questions regarding service levels and response times, contact your OEM/Solution Provider.

Document feedback
To send feedback and report errors in the documentation you can use the feedback form posted with
the document or you can e-mail the documentation team.
Quality is our first concern at Brocade and we have made every effort to ensure the accuracy and
completeness of this document. However, if you find an error or an omission, or you think that a topic
needs further development, we want to hear from you. You can provide feedback in two ways:
• Through the online feedback form in the HTML documents posted on www.brocade.com.
• By sending your feedback to [email protected].
Provide the publication title, part number, and as much detail as possible, including the topic heading
and page number if applicable, as well as your suggestions for improvement.

10 Access Gateway Administrator's Guide

53-1003506-02
About This Document

● Supported hardware and software.................................................................................. 11

● What's new in this document...........................................................................................11
● Key terms for Access Gateway....................................................................................... 12

Supported hardware and software

In those instances in which procedures or parts of procedures documented here apply to some switches
but not to others, this guide identifies which switches are supported and which are not.
Although many different software and hardware configurations are tested and supported by Brocade
Communications Systems, Inc., for Fabric OS, documenting all possible configurations and scenarios is
beyond the scope of this document.
All Fabric OS switches must be running Fabric OS v7.0.0 or later; all M-EOS switches must be running
M-EOSc 9.1 or later, M-EOSn must be running 9.6.2 or later, and Cisco switches with NX OS must be
running 5.x or later.
Fabric OS version 7.4.0 supports the following Brocade hardware platforms for Access Gateway:
• Brocade 300
• Brocade 5100
• Brocade M5424
• Brocade 5430
• Brocade 5431
• Brocade 5450
• Brocade 5460
• Brocade 5470
• Brocade 5480
• Brocade 6505
• Brocade M6505
• Brocade 6510
• Brocade 6547
• Brocade VA-40FC

What's new in this document

This document includes new and modified information for the Fabric OS 7.4.0 release.

Changes made for this release

The following content is new or has been significantly revised for the initial release of this document:

Access Gateway Administrator's Guide 11

53-1003506-02
Key terms for Access Gateway

• Updated command syntax of the example in Removing F_Ports from an N_Port on page 38.
• In Fabric OS features in Access Gateway mode on page 17, updated the table for NTP support in
Acess Gateway mode and added the section NTP configuration distribution to Access Gateways on
page 24 for NTP support.
• In Removing devices from the list of allowed devices on page 54, corrected typos in the ag --
adsdel command
• In Adding new devices to the list of allowed devices on page 54corrected typos in the ag --
adsadd command.
• In Monitoring trunking on page 76, references to Advanced Performance Monitoring (APM) are
removed. The Advanced Performance Monitoring feature is deprecated in Fabric OS 7.4.0.
• In Performance Monitoring on page 83, references to Advanced Performance Monitoring (APM)
are removed. The Advanced Performance Monitoring feature is deprecated in Fabric OS 7.4.0.

Changes made for this release (53-1003506-02)

Minor changes have been made to the document to enhance presentation of the graphics and
illustrations.

Key terms for Access Gateway

For definitions of SAN-specific terms, visit the Storage Networking Industry Association online
dictionary at:
http://www.snia.org/education/dictionary
For definitions specific to Brocade and Fibre Channel, refer to the Brocade Glossary.
The following terms are used in this manual to describe Access Gateway mode and its components.
Access Fabric OS mode for switches that reduces storage area network (SAN)
Gateway deployment complexity by leveraging N_Port ID Virtualization (NPIV).
(AG)
Advanced Advanced Device Security (ADS) is a security policy that restricts access to
Device the fabric at the AG level to a set of authorized devices.
Security
(ADS) policy
Device Any host or target device with a distinct WWN. Devices may be physical or
virtual.

D_Port A port configured as a diagnostic port on an AG switch, connected fabric

switch, or connected cascaded AG switch to run diagnostic tests between
the ports and test the link.

E_Port An interswitch link (ISL) port. A switch port that connects switches together
to form a fabric.

Edge switch A fabric switch that connects host, storage, or other devices, such as
Brocade Access Gateway, to the fabric.

Fabric A fabric system consists of interconnected nodes that look like a single
system logical unit when viewed collectively. This refers to a consolidated high-
performance network system consisting of coupled storage devices,
networking devices, and parallel processing high bandwidth interconnects
such as 4-Gbps, 8-Gbps, 10-Gbps, and 16-Gbps Fibre channel ports.

12 Access Gateway Administrator's Guide

53-1003506-02
 About This Document

F_Port A fabric port. A switch port that connects a host, host bus adapter (HBA), or
storage device to the SAN. On Brocade Access Gateway, the F_Port
connects to a host or a target.

FCoE Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) refers to a network technology that
encapsulates Fibre Channel frames over Ethernet networks. This allows
Fibre Channel to use 10-Gigabit Ethernet or higher speed networks while
preserving the Fibre Channel protocol.

Mapping In Access Gateway, mapping defines the routes between devices or

F_Ports to the fabric facing ports (N_Ports).

N_Port A node port. A Fibre Channel host or storage port in a fabric or point-to-point
connection. On Brocade Access Gateway, the N_Port connects to the Edge
switch.

NPIV N_Port ID Virtualization. This is a Fibre Channel facility allowing multiple

N_Port IDs to share a single physical N_Port. This allows multiple Fibre
Channel initiators to occupy a single physical port, easing hardware
requirements in storage area network design, especially for virtual SANs.

Port Port Grouping (PG) policy is used to partition the fabric, host, or target ports
Grouping within an AG-enabled module into independently operated groups.
(PG) policy

Access Gateway Administrator's Guide 13

53-1003506-02
Key terms for Access Gateway

14 Access Gateway Administrator's Guide

53-1003506-02
Access Gateway Basic Concepts

● Brocade Access Gateway overview ...............................................................................15

● Fabric OS features in Access Gateway mode................................................................ 17
● Access Gateway port types.............................................................................................24
● Access Gateway hardware considerations..................................................................... 27

Brocade Access Gateway overview

Brocade Access Gateway (AG) is a Fabric OS feature that you can use to configure your fabric to
handle additional devices instead of domains. You do this by configuring F_Ports to connect to the
fabric as N_Ports, which increases the number of device ports you can connect to a single fabric.
Multiple AG devices can connect to the Brocade DCX Backbone family platform, directors, and
switches.
Access Gateway is compatible with M-EOS v9.1 or v9.6 or later, and Cisco-based fabrics that support
standards-based N_Port ID Virtualization (NPIV). You can use the command line interface (CLI), Web
Tools, or Brocade Network Advisor (BNA) to enable and disable AG mode and configure AG features
on a switch. This document describes configurations using the CLI commands. Refer to the Fabric OS
Command Reference, the Web Tools Administrator’s Guide, or the Brocade Network Advisor User
Guide for more information.
After you enable AG mode on a switch, the F_Ports connect to the fabric as N_Ports rather than as
E_Ports.
Comparing Native Fabric and Access Gateway modes on page 15 shows a comparison of a
configuration that connects eight hosts to a fabric using AG mode to the same configuration with Fabric
OS switches in Native mode.
Switches in AG mode are logically transparent to the host and the fabric. Therefore, you can increase
the number of hosts that have access to the fabric without increasing the number of switch domains. AG
mode simplifies configuration and management in a large fabric by reducing the number of domain IDs
and ports.

NOTE
In this document, a switch operating in Access Gateway mode is also referred to as an Access Gateway
device or AG device.

Comparing Native Fabric and Access Gateway modes

The following points summarize the differences between a Fabric OS switch functioning in Native
operating mode and a Fabric OS switch functioning in AG operating mode:
• The Fabric OS switch in Native mode is a part of the fabric; it requires two to four times as many
physical ports, consumes fabric resources, and can connect to a Fabric OS fabric only.
• A switch in AG mode is outside of the fabric; it reduces the number of switches in the fabric and the
number of required physical ports. You can connect a switch in AG mode to a Fabric OS, M-EOS, or
Cisco-based fabric.

Access Gateway Administrator's Guide 15

53-1003506-02
Access Gateway Basic Concepts

The following figures show differences between the switch function in Native mode and switch function
in AG mode.

FIGURE 1 Switch function in Native mode

16 Access Gateway Administrator's Guide

53-1003506-02
 Fabric OS features in Access Gateway mode

FIGURE 2 Switch function in Access Gateway mode

Fabric OS features in Access Gateway mode

The following table lists feature support for a switch operating in Access Gateway mode. Feature
support is indicated in the following ways:
• Yes means the feature is supprted in Access Gateway mode.
• No means the feature is not supported in Access Gateway mode.
• NA means the feature is not applicable in Access Gateway mode.
• Yes* means the feature is transparent in Access Gateway mode. The request is forwarded to the
Enterprise fabric.
• Yes** means the feature is available on a Brocade Enterprise fabric, but possibly not available if the
Enterprise fabric is not a Brocade fabric.
For more information on features listed in the table, refer to the Fabric OS Administrator's Guide and
Fabric OS Command Reference.

TABLE 1 Fabric OS components supported in Access Gateway mode

Feature Support

Access Control1 Yes (limited roles)

Access Gateway Administrator's Guide 17

53-1003506-02
Access Gateway Basic Concepts

TABLE 1 Fabric OS components supported in Access Gateway mode (Continued)

Feature Support

Adaptive Networking Yes

Admin Domains No

Audit Yes

Beaconing Yes

Bottleneck Detection Yes

Buffer Credit Recovery (CR) Yes

Refer to Buffer credit recovery support on page 20.

Config Download/Upload Yes

Device Authentication Yes

Refer to Device authentication support on page 21.

DHCP Yes

Diagnostic Port (D_Port) Yes

Refer to D_Port support on page 48.

Duplicate PWWN handling during device login Yes

Refer to Duplicate PWWN handling during device login on
page 82.

Encryption Configuration and Management No

Environmental Monitor Yes

Error Event Management Yes

Extended Fabrics No

Fabric Assigned PWWN (FA-PWWN) Yes

Fabric Device Management Interface (FDMI) Yes*

Fabric Manager Yes**

Fabric Provisioning No

Fabric Services No

Fabric Watch Yes

Refer to the Fabric Watch Administrator's Guide for details.

1 When a switch is operating in AG mode, RBAC features in Fabric OS are available, with limitations. For more information on the
limitations, refer to Access Gateway hardware considerations on page 27.

18 Access Gateway Administrator's Guide

53-1003506-02
 Access Gateway Basic Concepts

TABLE 1 Fabric OS components supported in Access Gateway mode (Continued)

Feature Support

Fibre Channel Routing (FCR) services No

FICON (includes CUP) No

Forward Error Correction (FEC) Yes

Refer to Forward error correction support on page 20.

High Availability Yes

Hot Code Load Yes

License Yes**

Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) Yes

Log Tracking Yes

Management Server NA

Manufacturing Diagnostics Yes

N_Port ID Virtualization (NPIV) Yes

Name Server NA

Native Interoperability Mode NA

Network Time Protocol (NTP) Yes

Open E_Port NA

Performance Monitor Yes

Persistent ALPA Yes

Port Decommission No

Port Mirroring No

QuickLoop, QuickLoop Fabric Assist No

Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service (RADIUS) Yes

Resource Monitor Yes

Security Yes
ADS/DCC Policy

SNMP Yes

Access Gateway Administrator's Guide 19

53-1003506-02
Buffer credit recovery support

TABLE 1 Fabric OS components supported in Access Gateway mode (Continued)

Feature Support

Speed Negotiation Yes

Syslog Daemon Yes

Track Changes Yes

Trunking Yes**

User-Defined Roles Yes

Value Line Options (Static POD, DPOD) Yes

Virtual Fabrics No
Refer to Virtual Fabrics support on page 21.

Web Tools Yes

Zoning NA

Buffer credit recovery support

Buffer credit recovery is a Fabric OS feature supported on 8 Gbps and 16 Gbps platforms in the
following configurations:
• Between the AG device F_Port and a Brocade Host Bus Adapter (HBA) port when the HBA uses
Adapter v3.2 or later firmware.
• Between the AG device F_Port and any device that supports credit recovery.
• Between the AG device N_Port and a Brocade fabric switch or a cascaded AG device F_Port.

NOTE
If a device that supports 16 Gbps is connected to a device that supports only 8 Gbps, buffer credit
recovery is disabled, even if both devices are running 8 Gbps.
Switch platforms support buffer credit recovery in R_RDY or VC_RDY mode. In R_RDY mode, buffer
credit recovery is supported without FA-PWWN and QoS. In VC_RDY mode, buffer credit recovery is
supported with fabric-assigned PWWN (FA-PWWN), FEC, QoS, and trunking.
Disable this feature on the AG device before connecting to a switch running Fabric OS earlier than 7.1.
Use the portcfgcreditrecovery command to enable and disable credit recovery. Refer to the Fabric
OS Command Reference for more information.

Forward error correction support

Forward error correction (FEC) is a Fabric OS feature supported in the following configurations:
• Between the AG device F_Port and a Brocade 16 Gbps Host Bus Adapter (HBA) port running
version 3.2 or later firmware.
• Between the AG device N_Port and F_Port on a Brocade 16 Gbps fabric switch or cascaded AG
switch.

20 Access Gateway Administrator's Guide

53-1003506-02
 Virtual Fabrics support

Consider the following imitations for FEC:

• Supported on Brocade 16 Gbps platforms only.
• Supported by Fabric OS 7.1.0 and later.
• Enabled by default.
• Disabled when Fabric OS is downgraded to an earlier release.
• Supported on specific switch platforms in R_RDY mode or VC_RDY mode.

Virtual Fabrics support

Virtual Fabrics is a Fabric OS feature supported on 8 Gbps and 16 Gbps platforms with the following
limitations:
• A switch cannot be enabled for both Virtual Fabrics and AG mode.
• Virtual Fabrics can connect to ports on an AG device.

Device authentication support

By default, Fabric OS v6.2.0 and later use Diffie-Hellman Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol
(DH-CHAP) or Fibre Channel Authentication Protocol (FCAP) for authentication. These protocols use
shared secrets and digital certificates, based on switch WWN and public key infrastructure (PKI)
technology, to authenticate switches.
Authentication automatically defaults to FCAP when both devices are configured to accept FCAP
authentication. To use FCAP on both devices, PKI certificates must be installed. If a PKI certificate is
present on each device, FCAP has precedence over DH-CHAP.
If ports are configured for in-flight encryption, authentication defaults to DH-CHAP. Both devices must
be configured to accept DH-CHAP for authentication.
If DH-CHAP or FCAP fail to authenticate, the Access Gateway port is disabled.
Authentication policy is supported in the following configurations for Access Gateway devices:
• Access Gateway device N_Port connected to Brocade fabric switch F_Port. The N_Port enables
authentication when authentication is enabled on the connected switch. Enable switch policy on the
AG device, and enable device policy on the fabric switch.
• Access Gateway switch F_Port connected to an HBA. The F_Port enables authentication when the
connected device sends a login request with authentication enabled. Enable device policy on the AG
device. For authentication between an AG device and an HBA, use DH-CHAP. The HBA supports
DH-CHAP only.
For details on installing FCAP certificates and creating DH-CHAP secrets on the switch in AG or Native
mode, refer to the Fabric OS Administrator’s Guide or Fabric OS Command Reference.
For general information on authentication, refer to the authentication policy for fabric elements in the
Fabric OS Administrator’s Guide.

Supported policy modes

A switch in Access Gateway mode supports the following switch and device policy modes:
• On—Strict authentication is enforced on all ports. During AG initialization, authentication is enabled
on all ports. The ports on the AG device that are connected to another switch or device are disabled
when the connected switch or device does not support authentication or when the policy mode is set
to off.
• Off—Authentication is disabled. The AG device does not support authentication and rejects any
authentication negotiation request from the connected fabric switch or HBA. Off is the default mode

Access Gateway Administrator's Guide 21

53-1003506-02
Supported Fabric OS commands

for both switch and device policy. You must configure DH-CHAP shared secrets or install FCAP
certificates on the AG device and connected fabric switch before switching a policy mode from off to
on.
• Passive—Incoming authentication requests are accepted. The AG device does not initiate
authentication when connected to a device, but accepts incoming authentication requests if the
connecting device initiates authentication. The F_Ports on the AG device are not disabled if the
connecting device does not support authentication or the policy mode is off. Passive mode is the
safest mode for an AG device when the connected devices do not support authentication.
For device policy support, the AG device supports policy modes on, off, and passive.
For switch policy support, the AG device supports policy modes on and off.
The following tables describe interactions between switch policy modes on the AG device and policy
modes on the connected devices for both fabric switches and HBAs.

TABLE 2 Behavior of AG sending device and receiving fabric switch with different policies configured

Fabric switch, device Fabric switch, device policy Fabric switch, device
policy mode ON mode PASSIVE policy mode OFF

AG device, Authorization negotiation - Authorization negotiation - Authorization negotiation -

switch policy accept accept reject
mode ON
DH-CHAP/FCAP: DH-CHAP/FCAP: N_Port without
authentication
Success - N_Port Success - N_Port
Failure - disable Failure - disable

AG device, No negotiation No negotiation No negotiation

switch policy
mode OFF No light N_Port without authenctication. N_Port without
authentication

TABLE 3 Behavior of HBA sending device and receiving AG device with different policies configured

AG device, device policy AG device, device policy AG device, device policy

mode ON mode PASSIVE mode OFF

HBA, authentication Authorization negotiation - Authorization negotiation - Authorization negotiation -

enabled accept accept reject

DH-CHAP DH-CHAP F_Port without

authentication
Success - F_Port Success - F_Port
Failure - disable Failure - disable

HBA, authentication No negotiation No negotiation No negotiation

disabled
No light F_Port without authentication F_Port without
authentication

Supported Fabric OS commands

The following Fabric OS commands for authentication policy apply to AG mode:

22 Access Gateway Administrator's Guide

53-1003506-02
 Limitations and considerations

• authutil --policy
• authutil --show
• authutil --set
• secauthsecret --set
• secauthsecret --show

NOTE
Although authutil --authinit is not supported in AG mode, it is supported in Native mode.
For more information, refer to the Fabric OS Command Reference.

Limitations and considerations

Be aware of the following limitations and considerations when configuring authentication policy on an
AG device:
• Authentication policy is not supported on cascaded AG device configurations.
• Authentication is not supported between an AG device running Fabric OS v7.1.0 or later and a fabric
switch running Fabric OS earlier than v7.1.0. If the AG device is connected to a fabric switch running
Fabric OS earlier than v7.1.0, the AG device N_Ports will be disabled if authentication is enabled on
both switches. Devices mapped to N_Ports connected to fabric switches operating with Fabric OS
earlier than v7.1.0 will also be disabled.
• If authentication is disabled on the fabric switch, the AG device N_Port will come online without
authentication policy.
• Device and switch policies must be disabled on the AG device before converting it to Native mode.
• Device and switch policies must be disabled on the fabric switch in Native mode before converting it
to AG mode.
• Authentication policy is disabled by default on all ports in AG mode.
• High availability (HA) reboots are supported.

AG mode without all PoD licenses

Prior to Fabric OS 7.3.0, the Brocade non-embedded switches (Brocade 300, 5100, 6505, and 6510)
require all Ports on Demand (PoD) licenses to run in Access Gateway mode. However, starting with
Fabric OS release 7.3.0, all PoD licenses are not required to run these switches in AG mode.
Consider the following points while running the switches in AG mode without PoD licenses:
• By default, configured N_Ports will come up as disabled because a PoD license is not installed for
those ports.
• All F_Ports mapped to the default N-Port will come up as disabled with the "N-Port Offline for F-Port"
message displayed.
• You must manually configure N_Ports in the AG device using the portcfgnport command, and move
the cable connections accordingly.
• You can update the N_Port-to-F_Port mapping using the mapdel and mapadd commands.
• You must install all PoD licenses to downgrade from Fabric OS 7.3.0 to any previous release.

Password distribution support

Prior to Fabric OS 7.3.0, the user account and password database is managed locally on switches in
AG mode. You manually populate the password database on the switch in AG mode or change the
switch to Native mode and then back to AG mode to populate the password database.

Access Gateway Administrator's Guide 23

53-1003506-02
FDMI support

Beginning with Fabric OS 7.3.0 and later, you can distribute the password database to all switches
that are connected to the same fabric. Use the distribute command on any switch that is in Native
mode to distribute the password database to all AG devices and switches connected to the same
fabric. You can selectively distribute the password database by specifying the AG device name or use
a wildcard matching character (*) to distribute to all switches and AG devices.
Consider the following points when configuring password distribution:
• On the AG device, the fddcfg command is used to either accept or reject the password database
from any of the switches in the same fabric.
• To accept the password database from any switch, the AG device must be running Fabric OS 7.3.0
or later, and at least one of the switches in Native mode within the same fabric must be running
Fabric OS 7.3.0 or later.
• Other databases supported by fddcfg are not supported on AG devices.
• Virtual Fabrics (VF) mode distribution does not apply to an AG device.
• The distribute command is not supported in AG mode. Therefore, an AG device cannot distribute
its password database to switches that are in Native mode.

FDMI support
Starting with Fabric OS 7.3.0, an AG device can register its N_Port with FDMI devices. Use the
fdmishow command to display the device details in AG mode. The fdmishow command displays only
the local devices. Remote device details are blocked.

NTP configuration distribution to Access Gateways

Any switch running Fabric OS 7.4.0 or later can distribute the NTP server configuration to core Access
Gateways (AGs) connected to the fabric. The core AGs must be running Fabric OS 7.4.0 or later to be
able to distribute the NTP configuration to other cascaded or edge AGs. However, AGs are not
capable of distributing the NTP configuration to other switches in the fabric.
In switch mode, the principal or primary FCS switch synchronizes its time with the external NTP server
every 64 seconds and sends time updates to other switches in the fabric. The time updates are not
sent in-band to AGs. An AG switch must sync with the external NTP server. If the AG is connected to
more than one fabric, the latest clock server request received is configured.
• The tsClockServer command distributes the NTP server configuration to all switches within the
fabric and AGs connected to the same fabric.
• Already distributed NTP server configurations will persist on the AG after firmware downgrade from
Fabric OS 7.4.0 to an earlier version. However, the AG will not be capable of distributing any
configuration to the edge AGs.

Access Gateway port types

Brocade Access Gateway (AG) is a Fabric OS feature that you can use to configure your fabric to
handle additional devices instead of domains. When a fabric switch operates in AG mode, it is referred
to as an AG device.
An AG device connects to the fabric by means of node ports (N_Ports). Typically, switches connect to
the fabric using interswitch link (ISL) ports, such as E_Ports.
AG devices use the following Fibre Channel (FC) ports:

24 Access Gateway Administrator's Guide

53-1003506-02
 Comparison of Access Gateway ports to standard switch ports

• F_Port - Fabric port that connects a host, HBA, or storage device to an AG device.
• N_Port - Node port that connects an AG device to the F_Port of the fabric switch.
• D_Port - Diagnostic port that is configured in diagnostic mode to run tests between it and a
connected D_Port on another switch or HBA.

NOTE
Use the portcfgpersisentenable command on all external (outward facing) ports to ensure that these
ports come back online after a switch reboot or power failure. To ensure this command persists on an
embedded switch, enter the portcfgpersisentenable command through the chassis management
console and not the CLI. Refer to Persistent port online state on page 48 for more information.

Comparison of Access Gateway ports to standard switch ports

The Access Gateway device multiplexes host connections to the fabric. It presents an F_Port to the
host and an N_Port to the edge fabric switch. Using N_Port ID Virtualization (NPIV), the AG device
allows multiple FC hosts to access the SAN on the same physical port. This feature reduces the
hardware requirements and management overhead of hosts to the SAN connections.
A fabric switch presents F_Ports (or FL_Ports) and storage devices to the host and presents E_Ports,
VE_Ports, or EX_Ports to other switches in the fabric. A fabric switch consumes SAN resources, such
as domain IDs, and participates in fabric management and zoning distribution. A fabric switch requires
more physical ports than an AG device to connect the same number of hosts.
The following figure compares the ports an AG device uses to the ports a switch uses in native mode.

Access Gateway Administrator's Guide 25

53-1003506-02
Access Gateway Basic Concepts

FIGURE 3 Port comparison

You can test the link between ports on an AG device and another AG device, fabric switch, or HBA by
configuring each connection in the link as a D_Port. When you configure the ports at each end of the
link as D_Ports, diagnostic tests automatically initiate on the link when the D_Ports come online. You
can view results by using Fabric OS commands, such as portdporttest, during or after testing. When
configured as a D_Port, the port does not participate in fabric operations, log in to a remote device, or
transmit data traffic. The following figure shows D_Port links between multiple devices.

26 Access Gateway Administrator's Guide

53-1003506-02
 Access Gateway hardware considerations

FIGURE 4 Diagnostic port configurations

The following table shows a comparison of port configurations between AG and a standard fabric
switch.

TABLE 4 Port configurations

Port type Available on Access Gateway? Available on Fabric switch?

F_Port Yes Connects hosts and targets to Access Yes Connects devices, such as hosts, HBAs, and
Gateway. storage to the fabric.

N_Port Yes Connects Access Gateway to a fabric N/A N_Ports are not supported.
switch.

E_Port N/A ISL is not supported.2 Yes Connects the switch to other switches to form
a fabric.

D_Port Yes Allows diagnostic testing across link to Yes Allows diagnostic testing across link to
connected AG switch, fabric switch, or HBA. connected AG switch.

Access Gateway hardware considerations

Hardware considerations for Access Gateway devices are as follows:
• The Access Gateway feature is supported on the switch platforms and embedded switch platforms
listed in Supported hardware and software on page 11.
• Loop devices are not supported.
• Direct connections to SAN target devices are supported only when the AG device is connected to a
fabric.

2 The switch is logically transparent to the fabric, therefore it does not participate in the SAN as a fabric switch.

Access Gateway Administrator's Guide 27

53-1003506-02
Access Gateway hardware considerations

28 Access Gateway Administrator's Guide

53-1003506-02
Configuring Ports in Access Gateway Mode

● Enabling and disabling Access Gateway mode.............................................................. 29

● Access Gateway mapping...............................................................................................31
● N_Port configurations......................................................................................................46
● D_Port support................................................................................................................ 48

Enabling and disabling Access Gateway mode

Use the following steps to enable and disable Access Gateway mode. After you enable AG mode, some
fabric information is erased, such as the zone and security databases. Enabling AG mode is disruptive
because the switch is disabled and rebooted. You can display the port mappings and status of the host
connections to the fabric when Access Gateway mode is enabled. For more information on the ag
commands used in these steps, refer to the Fabric OS Command Reference.
When you disable AG mode, the switch automatically reboots in Fabric OS Native mode and comes
back online using the fabric switch configuration. The AG mode parameters, such as port mapping, and
Failover and Failback, are automatically removed.To rejoin the switch to the core fabric, refer to
Rejoining Fabric OS switches to a fabric on page 91.
1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account with admin permissions.
2. Before enabling or disabling AG mode on a switch, use the configUpload command to save the
current configuration file.
3. Ensure that no zoning or Admin Domain (AD) transaction buffers are active. If any transaction buffer
is active, enabling AG mode will fail with the error, "Failed to clear Zoning/Admin Domain
configuration."
4. Verify that the switch is set to Native mode.
a) Use the switchShow command to verify the switch mode.
b) If the switch mode is not Native, use the ag --modedisable command to set the switch to Native
mode.
For more information on setting switches to Native mode, refer to the Fabric OS Administrator’s
Guide.
5. Enter the switchDisable command.
switch:admin> switchdisable

This command disables all user ports on a switch. All Fibre Channel ports are taken offline. If the
switch is part of a fabric, the remaining switches reconfigure. You must disable the switch before
making configuration changes.
6. Enter the ag --modeenable command.
switch:admin> ag --modeenable

The switch automatically reboots and comes back online in AG mode using a factory default port
mapping. For more information on AG mode default port mapping, refer to Table 7 on page 33.
7. Enter the ag --modeshow command to verify that AG mode is enabled.
switch:admin> ag --modeshow
Access Gateway mode is enabled.
8. Use the ag --mapshow command to display all the mapped ports.

Access Gateway Administrator's Guide 29

53-1003506-02
Port state description

The ag --mapshow command shows all enabled N_Ports, even if those N_Ports are not connected.
9. Use the switchshow command to display the status and port state of all ports. Refer to the Fabric
OS Command Reference for examples of output. For a description of the port state, refer to Table 5
on page 30.
10.Enter the switchdisable command to disable the switch.
switch:admin> switchdisable
11.Enter the ag --modedisable command to disable AG mode.
switch:admin> ag --modedisable
12.Enter the ag --modeshow command to verify that AG mode is disabled.
switch:admin> ag --modeshow
Access Gateway mode is NOT enabled

Port state description

The following table shows the port state and a description of the port state.

TABLE 5 Port state description

State Description

No _Card No interface card present

No _Module No module (GBIC or other) present

Mod_Val Module validation in process

Mod_Inv Invalid module

No_Light Module is not receiving light

No_Sync Receiving light but out of sync

In_Sync Receiving light and in sync

Laser_Flt Module is signaling a laser fault

Port_Flt Port marked faulty

Diag_Flt Port failed diagnostics

Lock_Ref Locking to the reference signal

Testing Running diagnostics

Offline Connection not established (only for virtual ports)

Online Port is up and running

30 Access Gateway Administrator's Guide

53-1003506-02
 Access Gateway mapping

Access Gateway mapping

When a switch operates in AG mode, you must specify routes that the AG device uses to direct traffic
from the devices on its F_Ports to the fabric ports connected to its N_Ports. The routes must be pre-
provisioned. The process of pre-provisioning routes in AG mode is called mapping. (By comparison, a
switch operating in Native mode determines the best routing path between its F_Ports.)
You can create two types of maps, port maps and device maps. Port maps are required. Device maps
are optional and assign device World Wide Names (WWNs) to N_Ports and N_Port groups. Port
mapping and device mapping operate as follows:
• Port mapping
Port mapping ensures that all traffic from a specific F_Port always goes through the same N_Port. A
single F_Port is mapped to a single N_Port, or to an N_Port group. To map an F_Port to an N_Port
group, map the F_Port to an N_Port that belongs to that port group. All F_Ports mapped to an N_Port
group are part of that N_Port group.

• Device mapping
Device mapping is optional. Port maps must exist before you can create device maps. Device
mapping allows a virtual port to access its destination device regardless of the F_Port where the
device resides. Device mapping also allows multiple virtual ports on a single physical machine to
access multiple destinations residing in different fabrics.
The preferred method is to map a device WWN to an N_Port group. When a device WWN is mapped
to an N_port, and a failover N_port is also specified, the device can reach the fabric through the
primary or secondary N_port only. However, when a device WWN is mapped to a port group, it can
login to the fabric until the last N_port in the particular port group remains online.
You can map a device to multiple groups. Alternatively, you can map a device to a specific N_Port.

Port mapping
F_Ports must be mapped to N_Ports before the F_Ports can come online. The following figure shows
an example in which eight F_Ports are mapped evenly to four N_Ports on a switch in AG mode. The
N_Ports connect to the same fabric through different Edge switches.

Access Gateway Administrator's Guide 31

53-1003506-02
Default port mapping

FIGURE 5 Port mapping example

The following table describes the port mapping details shown in the example.

TABLE 6 Description of port mapping

Access Gateway Fabric

F_Port N_Port Edge switch F_Port

F_1, F_2 N_1 Switch_A F_A1

F_3, F_4 N_2 Switch_A F_A2

F_5, F_6 N_3 Switch_B F_B1

F_7, F_8 N_4 Switch_B F_B2

Default port mapping

When you enable AG mode on a switch, a default mapping is used for the F_Ports and N_Ports. The
following table describes the default port mapping for all supported hardware platforms.

32 Access Gateway Administrator's Guide

53-1003506-02
 Configuring Ports in Access Gateway Mode

NOTE
By default, Failover and Failback policies are enabled on all N_Ports.
To change the default mapping, refer to Adding F_Ports to an N_Port on page 37. Note that all
F_Ports must be mapped to an N_Port before the F_Port can come online.

NOTE
For releases earlier than Fabric OS 7.3.0, all PoD licenses must be present to use the Brocade 300,
5100, 6505, and 6510 as an Access Gateway device. For Fabric OS 7.3.0 and later, all PoD licenses
are not required to run in AG mode.

TABLE 7 Access Gateway default port mapping

Brocade Model Total Ports F_Ports N_Ports Default port mapping

VA-40FC 40 0–31 32–39 0–3 mapped to 32

4–7 mapped to 33
8–11 mapped to 34
12–15 mapped to 35
16–19 mapped to 36
20–23 mapped to 37
24–27 mapped to 38
28–31 mapped to 39

300 24 0–15 16–23 0, 1 mapped to 16

2, 3 mapped to 17
4, 5 mapped to 18
6, 7 mapped to 19
8, 9 mapped to 20
10, 11 mapped to 21
12, 13 mapped to 22
14, 15 mapped to 23

5100 40 0–31 32–39 0, 1, 2, 3 mapped to 32

4, 5, 6, 7 mapped to 33
8, 9, 10, 11 mapped to 34
12, 13, 14, 15 mapped to 35
16, 17, 18, 19 mapped to 36
20, 21, 22, 23 mapped to 37
24, 25, 26, 27 mapped to 28
28, 29, 30, 31 mapped to 39

Access Gateway Administrator's Guide 33

53-1003506-02
Configuring Ports in Access Gateway Mode

TABLE 7 Access Gateway default port mapping (Continued)

Brocade Model Total Ports F_Ports N_Ports Default port mapping

M5424 24 1–16 0, 17–23 1, 2 mapped to 17

3, 4 mapped to 18
5, 6 mapped to 19
7, 8 mapped to 20
9, 10 mapped to 21
11, 12 mapped to 22
13, 14 mapped to 23
15, 16 mapped to 0

5430 16 1–10 0, 11–15 10 mapped to 0

1, 5 mapped to 11
2, 6 mapped to 12
3, 7 mapped to 13
4, 8 mapped to 14
9 mapped to 15

5431 16 4–15 0–3 4, 5, 12 mapped to 0

6, 7, 13 mapped to 1
8, 9, 14 mapped to 2
10, 11, 15 mapped to 3

5432 24 0, 9–23 1–8 9, 17 mapped to 1

10, 18 mapped to 2
11, 19 mapped to 3
12, 20 mapped to 4
13, 21 mapped to 5
14, 22 mapped to 6
15, 23 mapped to 7
16, 0 mapped to 8

5450 26 1–25 0, 19–25 1, 2, 17 mapped to 19

Not all ports may be present. 3, 4, 18 mapped to 20
5, 6 mapped to 21
7, 8 mapped to 22
9, 10 mapped to 23
11, 12 mapped to 24
13, 14 mapped to 25
15, 16 mapped to 0

34 Access Gateway Administrator's Guide

53-1003506-02
 Configuring Ports in Access Gateway Mode

TABLE 7 Access Gateway default port mapping (Continued)

Brocade Model Total Ports F_Ports N_Ports Default port mapping

5460 26 6–25 0–5 6, 16 mapped to 0

7, 17 mapped to 1
8, 12, 18, and 22 mapped to 2
9, 13, 19, and 23 mapped to 3
10, 14, 20, and 24 mapped to 4
11, 15, 21, and 25 mapped to 5

5470 20 1–14 0, 15–19 1, 2 mapped to 0

3, 4 mapped to 15
5, 6, 7 mapped to 16
8, 9 mapped to 17
10, 11 mapped to 18
12, 13, 14 mapped to 19

5480 24 1–16 0, 17–23 1, 2 mapped to 17

9, 10 mapped to 18
3, 4 mapped to 19
11, 12 mapped to 20
15, 16 mapped to 0
5, 6 mapped to 21
13, 14 mapped to 22
7, 8 mapped to 23

6505 24 0–15 16–23 0, 1 mapped to 16

2, 3 mapped to 17
4, 5 mapped to 18
6, 7 mapped to 19
8, 9 mapped to 20
10, 11 mapped to 21
12, 13 mapped to 22
14, 15 mapped to 23

Access Gateway Administrator's Guide 35

53-1003506-02
Configuring Ports in Access Gateway Mode

TABLE 7 Access Gateway default port mapping (Continued)

Brocade Model Total Ports F_Ports N_Ports Default port mapping

M6505 24 1–16 0, 17–23 1, 2 mapped to 17

3, 4 mapped to 18
5, 6 mapped to 19
7, 8 mapped to 20
9, 10 mapped to 21
11, 12 mapped to 22
13, 14 mapped to 23
15, 16 mapped to 0

6510 48 0–39 40–47 0-4 mapped to 40

5–9 mapped to 41
10–14 mapped to 42
15–19 mapped to 43
20–24 mapped to 44
25–29 mapped to 45
30–34 mapped to 46
35–39 mapped to 47

6547 48 1–28 0, 29–47 1, 21 mapped to 0

2, 22 mapped to 29
3, 23 mapped to 30
4, 24 mapped to 31
5, 25 mapped to 32
6, 26 mapped to 33
7, 27 mapped to 34
8, 28 mapped to 35
9 mapped to 36
10 mapped to 37
11 mapped to 38
12 mapped to 39
13 mapped to 40
14 mapped to 41
15 mapped to 42
16 mapped to 43
17 mapped to 44
18 mapped to 45
19 mapped to 46
20 mapped to 47

36 Access Gateway Administrator's Guide

53-1003506-02
 Considerations for initiator and target ports

TABLE 7 Access Gateway default port mapping (Continued)

Brocade Model Total Ports F_Ports N_Ports Default port mapping

6548 28 1–16 0, 17–27 1, 13 mapped to 0

2, 14 mapped to 17
3, 15 mapped to 18
4, 16 mapped to 19
5 mapped to 20
6 mapped to 21
7 mapped to 22
8 mapped to 23
9 mapped to 24
10 mapped to 25
11 mapped to 26
12 mapped to 27

Considerations for initiator and target ports

The following connections are possible for the Fibre Channel Protocol (FCP) initiator (host) and target
ports through an AG device:
• All F_Ports connect to all host ports.
• All F_Ports connect to all target ports.
• Some F_Ports connect to host ports and some F_Ports connect to target ports.

NOTE
Communication between host and target ports is not supported if both are mapped to the same
N_Port.
Use the following recommendations for mapping between host and target ports:
• Use separate port groups for the host and target ports.
• If connecting a host and target port to the same AG device, map the host and target to separate
N_Ports and connect those N_Ports to the same fabric.
• When configuring secondary port mapping for failover and failback situations, make sure that host
and target F_Ports do not fail over or fail back to the same N_Port.

Adding F_Ports to an N_Port

You can modify the default port mapping by adding F_Ports to an N_Port. Adding an F_Port to an
N_Port routes that traffic to and from the fabric through the specified N_Port.
You can assign an F_Port to only one primary N_Port at a time. If the F_Port is already assigned to an
N_Port, you must first remove it from the N_Port before you can add it to a different N_Port.
Use the following steps to add an F_Port to an N_Port.
1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account with admin permissions.
2. Enter the ag --mapadd n_portnumber f_port1;f_port2;... command to add the list of F_Ports to the
N_Port.

Access Gateway Administrator's Guide 37

53-1003506-02
Removing F_Ports from an N_Port

The F_Port list can contain multiple F_Port numbers separated by semicolons. In the following
example, F_Ports 6 and 7 are mapped to N_Port 13.

switch:admin> ag --mapadd 13 "6;7"

F-Port to N-Port mapping has been updated successfully
3. Enter the ag --mapshow command and specify the port number to display the list of mapped
F_Ports. Verify that the added F_Ports appear in the list.

Removing F_Ports from an N_Port

You can assign an F_Port to only one primary N_Port at a time. If the F_Port is already assigned to an
N_Port, you must first remove it from the N_Port before you can add it to a different N_Port.
Use the following steps to remove an F_Port from an N_Port.
1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account assigned with admin permissions.
2. Remove any preferred secondary N_Port settings for the F_Port. Refer to Deleting F_Ports from a
preferred secondary N_Port on page 68 for instructions.
3. Enter the ag --mapdel f_port1;f_port;... command to remove F_Ports from an N_Port.
The F_Port list can contain multiple F_Port numbers separated by semicolons. In the following
example, F_Ports 17 and 18 are removed from the N_Port where they were mapped.

switch:admin> ag --mapdel 40 "17;18"

F-Port to N-Port mapping has been updated successfully
4. Enter the switchShow command to verify that the F_Port mapping is deleted and not assigned.
In output for this command, the "Proto" column displays "Disabled (No mapping for F_Port)" for
each unassigned F_Port.

F_Port Static Mapping

The F_Port Static Mapping feature adds the staticadd and staticdel keywords to the ag Fabric OS
command. These keywords simplify how you change N_Port to F_Port mapping. Using the ag
staticadd command, any existing mappings are removed and replaced with the new mapping
information. The actions of the ag --mapdel and ag --mapadd commands are combined.
Use the following steps to change F_Port to N_Port mapping.
1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account with admin permissions.
2. Use the ag staticadd N_Port F_Port1 [; F_Port2;...] command to add or change static port
mapping. In the following example, F_Port 1 is added to N_Port 17 and F_Port 1 is removed from
any existing N_Port mapping.
switch:admin> ag --staticadd 17 1

When the F_Port static mapping is changed or added, the F_Port and all attached devices log out
of the previously mapped N_Port and log in to the new N_Port.
3. Use the ag staticdel N_Port " F_Port1 [; F_Port2;...] " command to remove static port mapping. In
the following example, F_Ports 3, 4, and 5 are removed from N_Port 17.
ag --staticdel 17 "3;4;5"

Considerations for using F_Port Static Mapping with other AG features and policies
Consider the following when using F_Port Static Mapping with Access Gateway features and policies:

38 Access Gateway Administrator's Guide

53-1003506-02
 Upgrade and downgrade considerations

• F_Port Static Mapping works with cascaded Access Gateway configurations.

• Failover, failback, and preferred secondary N_Port settings are disabled for F_Ports that are statically
mapped.
• Statically mapped ports are blocked from using the Automatic Port Configuration (APC) and
Advanced Device Security (ADS) policies. You cannot enable the APC policy until all static mappings
are deleted using the ag --staticdel command.
• F_Port Static Mapping works with the Port Grouping (PG) policy with some modifications to policy
behavior. If static mapping is applied to an F_Port already mapped to an N_Port, the F_Port loses its
mapping to the N_Port applied through the Port Grouping policy. Therefore, the F_Port does not
have the failover, failback, or preferred N_Port settings that other F_Ports have when mapped to an
N_Port in that port group. To remap to an N_Port with PG policy attributes, use the ag --staticdel
command to remove the static mapping, and then remap to another N_Port using the ag --mapadd
command.
• F_Port Static Mapping does not work with Device Load Balancing. Because F_Port Static Mapping
forces the F_Port to map to a specific N_Port, NPIV devices that log in to the F_Port cannot
redistribute themselves among N_Ports in the port group.
• F_Port Static Mapping does not work with port trunking. If an F_Port is statically mapped to an
N_Port and trunking is enabled, the F_Port goes offline. If port trunking is enabled for an F_Port
already, you cannot configure static mapping for the F_Port.

Upgrade and downgrade considerations

• All static mappings are maintained when upgrading to the latest Fabric OS version.
• When downgrading, you must remove all static mappings or downgrade will not be allowed.

Device mapping
Device mapping allows you to map individual N_Port ID Virtualization (NPIV) devices to N_Ports. By
mapping device WWNs directly to an N_Port group, traffic from the device will always go to the same
N_Port group, independently of the F_Port where the device logs in. When the Port Grouping and
Device Load Balancing policies are enabled for a port group, WWNs mapped to that port group are
automatically balanced among the online N_Ports in that group (refer to Port Grouping policy modes on
page 59).

NOTE
Port Grouping policy is not supported when both Automatic Login Balancing and Device Load Balancing
are enabled.
Device mapping does not affect or replace the traditional port mapping. Device mapping is optional and
is in addition to the existing port mapping. In general, it is recommended that you map devices to
N_Port groups rather than map devices to individual N_Ports within a port group. Group mapping
ensures maximum device up-time during failover conditions and system power up. Connections occur
more quickly when a large number of devices must connect to the same fabric through a single port
group.
The following aspects of device mapping are important to note:
• Device mapping has priority over port mapping. That is, logins from a device mapped to a specific
N_Port group or N_Port always have priority over unmapped devices that log in to an F_Port that has
been mapped to the same N_Port group or N_Port.
• Current device routing (dynamic mapping) may turn out different than your intended mapping (static
mapping), depending on which N_Ports are online and which policies are enabled, for example,
Automatic Port Configuration, Device Load Balancing, Failover, or Failback. Therefore, it is

Access Gateway Administrator's Guide 39

53-1003506-02
Configuring Ports in Access Gateway Mode

recommended to map devices to N_Port groups instead of specific N_Ports within a port group
when using device mapping.

NOTE
Automatic Port Configuration and Device Load Balancing cannot be enabled at the same time.
The following figure illustrates an example of device mapping to port groups. In the example, WWNs 1,
2, and 3 can connect to any N_Port in Port Group 1 (PG1), while WWNs 4 and 5 can connect with any
N_Port in Port Group 2 (PG2).

FIGURE 6 Example of device mapping to N_Port groups

The following figure shows an example of device mapping to specific N_Ports. Note that you can map
one or multiple WWNs to one N_Port to allow multiple devices to log in through one N_Port.

40 Access Gateway Administrator's Guide

53-1003506-02
 Static versus dynamic mapping

FIGURE 7 Example device mapping to an N_Port

Static versus dynamic mapping

Device mapping is of two types, static or dynamic. Static device mapping has the following
considerations:
• Static device mapping is when a device is mapped to an N_Port group or N_port.
• Static device mappings persist across reboots.
• Static device mappings can be saved and restored with the configUpload and configDownload
commands.
Dynamic device mapping has the following considerations:
• Dynamic device mapping is when Automatic Device Load Balancing is enabled.
• Dynamic device mapping exists only while a device is logged in. When the device logs out, the
mapping for that device no longer exists.
• Dynamic device mapping cannot be saved or edited, and does not persist when the switch reboots.
• Dynamic mapping shows the current mapping for devices as opposed to the original static mapping.
If a device is mapped to an N_Port group, then all mapping is dynamic.

Access Gateway Administrator's Guide 41

53-1003506-02
Device mapping to port groups (recommended)

NOTE
Static and dynamic mapping only applies to NPIV devices and cannot redirect devices that are
physically attached to Access Gateway devices because physically-attached devices use port maps to
connect to the fabric.

Device mapping to port groups (recommended)

Device mapping is recommended when a number of devices must connect to the same group of
N_Ports. This approach provides the flexibility to move the devices to any available F_Port. Device
mapping provides load balancing and connects the device to the least-loaded N_Port in the group
when the device comes online. For more information on port groups, refer to Port Grouping policy on
page 56.
Use the following steps to map one or more devices to an N_Port group or to remove device mapping
from an N_Port group.
1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account assigned to the admin role.
2. To add one or multiple device WWNs to an N_Port group , enter the ag --addwwnpgmapping
Port_Group [WWN];[WWN] command.
All the listed device WWNs will use the least-loaded N_Port in the port group when they log in,
unless a specific device mapping can be used instead. This command can only map devices
currently connecting through NPIV.
The following example adds two devices to port group 3.

ag --addwwnpgmapping 3 "10:00:00:06:2b:0f:71:0c;10:00:00:05:1e:5e:2c:11"
3. To change all currently existing device mappings to a different port group, use the --all keyword
instead of listing all the WWNs.
The following example changes all the currently mapped devices to use port group 3 instead of the
current port group mappings.

ag --addwwnpgmapping 3 --all
4. To remove one or multiple devices to an N_Port group , enter the ag --delwwnpgmapping
Port_Group [WWN];[WWN] command.
All the listed devices stop using the least-loaded N_Port in the group when they log in.
The following example removes mapping for two devices from port group 3.

ag --delwwnpgmapping 3 "10:00:00:06:2b:0f:71:0c;10:00:00:05:1e:5e:2c:11"
5. To remove all devices mapped to an N_Port group, enter the command with the --all option instead
of listing all WWNs. All of the devices will cease automatic use of the least-loaded port in the port
group when they log in. The --all option is a shortcut for specifying all of the devices that are already
mapped with the ag --addwwnpgmapping command.
The following example removes all devices mapped to port group 3.

ag --delwwnpgmapping 3 --all
6. Use the ag --wwnmapshow command to display the list of WWNs mapped to port groups and
verify that the correct devices have been mapped to the desired port group.

42 Access Gateway Administrator's Guide

53-1003506-02
 Device mapping to N_Ports

Device mapping to N_Ports

Use the following steps to add one or more devices to an N_Port to route all device traffic to and from
the device through the specified N_Port. Also use these steps to remove device mapping to an N_Port.
1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account with admin permissions.
2. To add one or multiple devices to an N_Port , use the ag --addwwnmapping N_Port [WWN];[WWN]
command. All listed device WWNs use the N_Port if it is available.
The following example adds two devices to N_Port 17.

ag --addwwnmapping 17 "10:00:00:06:2b:0f:71:0c;10:00:00:05:1e:5e:2c:11"

The --all option edits all the currently existing mappings. None of the --all options can detect what
devices are using the switch. This option affects the mappings that are in the list.
3. To change all current device mappings to a different N_Port, use the ag --addwwnmapping N_Port
--all command.
The following command changes all the existing device mappings to use port 17.

ag --addwwnmapping 17 --all
4. To remove mapping for one or multiple devices from an N_Port, use the ag --delwwnmapping
N_Port [WWN];[WWN] command. All listed device WWNs no longer attempt to use the N_Port unless
a device logs in through an F_Port that is mapped to the N_Port.
The following example removes two devices from N_Port 17.

ag --delwwnmapping 17 "10:00:00:06:2b:0f:71:0c;10:00:00:05:1e:5e:2c:11"
5. To remove all devices currently mapped from an N_Port, use the ag --delwwnmapping N_Port --all
command. All listed devices no longer attempt to use the N_Port unless a device logs in through an
F_Port that is mapped to the N_Port. The --all option is a shortcut for specifying all of the devices
that are already mapped with the ag --addwwnmapping command.
The following command removes all devices currently mapped to port 17.

ag --delwwnmapping 17 --all
6. Enter the ag --wwnmapshow command to display the list of N_Ports mapped to WWNs and verify
that the correct WWNs have been mapped or removed from the desired N_Ports.

Disabling device mapping

Use the following procedures to disable device mapping for all or only specific devices. These
procedures are useful when you want to temporarily disable device mapping, and then enable this at a
later time without reconfiguring your original mapping.
1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account assigned to the admin role.
2. Use the ag --wwnmappingdisable [WWN]; [WWN] command to disable mapping for specific
WWNs. The device mappings are ignored for all the listed device WWNs without removing the entry
from the WWN mapping database.
The following example disables device mapping for two WWNs.

switch:admin> ag --wwnmappingdisable "10:00:00:06:2b:0f:71:0c; 10:00:00:05:1e:5e:

2c:11"
3. Enter the ag --wwnmappingdisable --all command to disable mapping for all available WWNs. The
--all option will not affect mappings made in the future. Disabled mappings can be modified without
automatically enabling them.
The following example removes device mapping for all available WWNs.
switch:admin> ag --wwnmappingdisable --all

Access Gateway Administrator's Guide 43

53-1003506-02
Enabling device mapping

Enabling device mapping

Use the following steps to enable device mapping for all devices or specific devices that were
previously disabled.
1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account with admin permissions.
2. Use the ag --wwnmappingenable [WWN]; [WWN] command to enable mapping for specific
WWNs.
The following example enables two device WWNs.

switch:admin> ag --wwnmappingenable "10:00:00:06:2b:0f:71:0c; 10:00:00:05:1e:5e:

2c:11"
3. Use the ag --wwnmappingenable --all command to enable mapping for all currently available
WWNs. The --all option does not affect mappings made in the future. Any mapping added for a new
device for which mapping is not specifically disabled is enabled by default. Disabled mappings can
be modified without automatically enabling them.
The following example enables all previously disabled device mappings.

switch:admin> ag --wwnmappingenable --all

Displaying device mapping information

The ag --wwnmapshow command displays static and dynamic mapping information about all device
WWNs that have been mapped to N_Ports or N_Port groups. For each WWN, this command displays
the following:
• WWN - Device WWNs that are mapped to N_Ports
• 1st N_Port - First or primary mapped N_Port (optional)
• 2nd N_Port - Secondary or failover N_Port (optional)
• PG_ID - Port Group ID where the device is mapped
• Current - The N_Port that the device is using (none displays if the device is not logged in)
• Enabled - Indicates whether device mapping is enabled or disabled
Note that new device mappings are only enabled and displayed the next time the device logs in to the
switch.
To display device mapping information, use the ag --wwnmapshow command.

Pre-provisioning
Pre-provisioning is when you use Fabric OS commands, Web Tools, and Fabric Manager to map
devices not yet connected to the fabric. Pre-provisioning allows management programs to push
configuration changes with no concern for the order in which the changes are received. For example, if
system administrators must push port group changes and device mapping changes, those changes
can be pushed in either order without error. Pre-provisioning also applies to using Fabric OS
commands for device mapping.

VMware configuration considerations

When device mapping is enabled for individual virtual machines (VMs) running on a VMware ESX
server connected to an F_Port, network traffic for those VMs is redirected, but only when the ESX
server is configured to use Raw Device Mapped storage. All traffic originates from a VM WWN and
follows any mapping configured for the WWN.

44 Access Gateway Administrator's Guide

53-1003506-02
 Configuring device mapping

If anything interrupts the virtual port connection for the VM, such as a failover port being used, traffic will
originate from the ESX server base device port ID and not the VM port ID.
If there are any additional disruptions, the server does not switch back to the virtual port, and the VM
traffic does not follow the configured device mapping. Note that this behavior can also occur when a VM
first boots, prior to any failover.
When this behavior occurs, the VM WWN will be logged in to the fabric. The WWN appears in the
output of ag --show and ag --wwnmapshow, as well as on the switch. The portperfshow command
displays all traffic on the port to which the ESX server port is mapped (base PID).

Configuring device mapping

To configure WWN mapping on VMware ESX systems, use the following steps.
1. Make sure that virtual world wide port names (VWWPNs) of virtual machines (VMs) are mapped to
the correct port group (or N_Port). Map all VWWPNs to N_Ports to avoid confusion.
2. Make sure all VWWPNs are mapped for LUN access for array-based targets.
3. Make sure to include all VWWPNs in the zone configuration.
4. Reboot the VM.
5. Zone the physical port on the server to the storage device.
6. Check the traffic that originates from the virtual node PID (VN PID). If the configuration is correct,
traffic will flow from the VN PID.

Failover and failback considerations

When using device mapping with VMware, the base device initiates port login (PLOGI) and process
login (PRLI) to the target, and then discovers the logical unit number (LUN). The virtual device also
initiates a PLOGI and PRLI to the target, but LUN discovery does not occur. Therefore, when the
device-mapped port is toggled and failover or failback takes place, traffic resumes from the base device.
One of the following actions is recommended when using device mapping with VMware:
• Make sure targets can be reached by the base device so that network traffic can resume if the
mapped device fails over and traffic moves over to the base PID.
• Reboot the server so that it initializes and uses configured device mapping.

Considerations for Access Gateway mapping

This section presents considerations and limitations for Access Gateway mode mapping types.

Mapping priority
To avoid problems when both port and device mapping are implemented, AG mode uses a priority
system to select the N_Port where a fabric login (FLOGI) is routed. Access Gateway mode considers
mappings in the following order until one can be used.

NOTE
Only NPIV devices can use device mapping and the automatic Device Load Balancing policy. Device
Load Balancing policy is enabled per module rather than per port group.

For more information, refer to Port Grouping policy on page 56.

Access Gateway Administrator's Guide 45

53-1003506-02
Device mapping considerations

1. Static device mapping to N_Port (if defined)

2. Device mapping to N_Port group (if defined)
3. Automatic Device Load Balancing within a port group (if enabled)
4. Port mapping to an N_Port
5. Port mapping to an N_Port in a port group (if defined)

Device mapping considerations

Consider the following points when using device mapping:
• When the N_Port is disabled, all devices that are mapped to it are disabled. Depending on the
effective failover policy, the devices are enabled on other N_Ports.
• Similar to port mappings, device mappings are affected by changes to underlying F_Ports. In other
words, if an F_Port is taken offline, both the physical device and all virtual nodes behind it
momentarily go offline.
• When devices are mapped to an N_Port rather than an N_Port group, they cannot be automatically
rebalanced to another N_Port if an additional N_Port comes online.
• In some instances, two NPIV devices logging in to the same F_Port are mapped to two different
N_Ports, which in turn are connected to two different fabrics. When this occurs, both NPIV devices
can be allocated the same PID by their respective fabrics. Once Access Gateway detects this
condition, it will disable that F_Port, and the event will be logged.

NOTE
Access Gateway algorithms reduce the chances of PID collisions, but they cannot be totally
eliminated. In some cases, you may be able to configure your virtual or physical fabrics to further
reduce PID collisions.
• Device mapping is not supported when firmware is downgraded to Fabric OS v6.3.x or earlier. You
must delete device mappings or disable Device Load Balancing before downgrading .
• Static and dynamic device mapping are only supported on the edge module in a cascaded Access
Gateway device configuration.
• When mapping devices to a port group, make sure all ports in that group have the same NPIV login
limit. If some ports have a lower login limit than the other ports, and there are many logins to the
group, some devices can repeatedly attempt to connect to the device with the lower limit, because it
has the fewest logins, and fail to connect.

N_Port configurations
By default, on embedded switches, only the internal ports of the Access Gateway device are
configured as F_Ports. All external ports are configured, or locked, as N_Ports. On standalone
switches that support AG mode, a preset number of ports are locked as N_Ports, and the rest of the
ports operate as standard F_Ports.
The following figure shows a host connected to external ports of an embedded switch that is in AG
mode. Although some ports are locked as N_Ports, you can convert N_Ports to F_Ports, as follows.
1. Before converting an N_Port to an F_Port, remap all F_Ports on that N_port to another N_Port.
2. Remove all the F_Ports that are mapped to the selected N_Port.
3. Unlock the selected port from N_Port state.
4. Define a map for the port.

46 Access Gateway Administrator's Guide

53-1003506-02
 Displaying N_Port configurations

Note that if the Automatic Port Configuration (APC) policy is enabled, the port conversion is done
automatically and no user intervention is necessary. For more information on which ports are locked as
N_Ports by default, refer to Table 7 on page 33.

FIGURE 8 Example of adding an external F_Port (F9) on an embedded switch

NOTE
A switch in Access Gateway mode must have at least one port configured as an N_Port. Therefore, the
maximum number of F_Ports that can be mapped to an N_Port is the number of ports on the switch
minus one.

Displaying N_Port configurations

Use the following steps to determine which ports on a switch are locked as N_Ports.
1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account with admin permissions.
2. Enter the portcfgnport command. The command output displays ON for locked N_Ports.

Unlocking N_Ports
By default, when you enable Access Gateway mode on embedded switches, all external ports are
configured in N_Port lock mode. A switch in Access Gateway mode connects only Fibre Channel

Access Gateway Administrator's Guide 47

53-1003506-02
Persistent port online state

Protocol (FCP) hosts and targets to the fabric. It does not support other types of ports, such as
interswitch link (ISL) ports.
On fabric switches in Native mode, the port types are not locked. Fabric OS Native mode dynamically
assigns the port type based on the connected device: F_Ports and FL_Ports for hosts, HBAs, and
storage devices; and E_Ports, EX_Ports, and VE_Ports for connections to other switches.
When you unlock an N_Port, the configuration automatically changes the port to an F_Port. Any
F_Ports mapped to that N_Port are unmapped and disabled.
The following steps show how to unlock and lock N_Ports.
1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account with admin permissions.
2. Enter the portcfgnport command to display which ports on the switch are locked as N_Ports.
Command output will display ON for locked N_Ports.

NOTE
The portcfgnport command only works when the Port Grouping policy is enabled.
3. To unlock N_Port mode, enter the portcfgnport command and specify the N_Port port number and
0 (zero).
switch:admin> portcfgnport 10 0

4. To lock a port in N_Port mode, enter the portcfgnport command and specify the port number and
1.
switch:admin> portcfgnport 10 1

Persistent port online state

Use the portCfgPersistentEnable command on all external or outward facing ports to ensure that
these ports come back online after a switch reboot or power failure. For an embedded switch, execute
this command through the chassis management console and not the Fabric OS CLI or the command
may not persist.

NOTE
If the port is connected to another switch when this command is entered, the fabric may reconfigure.
After the port is persistently enabled, devices connected to the port can again communicate with the
fabric when the port comes back online. You can Identify a single port to be configured by its port
number or by its port index number. Port ranges are supported with index numbers or by specifying a
slot or a slot range. Use the switchShow command for a list of valid ports, slots, and port index
numbers.
As an example, to persistently enable a single port, enter the following command.

switch:admin> portcfgpersistentenable 2/4

Refer to the Fabric OS Command Reference for more information.

D_Port support
The D_Port (diagnostic port) feature is supported on 16-Gbps ports in the following configurations:

48 Access Gateway Administrator's Guide

53-1003506-02
 Limitations and considerations

• An AG device connected to an AG device in cascaded configuration (supports only static D_Port).

• An AG device connected to a Brocade fabric switch (supports only static D_Port).
• An AG device connected to an HBA. Supported modes are static D_Port starting with Fabric OS
7.2.0, dynamic D_Port starting with Fabric OS 7.3.0 and HBA v3.2.0.
The following types of D_Ports are supported:
• Static D_Port — You can convert a Fibre Channel port to a D_Port on an AG device, an HBA, a
fabric switch, or another AG device in a cascaded configuration to test the link between the ports.
When you configure the ports on each end of the link as a D_Port, diagnostic tests automatically
initiate on the link when the D_Ports come online. After the port is in D_Port mode, the port does not
participate in fabric operations, log in to a remote device, or run data traffic. Refer to Comparison of
Access Gateway ports to standard switch ports on page 25 for information on the supported D_Port
configurations.

NOTE
N_Port-to-F_Port mappings must be removed from an AG device F_Port before configuring it as a
D_Port. Refer to Saving port mappings on page 50 for more information.
• Dynamic D_Port — An AG device supports dynamic D_Port mode starting with Fabric OS 7.3.0. If
the port on the connected HBA is configured as a static D_Port, the AG device port automatically
enters D_Port mode. After the AG device port enters dynamic D_Port mode, the switch runs all
diagnostic tests automatically from the AG device to the connected HBA. When the tests are
complete, the AG device port automatically reverts to F_Port mode, if the HBA or device port reverts
back to be a normal port. However, dynamic D_Port mode is not supported in AG-to-AG and AG-to-
Switch connections; you must configure and remove the D_Port statically in these cases.
To verify dynamic D_Port support on the switch, enter the configure command:
switch:admin> configure
Configure...

Fabric parameters (yes, y, no, n): [no]

Virtual Channel parameters (yes, y, no, n): [no]
F-Port login parameters (yes, y, no, n): [no]
D-Port parameters (yes, y, no, n): [no] y
Dynamic D-Port (on, off): [on]

By default, the dynamic D_Port is on.

You can view results from D_Port testing by using Fabric OS commands, such as portDPortTest --
show, during or after testing. The adapter, fabric switch, or AG device is the initiator and the other
device is the responder. You can view detailed results from the initiator.
The following tests automatically run on the link between configured D_Ports:
• Electrical loopback in SFP
• Optical loopback in SFP
• Link traffic test to test frame flow to ASIC or CPU
• Link latency and distance measurement
For details on configuring D_Ports, using D_Ports, and D_Port limitations and considerations, refer to
the Fabric OS Administrator's Guide. For details on D_Port-related commands, refer to the Fabric OS
Command Reference.

Limitations and considerations

Consider the following limits and conditions when using D_Ports in AG device configurations:

Access Gateway Administrator's Guide 49

53-1003506-02
Saving port mappings

• Any D_Port must be configured on the AG device, fabric switch, cascaded AG device, or HBA
before enabling D_Ports on both sides of the link. Otherwise, the port will be persistently disabled.
• After configuring a D_Port for an AG device port, mapping is not retained. Static D_Port
configuration cannot be made unless mappings are removed from the port. This includes F_Port-to-
N_Port, static, preferred, and device (WWN) mapping. Therefore, all mappings must be manually
removed on the Access Gateway port before configuring the port as a D_Port.
For a complete list of D_Port limitations and considerations, refer to the Fabric OS Administrator's
Guide.

Saving port mappings

Before configuring static D_Ports, you must remove all mappings between the ports and devices
because mappings are not retained on D_Ports. This includes port (N_Port-to-F_Port), device (WWN),
static, and dynamic mapping. You can use Fabric OS commands to save N_Port mappings and to
delete saved N_Port mappings. When you disable the D_Ports, use the saved mapping information to
assist manual reconfiguration of the deleted port mappings. Refer to the Fabric OS Command
Reference for more details on the following backup mapping commands:
• To save configured N_Port mappings, use the following command:
ag --backupmappingsave N_Port
• To display saved N_Port mappings so that you can reconfigure them on the switch, use the
following command:
ag --backupmappingshow N_Port
An example of command output follows:

sw0:root>ag --backupmappingshow 44
Configured static and prefered mappings have been saved for the N_port
successfully
N_Port 44
Backed-up Configured F_Ports
20:21:22
Backed-up Static F_Ports 23:24
Backed-up Preferred F_Ports
26:27:28:29
• To delete configured N_Port mappings, use the following command:
ag --backupmappingdel N_Port

50 Access Gateway Administrator's Guide

53-1003506-02
Managing Policies and Features in Access Gateway Mode

● Access Gateway policies overview................................................................................. 51

● Advanced Device Security policy ................................................................................... 52
● Automatic Port Configuration policy ............................................................................... 55
● Port Grouping policy........................................................................................................56
● Device Load Balancing policy......................................................................................... 62
● Persistent ALPA policy....................................................................................................63
● Failover policy................................................................................................................. 65
● Failback policy.................................................................................................................70
● Trunking in Access Gateway mode.................................................................................73
● Adaptive Networking on Access Gateway...................................................................... 80
● Per-Port NPIV login limit................................................................................................. 82
● Duplicate PWWN handling during device login...............................................................82
● Performance Monitoring..................................................................................................83
● Considerations for the Brocade 6505 and 6510..............................................................84

Access Gateway policies overview

This chapter provides detailed information on all Access Gateway policies. These policies can be used
to control various advanced features, such as failover, failback, and trunking, when used in Access
Gateway mode.

Displaying current policies

You can use the ag --policyshow command to display policies that are currently enabled or disabled
on a switch.
1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account assigned to the admin role.
2. Enter the ag --policyshow command.

Access Gateway policy enforcement matrix

The following table shows which policies can be enabled at the same time. For example, in the Auto
Port Configuration policy row, only N_Port Trunking and Advanced Device Security can be enabled with
this policy.

TABLE 8 Policy enforcement matrix

Policies Auto Port N_Port Grouping N_Port Trunking Advanced Device

Configuration Security

Auto Port Configuration N/A No Yes Yes

Access Gateway Administrator's Guide 51

53-1003506-02
Advanced Device Security policy

TABLE 8 Policy enforcement matrix (Continued)

Policies Auto Port N_Port Grouping N_Port Trunking Advanced Device

Configuration Security

N_Port Grouping Mutually exclusive N/A Yes Yes

N_Port Trunking Yes Yes N/A Yes

Advanced Device Yes Yes Yes N/A

Security3

Device Load Balancing 4 No Yes Yes Yes

Advanced Device Security policy

Advanced Device Security (ADS) is a security policy that restricts access to the fabric at the AG level
to a set of authorized devices. Unauthorized access is rejected and the system logs a RASLOG
message. You can configure the list of allowed devices for each F_Port by specifying their Port WWN
(PWWN). The ADS policy secures virtual and physical connections to the SAN.

How the ADS policy works

When you enable the ADS policy, it applies to all F_Ports on the AG-enabled module. By default, all
devices have access to the fabric on all ports. You can restrict the fabric connectivity to a particular set
of devices where AG maintains a per-port allow list for the set of devices whose PWWN you define to
log in through an F_Port. You can view the devices with active connections to an F_Port using the ag
--show command.

NOTE
The ag --show command only displays F_Ports on Core AGs, such as the AGs that are directly
connected to fabric. Use the agshow --name command on the fabric switch to display the F_Ports of
both the Core and Edge AGs.
Alternatively, the security policy can be established in the Enterprise fabric using the Device
Connection Control (DCC) policy. For information on configuring the DCC policy, refer to Enabling the
DCC policy on a trunk on page 75. The DCC policy in the Enterprise fabric takes precedence over
the ADS policy. It is generally recommended to implement the security policy in the AG module rather
than in the main fabric, especially if the Failover and Failback policies are enabled.

Enabling and disabling the ADS policy

By default, the ADS policy is disabled. When you manually disable the ADS policy, all of the allow lists
(global and per-port) are cleared. Before disabling the ADS policy, save the configuration using the
configUpload command in case you need this configuration again.

3 The ADS policy is not supported when using device mapping.

4 Device Load Balancing and Automatic Login Balancing cannot be enabled for the same port group.

52 Access Gateway Administrator's Guide

53-1003506-02
 Allow lists

1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account assigned to the admin role.
2. Enter the ag --policyenable ads command to enable the ADS policy.
switch:admin> ag --policyenable ads
The policy ADS is enabled
3. Enter the ag --policydisable ads command to disable the ADS policy.
switch:admin> ag --policydisable ads
The policy ADS is disabled

NOTE
Use the ag --policyshow command to determine the current status of the ADS policy.

Allow lists
You can determine which devices are allowed to log in on a per-F_Port basis by specifying lists of
F_Ports and device WWNs in the ag --adsset command. The ADS policy must be enabled for this
command to succeed.
ag --adsset " F_Port [ ;F_Port2;... ]" " WWWN [ ;WWN2;... ]"
Lists must be enclosed in quotation marks. List members must be separated by semicolons. The
maximum number of entries in the allowed device list is twice the per-port maximum login count.
Use an asterisk (*) instead of port numbers in the F_Port list to add the specified WWNs to all the
F_Ports allow lists. Use an asterisk (*) instead of WWNs to indicate access to all devices from the
specified F_Port list. A blank WWN list ("") indicates no access.

NOTE
Use an asterisk enclosed in quotation marks ("*") to set the allow list to "all access"; use a pair of double
quotation marks ("") to set the allow list to "no access".
Note the following characteristics of the allow list:
• The maximum number of device entries allowed in the allow list is twice the per-port maximum login
count.
• Each port can be configured to "not allow any device" or "to allow all the devices" to log in.
• If the ADS policy is enabled, by default, every port is configured to allow all devices to log in.
• The same allow list can be specified for more than one F_Port.

Setting the list of devices allowed to log in

1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account assigned to the admin role.
2. Enter the ag --adsset command with the appropriate options to set the list of devices allowed to log
in to specific ports. In the following example, ports 1, 10, and 13 are set to "all access."
switch:admin> ag --adsset
"1;10;13" "*"
WWN list set successfully as the Allow Lists of the F_Port[s]

Access Gateway Administrator's Guide 53

53-1003506-02
Setting the list of devices not allowed to log in

Setting the list of devices not allowed to log in

1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account assigned to the admin role.
2. Enter the ag --adsset command with the appropriate options to set the list of devices not allowed to
log in to specific ports. In the following example, ports 11 and 12 are set to "no access."
switch:admin > ag --adsset
"11;12" ""
WWN list set successfully as the Allow Lists of the F_Port[s]

Removing devices from the list of allowed devices

Remove specified WWNs from the list of devices allowed to log in to the specified F_Ports using the
ag --adsdel command.
ag --adsdel " F_Port [ ; F_Port2 ; ... ] " " WWN [ ; WWN2 ; ... ] "

For more details on this command and its operands, refer to the Fabric OS Command Reference.
Lists must be enclosed in quotation marks. List members must be separated by semicolons. Replace
the F_Port list with an asterisk (*) to remove the specified WWNs from all the F_Ports allow lists. The
ADS policy must be enabled for this command to succeed.
1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account assigned to the admin role.
2. Enter the ag --adsdel command to remove one or more devices from the list of allowed devices.
In the following example, two devices are removed from the list of allowed devices (ports 3 and 9).

switch:admin> ag --adsdel "3;9"

"22:03:08:00:88:35:a0:12;22:00:00:e0:8b:88:01:8b"
WWNs removed successfully from Allow Lists of the F_Port[s]Viewing F_Ports
allowed to login

Adding new devices to the list of allowed devices

Add specified WWNs to the list of devices allowed to log in to the specified F_Ports using the ag --
adsadd command.
ag --adsadd " F_Port [ ; F_Port2 ; ... ] " " WWN [ ; WWN2 ; ... ] "
For more details on this command and its operands, refer to the Fabric OS Command Reference.
Lists must be enclosed in quotation marks. List members must be separated by semicolons. Replace
the F_Port list with an asterisk (*) to add the specified WWNs to all the F_Ports allow lists. The ADS
policy must be enabled for this command to succeed.
1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account assigned to the admin role.
2. Enter the ag --adsadd command with the appropriate options to add one or more new devices to
the list of allowed devices.
In the following example, two devices are added to the list of allowed devices (for ports 3 and 9).

switch:admin> ag --adsadd "3;9"

"20:03:08:00:88:35:a0:12;21:00:00:e0:8b:88:01:8b"
WWNs added successfully to Allow Lists of the F_Port[s]

Displaying the list of allowed devices on the switch

1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account assigned to the admin role.
2. Enter the ag --adsshow command.

54 Access Gateway Administrator's Guide

53-1003506-02
 ADS policy considerations

For each F_Port, command output will show access for all devices, a list of device WWNs, or no
access. For more details on this command and its output, refer to the Fabric OS Command
Reference.

ADS policy considerations

The following are considerations for setting the ADS policy:
• In cascading configurations, you should set the ADS policy on the AG module that directly connects
to the servers.
• The ADS policy can be enabled or disabled independent of the status of other AG policies.
• The ADS policy is not supported with device mapping.

Upgrade and downgrade considerations for the ADS policy

Downgrading to Fabric OS v6.4.0 or earlier is supported.
Downgrading from Fabric OS v7.1.0 to v6.4.0 or upgrading from Fabric OS v6.4.0 to v7.1.0 will not
change the ADS policy settings.

Automatic Port Configuration policy

The Automatic Port Configuration (APC) policy provides the ability to automatically discover port types
(host, target, or fabric) and dynamically update the port maps when a change in port-type connection is
detected. This policy is intended for a fully hands-off operation of Access Gateway. APC dynamically
maps F_Ports across available N_Ports so they are evenly distributed.

How the APC policy works

When the APC policy is enabled and a port on AG is connected to a Fabric switch, AG configures the
port as an N_Port. If a host is connected to a port on AG, then AG configures the port as an F_Port and
automatically maps it to an existing N_Port with the least number of F_Ports mapped to it. When the
APC policy is enabled, it applies to all ports on the switch.

Enabling and disabling the APC policy

Use the following steps to enable and disable Automatic Port Configuration policy. This policy is
disabled by default in Access Gateway.

Enabling the APC policy

1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account assigned to the admin role.
2. Enter the switchDisable command to ensure that the switch is disabled.
3. Enter the configUpload command to save the switch’s current configuration.
4. Enter the ag --policydisable pg command to disable the Port Grouping (PG) policy.
5. Enter the ag --policyenable auto command to enable the APC policy.
6. At the command prompt, type Y to enable the policy.

Access Gateway Administrator's Guide 55

53-1003506-02
Disabling the APC policy

The switch is ready; a reboot is not required.

Disabling the APC policy

1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account assigned to the admin role.
2. Enter the switchDisable command to ensure that the switch is disabled.
3. Enter the configUpload command to save the switch’s current configuration.
4. Enter the ag --policyDisable auto command to disable the APC policy.
5. At the command prompt, type Y to disable the policy.
6. Enter the switchEnable command to enable the switch.

APC policy considerations

Following are the considerations for the Automatic Port Configuration (APC) policy:
• The APC and the PG policies cannot be enabled at the same time. You can still benefit from the
automatic port mapping feature of the APC policy when the Port Grouping policy is enabled by
enabling the auto-distribution feature for each port group.
• You cannot manually configure port mapping when the APC policy is enabled.
• The APC policy applies to all ports on the switch. Enabling the APC policy is disruptive and erases
all existing port mappings. Therefore, before enabling the APC policy, you should disable the AG
module. When you disable the APC policy, the N_Port configuration and the port mapping revert
back to the default factory configurations for that platform. It is recommended that before you either
disable or enable APC policy, you save the current configuration file using the configUpload
command in case you need this configuration again.

Upgrade and downgrade considerations for the APC policy

You can downgrade to a Fabric OS level that supports the APC policy. You can upgrade from Fabric
OS v6.4.0 to Fabric OS v7.1.0, and the policy that was enabled in Fabric OS v6.4.0 will be maintained.
Upgrading to Fabric OS v7.1.0 from Fabric OS releases prior to v6.4.0 is not supported.

Port Grouping policy

Use the Port Grouping (PG) policy to partition the fabric, host, or target ports within an AG-enabled
module into independently operated groups. Use the PG policy in the following situations:
• When connecting the AG module to multiple physical or virtual fabrics.
• When you want to isolate specific hosts to specific fabric ports for performance, security, or other
reasons.

How port groups work

Create port groups using the ag --pgcreate command. This command groups N_Ports together as
"port groups." By default, any F_Ports mapped to the N_Ports belonging to a port group will become
members of that port group. Port grouping fundamentally restricts failover of F_Ports to the N_Ports
that belong to that group. For this reason, an N_Port cannot be member of two port groups. The
default PG0 group contains all N_Ports that do not belong to any other port groups.

56 Access Gateway Administrator's Guide

53-1003506-02
 Managing Policies and Features in Access Gateway Mode

The following below shows that if you have created port groups and then an N_Port goes offline, the
F_Ports being routed through that port will fail over to any of the N_Ports that are part of that port group
and are currently online. For example, if N_Port 4 goes offline, then F_Ports 7 and 8 are routed through
to N_Port 3 as long as N_Port 3 is online because both N_Ports 3 and 4 belong to the same port group,
PG2. If no active N_Ports are available, the F_Ports are disabled. The F_Ports belonging to a port
group do not fail over to N_Ports belonging to another port group.

FIGURE 9 Port grouping behavior

When a dual redundant fabric configuration is used, F_Ports connected to a switch in AG mode can
access the same target devices from both of the fabrics. In this case, you must group the N_Ports
connected to the redundant fabric into a single port group. It is recommended to have paths fail over to
the redundant fabric when the primary fabric goes down.

FIGURE 10 Port group 1 (PG1) setup

Access Gateway Administrator's Guide 57

53-1003506-02
Adding an N_Port to a port group

Adding an N_Port to a port group

1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account assigned to the admin role.
2. Enter the ag --pgadd command with the appropriate options to add an N_Port to a specific port
group. In the following example, N_Port 14 is added to port group 3.
Note that if you add more than one N_Port, you must separate them with a semicolon.

switch:admin> ag --pgadd 3 14
N_Port[s] are added to the port group 3

Deleting an N_Port from a port group

Before deleting an N_Port, all F_Ports mapped to the N_Port should be remapped before the N_Port
is deleted from a port group.
1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account assigned to the admin role.
2. Enter the ag --pgdel command with the appropriate options to delete an N_Port from a specific port
group. In the following example, N_Port 13 is removed from port group 3.
switch:admin> ag --pgdel 3 13
N_Port[s] are deleted from port group 3
3. Enter the ag --pgshow command to verify the N_Port was deleted from the specified port group.

Removing a port group

1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account assigned to the admin role.
2. Enter the ag --pgremove command with the appropriate options to remove a port group. In the
following example, port group 3 is removed.
switch:admin> ag --pgremove 3

Renaming a port group

1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account assigned to the admin role.
2. Enter the ag --pgrename command with the appropriate options to rename a port group. In the
following example, port group 2 is renamed to MyEvenFabric.
switch:admin> ag --pgrename 2 MyEvenFabric
Port Group 2 has been renamed as MyEvenFabric successfully

Disabling the Port Grouping policy

The Port Grouping (PG) policy is enabled by default for Access Gateway. To disable this policy, use
the following steps.
1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account assigned to the admin role.
2. Enter the ag --policydisable pg command to disable the Port Grouping policy.

58 Access Gateway Administrator's Guide

53-1003506-02
 Port Grouping policy modes

Port Grouping policy modes

You can enable and disable the Automatic Login Balancing and Managed Fabric Name Monitoring
(MFNM) Port Grouping policy modes when you create port groups using the pgcreate command.
Alternately, you can enable these modes using the ag --pgsetmodes command.

Automatic Login Balancing mode

If Automatic Login Balancing mode is enabled for a port group and an F_Port goes offline, logins in the
port group are redistributed among the remaining F_Ports. Similarly, if an N_Port comes online, port
logins in the port group are redistributed to maintain a balanced N_Port-to-F_Port ratio.
Consider the following notes about Automatic Login Balancing mode:
• Automatic Login Balancing mode is disruptive. However, you can minimize disruption by disabling or
enabling rebalancing of F_Ports on F_Port offline events or N_Port online events.
• You must explicitly enable Automatic Login Balancing on a port group.
• If an N_Port is deleted from a port group enabled for Automatic Login Balancing mode, the F_Ports
mapped to that N_Port stay with the port group as long as there are other N_Ports in the group. Only
the specified N_Port is removed from the port group. This is because the F_Ports are logically
associated with the port groups that are enabled for Automatic Login Balancing mode. This is not the
case for port groups not enabled for Automatic Login Balancing mode. When you delete an N_Port
from one of these port groups, the F_Ports that are mapped to the N_Port move to PG0 along with
the N_Port. This is because the F_Ports are logically associated with the N_Ports in port groups not
enabled for Automatic Login Balancing mode.

Managed Fabric Name Monitoring mode

When enabled, Managed Fabric Name Monitoring (MFNM) mode queries the fabric name at a specific
time period. If it detects an inconsistency, for example, all the N_Ports within a port group are not
physically connected to the same physical or virtual fabric, it generates a RASLOG message. In
"default" mode, a message is logged into RASLOG. In "managed" mode, automatic failover is disabled
for all N_Ports within the N_Port group, and a message is logged into RASLOG about multiple fabrics.
Enable or disable MFNM mode on a port group using the steps under Enabling MFNM mode on page
60 and Disabling MFNM mode on page 61. In both default and managed mode, the system queries
the fabric name once every 120 seconds. You can configure the monitoring timeout value to something
other than 120 seconds using the steps under Setting the current MFNM mode timeout value on page
61.

Creating a port group and enabling Automatic Login Balancing mode

1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account assigned to the admin role.
2. Enter the ag --pgcreate command with the appropriate options to create a port group. In the
following example, a port group named "FirstFabric" is created that includes N_Ports 1 and 3 and has
Automatic Login Balancing (lb) enabled.
switch:admin> ag --pgcreate 3 "1;3" -n FirstFabric1 -m "lb"
Port Group 3 created successfully
3. Enter the ag --pgshow command to verify the port group was created. A table containing a port
group with ID 3 and ports 1 and 3 should display.

Access Gateway Administrator's Guide 59

53-1003506-02
Rebalancing F_Ports

Rebalancing F_Ports
To minimize disruption that could occur once F_Ports go offline or when additional N_Ports are
brought online, you can modify the default behavior of Automatic Login Balancing mode by disabling
or enabling rebalancing of F_Ports when F_Port offline or N_Port online events occur.
1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account assigned to the admin role.
2. Enter the agautomapbalance --enable command with the appropriate options to enable automatic
login redistribution of F_Ports. In the following example, rebalancing of F_Ports in port group 1 in
Access Gateway is enabled when an F_Port online event occurs.
switch:admin> agautomapbalance --enable -fport -pg 1
3. Enter the agautomapbalance --disable -all command with the appropriate options to disable
automatic login distribution of N_Ports for all port groups in the Access Gateway when an N_Port
online event occurs.
switch:admin> agautomapbalance --disable -nport -all
4. Enter the agautomapbalance --disable -all command with the appropriate options to disable
automatic login distribution of F_Ports for all port groups in the Access Gateway when an F_Port
online event occurs.
switch:admin> agautomapbalance --disable -fport -all
5. Enter the agautomapbalance --show command to display the automatic login redistribution
settings for port groups. In the following example, there are two port groups, 0 and 1.
switch:admin> agautomapbalance --show
AG Policy: pg
--------------------------------------------
PG_ID LB mode nport fport
--------------------------------------------
0 Enabled Enabled Disabled
1 Disabled - -

This command also displays the automatic login redistribution settings for N_Ports and F_Ports. For
more details on this command and its output, refer to the Fabric OS Command Reference.

Considerations when disabling Automatic Login Balancing mode

Consider the following when disabling Automatic Login Balancing mode:
• Be aware that modifying Automatic Login Balancing mode default settings using the
agautomapbalance command may yield uneven distribution of F_Ports to N_Ports. In such cases,
you might consider a manual login distribution that forces a rebalancing of F_Ports to N_Ports.
• To control automatic rebalancing to avoid disruptions when the Port Grouping policy is enabled,
refer to Rebalancing F_Ports on page 60.

Enabling MFNM mode

1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account assigned to the admin role.
2. Enter the ag --pgsetmodes command with the appropriate options to enable MFNM mode. This
command changes the monitoring mode from "default" to "managed." In the following example,
MFNM mode is enabled for port group 3.
switch:admin> ag --pgsetmodes 3 "mfnm"
Managed Fabric Name Monitoring mode has been enabled for Port Group 3

60 Access Gateway Administrator's Guide

53-1003506-02
 Disabling MFNM mode

Disabling MFNM mode

1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account assigned to the admin role.
2. Enter the ag --pgdelmodes command with the appropriate options to disable MFNM mode. In the
following example, MFNM mode is disabled for port group 3.
switch:admin> ag --pgdelmodes 3 "mfnm"
Managed Fabric Name Monitoring mode has been disabled for Port Group 3
3. Enter the ag --pgshow command to display the port group configuration. If disabled, "mfnm" should
not display under PG_Mode for port 3.
For more details on this command and its operands, refer to the Fabric OS Command Reference.

Displaying the current MFNM mode timeout value

1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account assigned to the admin role.
2. Enter the ag --pgfnmtov command to display the current MFNM timeout value.
switch:admin> ag --pgfnmtov
Fabric Name Monitoring TOV: 120 seconds

Setting the current MFNM mode timeout value

1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account assigned to the admin role.
2. Enter the ag --pgfnmtov command, followed by a value in seconds.
switch:admin> ag --pgfnmtov 100

This sets the timeout value to 100 seconds.

Port Grouping policy considerations

Following are the considerations for the Port Grouping policy:
• A port cannot be a member of more than one port group.
• The PG policy is enabled by default in Fabric OS v6.0 and later. A default port group "0" (PG0) is
created, which contains all ports on the AG.
• APC policy and PG policy are mutually exclusive. You cannot enable these policies at the same time.
• If an N_Port is added to a port group or deleted from a port group and Automatic Login Balancing
mode is enabled or disabled for the port group, the N_Port maintains its original failover or failback
setting. If an N_Port is deleted from a port group, it automatically gets added to port group 0.
• When specifying a preferred secondary N_Port for a port group, the N_Port must be from the same
group. If you specify an N_Port as a preferred secondary N_Port and it already belongs to another
port group, the operation fails. Therefore, it is recommended to form groups before defining the
preferred secondary path.
• If the PG policy is disabled while a switch in AG mode is online, all the defined port groups are
deleted, but the port mapping remains unchanged. Before disabling the PG policy, you should save
the configuration using the configUpload command in case you might need this configuration again.
• If N_Ports connected to unrelated fabrics are grouped together, N_Port failover within a port group
can cause the F_Ports to connect to a different fabric. The F_Ports may lose connectivity to the
targets to which they were connected before the failover, thus causing I/O disruption, as shown in
How port groups work on page 56. Ensure that the port group mode is set to MFNM mode (refer to
Enabling MFNM mode on page 60). This monitors the port group to detect connection to multiple

Access Gateway Administrator's Guide 61

53-1003506-02
Upgrade and downgrade considerations for the Port Grouping policy

fabrics and disables failover of the N_Ports in the port group. For more information on MFNM, refer
to Managed Fabric Name Monitoring mode on page 59.

Upgrade and downgrade considerations for the Port Grouping policy

Downgrading to Fabric OS v6.4.0 or earlier is supported.
Note the following considerations when upgrading to Fabric OS 7.1.0:
• When upgrading to Fabric OS v7.1.0 from v6.4.0, the PG policy that was enforced in Fabric OS
v6.4.0 continues to be enforced in Fabric OS v7.1.0 and the port groups are retained. You should
save the configuration file using the configUpload command in case you might need this
configuration again.
• Upgrading to Fabric OS v7.1.0 from Fabric OS prior to v6.4.0 is not supported.

Device Load Balancing policy

When the Device Load Balancing policy is enabled, devices mapped to a port group always log in to
the least-loaded N_Port in that port group. This helps to distribute the login load on each of the
N_Ports. This policy is intended for use in conjunction with device mapping. It provides an automatic
approach to mapping devices to the least-loaded N_Port within an N_Port group. To effectively use
this policy, it is recommended that you map devices to desired N_Port groups before enabling this
policy. The Port Grouping policy must be enabled before you can enable Device Load Balancing.
Manually created mappings from devices to N_Ports take precedence over automatically created
mappings. Refer to Mapping priority on page 45 for details on connection priority for AG port mapping.
For more information on device mapping, refer to Device mapping on page 39.

Enabling the Device Load Balancing policy

Use the following steps to enable Device Load Balancing.
1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account assigned to the admin role.
2. Enter the configUpload command to save the switch’s current configuration.
3. The Port Grouping policy must be enabled to enable Device Load Balancing. Enter the ag --
policyshow command to determine if the Port Grouping policy is enabled. If it is not enabled, enter
ag --policyenable pg to enable this policy.
4. Enter the ag --policyenable wwnloadbalance command to enable the Device Load Balancing
policy. Because Fibre Channel devices are identified by their WWNs, CLI commands use device
WWNs.

Disabling the Device Load Balancing policy

Before disabling this policy, you should save the configuration using the configUpload command in
case you need this configuration again.
1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account assigned to the admin role.
2. Enter the ag --policydisable wwnloadbalance command to disable the Device Load Balancing
policy.
3. Enter the ag --policyshow command to determine the current status of the Device Load Balancing
policy.

62 Access Gateway Administrator's Guide

53-1003506-02
 Device Load Balancing policy considerations

Device Load Balancing policy considerations

• The Device Load Balancing policy should be enabled on the edge AG of a cascaded AG
configuration.
• The Device Load Balancing policy is not applicable on a port group when the APC policy or
Automatic Login Balancing are enabled.
• If a device is mapped to a port that is currently part of a trunk, then the device will use that trunk.
When trunking is used with the Device Load Balancing policy, then the load on each trunk will be
proportional to the number of ports in that trunk. Use the ag --show command to determine the
devices using a particular trunk.
• When using the Device Load Balancing policy, make sure that all ports in the port group have the
same NPIV login limit. If some ports have a lower login limit than the other ports, and there are many
logins to the group, some devices will repeatedly attempt to connect to the device with the lower limit
(because it has the fewest logins) and fail to connect.

Persistent ALPA policy

The Persistent ALPA policy is meant for host systems with operating systems that cannot handle
different PID addresses across login sessions when booting over a SAN. The Persistent ALPA policy for
switches in Access Gateway mode allows you to configure the AG module so that the host is more likely
to get the same PID when it logs out of and into the same F_Port. Because the Arbitrated Port Loop
Address (ALPA) field makes up a portion of the PID, the PID may change across switch or server power
cycles. This policy, if enabled, helps reduce the chances of a different PID being issued for the same
host.
The benefit of this policy is that it ensures that a host has the same ALPA on the F_Ports through the
host power cycle. You can also achieve the same behavior and benefit by setting the same policy in the
main (core) fabric. When this policy is enabled, AG will request the same ALPA from the core fabric.
However, depending on the fabric, this request may be denied. When this occurs, the host is assigned a
different ALPA. The following modes deal with this situation:
• In "Flexible" mode, the AG logs an event that it did not receive the same (requested) ALPA from the
core fabric and brings up the device with the ALPA assigned by the fabric.
• In the "Stringent" mode, if the requested ALPA is not available, the server login will be rejected and
the server port cannot log in to the fabric.

Enabling the Persistent ALPA policy

By default, Persistent ALPA is disabled. You can enable Persistent ALPA using the ag --
persistentalpaenable command with the following syntax and with one of the following value types:

ag -persistentalpaenable 1/0[On/Off] -s/-f[Stringent/Flexible]

• Flexible ALPA assigns an unassigned ALPA value when the ALPA assigned to the device is taken by
another host.
• Stringent ALPA causes the host login request to be rejected by AG if assignment of the same ALPA
is not possible.
To enable Persistent ALPA, use the following steps.

Access Gateway Administrator's Guide 63

53-1003506-02
Disabling the Persistent ALPA policy

1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account assigned to the admin role.
2. Enter the ag --persistentalpaenable command to enable persistent ALPA in flexible (-f) or stringent
(-s) mode. The following example shows enabling the policy in flexible mode.
switch:admin> ag --persistentalpaenable 1 -f

To ensure consistency among the different devices, after Persistent ALPA is enabled, all the ALPAs
become persistent, whether or not they were logged in before the Persistent ALPA policy was
enabled.

Disabling the Persistent ALPA policy

When you disable this policy, do not specify the value type (for example, flexible ALPA or stringent
ALPA). Use the following steps.
1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account assigned to the admin role.
2. Enter the ag --persistentalpadisable command.
switch:admin> ag --persistentalpaenable 0

Persistent ALPA device data

Access Gateway uses a table to maintain a list of available and used ALPAs. When the number of
entries in this table is exhausted, the host receives an error message. You can remove some of the
entries to make space using the instructions in Removing device data from the database on page
64.

Removing device data from the database

Use the following steps to remove device data from the database.
1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account assigned to the admin role.
2. Enter the ag --deletepwwnfromdb command.
switch:admin> ag --deletepwwnfromdb PWWN

In the example, PWWN is the port that you want to remove from the database.

Displaying device data

You can view the ALPA of the host related to any ports you delete from the database.
1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account assigned to the admin role.
2. Enter the ag --printalpamap command with the appropriate option to display a database entry for a
specific F_Port. The following example will display an entry for F_Port 2.
switch:admin> ag --printalpamap 2

Clearing ALPA values

You can clear the ALPA values for a specific port.

64 Access Gateway Administrator's Guide

53-1003506-02
 Persistent ALPA policy considerations

1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account assigned to the admin role.
2. Enter the ag --clearalpamap command with the appropriate option to remove the PWW-to-ALPA
mapping for a specific port. In the following example, the mapping for port 2 is cleared from the
database.
switch:admin> ag --clearalpamap 2

NOTE
All the device data must be persistent in case of a reboot. During a reboot, the tables will be dumped
to the persistent_NPIV_config file.

Persistent ALPA policy considerations

The Persistent ALPA policy is not supported in the following situations:
• When AG N_Ports are connected to the shared ports of 48-port Director blades.
• Cisco fabrics. Enable Persistent FCID mode on the connecting Cisco switch to achieve the same
functionality.
• Persistent ALPA configuration will not change to the default when the configDefault command is
used, but will retain the previous configuration.

Failover policy
The Access Gateway Failover policy ensures maximum uptime for the servers. When a port is
configured as an N_Port, the Failover policy is enabled by default and is enforced during power-up. The
Failover policy allows hosts and targets to automatically remap to another online N_Port if the primary
N_Port goes offline.

NOTE
For port mapping, the Failover policy must be enabled on an N_Port for failover to occur. For device
mapping, if a device is mapped to an N_Port in a port group, the device will always reconnect to the
least-loaded online N_Port in the group (or secondary N_Port in the group if configured) if the primary
N_Port goes offline. This occurs regardless of whether the Failover policy is enabled or disabled for the
primary N_Port.

Failover with port mapping

The Failover policy allows F_Ports to automatically remap to an online N_Port if the primary N_Port
goes offline. If multiple N_Ports are available for failover, the Failover policy evenly distributes the
F_Ports to available N_Ports belonging to the same N_Port group. If no other N_Port is available,
failover does not occur and the F_Ports mapped to the primary N_Port go offline as well.
AG provides an option to specify a secondary failover N_Port for an F_Port.

NOTE
If failover and failback policy are disabled, an F_Port mapped to an N_Port will go offline when the
N_Port goes offline and it will come online when the N_Port comes online.

Access Gateway Administrator's Guide 65

53-1003506-02
Failover configurations in Access Gateway

Failover configurations in Access Gateway

The following sequence describes how a failover event occurs:
• An N_Port goes offline.
• All F_Ports mapped to that N_Port are temporarily disabled.
• If the Failover policy is enabled on an offline N_Port, the F_Ports mapped to it will be distributed
among available online N_Ports. If a secondary N_Port is defined for any of these F_Ports, these
F_Ports will be mapped to those N_Ports. If the Port Grouping policy is enabled, then the F_Ports
only fail over to N_Ports that belong to the same port group as the originally offline N_Port.

Failover example
The following example shows the failover sequence of events in a scenario where two fabric ports go
offline, one after the other. Note that this example assumes that no preferred secondary N_Port is set
for any of the F_Ports.
• First, the Edge switch F_A1 port goes offline, as shown in Example 1 in the following figure, causing
the corresponding Access Gateway N_1 port to be disabled.
The ports mapped to N_1 fail over; F_1 fails over to N_2 and F_2 fails over to N_3.
• Next, the F_A2 port goes offline, as shown in Example 2 in the following figure, causing the
corresponding Access Gateway N_2 port to be disabled.
The ports mapped to N_2 (F_1, F_3, and F_4) fail over to N_3 and N_4. Note that the F_Ports are
evenly distributed to the remaining online N_Ports and that the F_2 port did not participate in the
failover event.

66 Access Gateway Administrator's Guide

53-1003506-02
 Adding a preferred secondary N_Port (optional)

FIGURE 11 Failover behavior

Adding a preferred secondary N_Port (optional)

F_Ports automatically fail over to any available N_Port. Alternatively, you can specify a preferred
secondary N_Port in case the primary N_Port fails. If the primary N_Port goes offline, the F_Ports fail
over to the preferred secondary N_Port (if it is online), then re-enable. If the secondary N_Port is offline,
the F_Ports will disable. Define the preferred secondary N_Ports per F_Port. For example, if two
F_Ports are mapped to a primary N_Port, you can define a secondary N_Port for one of those F_Ports
and not define a secondary N_Port for the other F_Port. F_Ports must have a primary N_Port mapped
before a secondary N_Port can be configured.

Access Gateway Administrator's Guide 67

53-1003506-02
Deleting F_Ports from a preferred secondary N_Port

1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account assigned to the admin role.
2. Enter the ag --prefset command with the "F_Port1;F_Port2; ..." N_Port options to add the preferred
secondary F_Ports to the specified N_Port.
The F_Ports must be enclosed in quotation marks and the port numbers must be separated by a
semicolon, as shown in the following example.

switch:admin> ag --prefset "3;9" 4

Preferred N_Port is set successfully for the F_Port[s]

NOTE
Preferred mapping is not allowed when Automatic Login Balancing mode is enabled for a port
group. All N_Ports are the same when Automatic Login Balancing mode is enabled.

Deleting F_Ports from a preferred secondary N_Port

1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account assigned to the admin role.
2. Enter the ag --prefdel command with the "F_Port1 ;F_Port2 ;... " N_Port options to delete F_Ports
from an N_Port.
The list of F_Ports must be enclosed in quotation marks. Port numbers must be separated by a
semicolon. In the following example, F_Ports 3 and 9 are deleted from preferred secondary N_Port
4.

switch:admin> ag --prefdel "3;9" 4

Preferred N_Port is deleted successfully for the F_Port[s]

Failover with device mapping

Failover is handled similarly for port mapping and device mapping if devices are mapped to N_Port
groups. If a device is mapped to an N_Port in a group, and an N_Port goes offline, the devices
mapped to that N_Port will reconnect on the least-loaded online N_Ports in the group.
Enabling or disabling the Failover or Failback policies for N_Ports has no effect on device mapping. A
device will always fail over to an online N_Port in the port group, regardless of whether the Failback
policy is enabled for an N_Port or not. Whereas, with port mapping, if you disable the Failover or
Failback policy on an N_Port, the F_Port will not fail over or fail back to other N_Ports.
Failover behavior is different if a device is mapped to a specific N_Port instead of to an N_Port group.
If mapping a device to a specific N_Port, you can define a secondary N_Port that will be used if the
primary N_Port is offline. To maximize the device uptime, it is recommended to map the device to a
port group rather than to specific N_Ports.

Adding a preferred secondary N_Port for device mapping (optional)

Use the following steps to configure a secondary N_Port where devices will connect if their first or
primary N_Port, if defined, is unavailable.
1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account assigned to the admin role.
2. To configure an N_Port as a failover port for one or multiple devices mapped to a specific N_Port ,
enter the ag --addwwnfailovermapping N_Port command with the "[WWN];[WWN]" option. All of
the listed device WWNs will use the listed N_Port if it is available and the first mapped N_Port is
unavailable.

68 Access Gateway Administrator's Guide

53-1003506-02
 Deleting a preferred secondary N_Port for device mapping (optional)

The following example configures N_Port 32 as the failover port for two devices already mapped to a
primary N_Port.

ag --addwwnfailovermapping 32 "10:00:00:06:2b:0f:71:0c;10:00:00:05:1e:5e:2c:11"

To configure N_Port 32 as a failover port for all WWNs mapped to the N_Port, enter the ag --
addwwnfailovermapping N_Port command with the --all option.

ag --addwwnfailovermapping 32 --all

Deleting a preferred secondary N_Port for device mapping (optional)

Use the following steps to remove a secondary N_Port where devices will connect if their first or primary
N_Port, if defined, is unavailable.
1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account assigned to the admin role.
2. To delete an N_Port configured as a failover port for one or multiple devices mapped to a specific
N_Port, enter the ag --delwwnfailovermapping N_Port command with the "[WWN];[WWN]" option.
All of the listed devices will stop using the N_Port if the first N_Port mapped to the devices is
unavailable unless they log in through F_Ports that are mapped to the N_Port.
The following example removes N_Port 32 as the secondary N_Port for two devices already mapped
to a primary N_Port.

ag --delwwnfailovermapping 32 "10:00:00:06:2b:0f:71:0c;10:00:00:05:1e:5e:2c:11"

To remove an N_Port as a failover port for all devices mapped to the N_Port, enter the ag --
delwwnfailovermapping N_Port command with the --all option.
The following command removes N_Port 32 as the secondary N_Port for all available devices.

ag --delwwnfailovermapping 32 --all

Enabling and disabling the Failover policy on an N_Port

Use the following steps to enable or disable the Failover policy on a specific N_Port.
1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account assigned to the admin role.
2. Enter the ag --failovershow N_Port command to display the failover setting.
switch:admin> ag --failovershow 13
Failover on N_Port 13 is not supported
3. Enter the ag --failoverenable N_Port command to enable failover.
switch:admin> ag --failoverenable 13
Failover policy is enabled for port 13
4. Enter the ag --failoverdisable N_Port command to disable failover.
switch:admin> ag --failoverdisable 13
Failover policy is disabled for port 13

Enabling and disabling the Failover policy for a port group

The Failover policy can be enabled on a port group. Use the following steps to enable or disable the
failover on all the N_Ports belonging to the same port group.

Access Gateway Administrator's Guide 69

53-1003506-02
Upgrade and downgrade considerations for the Failover policy

1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account assigned to the admin role.
2. Enter the ag --failoverenable -pg pgid command to enable failover.
switch:admin> ag --failoverenable -pg 3
Failover policy is enabled for port group 3
3. Enter the ag --failoverdisable -pg pgid command to disable failover.
switch:admin> ag --failoverdisable -pg 3
Failover policy is disabled for port group 3

Upgrade and downgrade considerations for the Failover policy

Consider the following when upgrading or downgrading Fabric OS versions:
• Downgrading to Fabric OS v6.4.0 or earlier is supported.
• Upgrading from Fabric OS v6.4.0 to v7.1.0 or downgrading from Fabric OS v7.1.0 to v6.4.0 will not
change failover settings.

Failback policy
The Failback policy provides a means for hosts that have failed over to automatically reroute back to
their intended mapped N_Ports when these N_Ports come back online. The Failback policy is an
attribute of an N_Port and is enabled by default when a port is locked to the N_Port.
Only the originally mapped F_Ports fail back. In the case of multiple N_Port failures, only F_Ports that
were mapped to a recovered N_Port experience failback. The remaining F_Ports are not redistributed.

NOTE
For port mapping, the Failback policy must be enabled on an N_Port for failback to occur. For device
mapping, the Failback policy has no effect. If a device is mapped to a port group, it will always fail over
to an online N_Port in the port group (or secondary N_Port if configured) and will remain connected to
this failover N_Port when the original N_Port comes back online.

NOTE
If failover and failback policy are disabled, an F_Port mapped to an N_Port will go offline when the
N_Port goes offline and it will come online when the N_Port comes online.

Failback policy configurations in Access Gateway

The following sequence describes how a failback event occurs:
• When an N_Port comes back online, with the Failback policy enabled, the F_Ports that were
originally mapped to it are temporarily disabled.
• The F_Port is rerouted to the primary mapped N_Port, and then re-enabled.
• The host establishes a new connection with the fabric.

NOTE
The failback period is quite fast and rarely causes an I/O error at the application level.

70 Access Gateway Administrator's Guide

53-1003506-02
 Failback example

Failback example
In Example 3, in the following figure, the Access Gateway N_1 remains disabled because the
corresponding F_A1 port is offline. However, N_2 comes back online. Refer to Failover example on
page 66 for the original failover scenario.
Ports F_1 and F_2 are mapped to N_1 and continue routing to N_3. Ports F_3 and F_4, which were
originally mapped to N_2, are disabled and rerouted to N_2, and then enabled.

FIGURE 12 Failback behavior

Enabling and disabling the Failback policy on an N_Port

Use the following steps to enable or disable the Failback policy on N_Ports.

Access Gateway Administrator's Guide 71

53-1003506-02
Enabling and disabling the Failback policy for a port group

1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account assigned to the admin role.
2. Enter the ag --failbackshow n_portnumber command to display the failback setting.
switch:admin> ag --failbackshow 13
Failback on N_Port 13 is not supported
3. Use the following commands to enable or disable the Failback policy:
• Enter the ag --failbackenable n_portnumber command to enable failback.
switch:admin> ag --failbackenable 13
Failback policy is enabled for port 13
• Enter the ag --failbackdisable n_portnumber command to disable failback.
switch:admin> ag --failbackdisable 13
Failback policy is disabled for port 13

Enabling and disabling the Failback policy for a port group

Use the following steps to enable or disable the Failback policy on all the N_Ports belonging to the
same port group.
1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account assigned to the admin role.
2. Use the following commands to enable or disable the Failback policy for a port group:
• Enter the ag --failbackenable pg pgid command to enable failback on a port group.
switch:admin> ag --failbackenable -pg 3
Failback policy is enabled for port group 3
• Enter the ag --failbackdisable pg pgid command to disable failback on a port group.
switch:admin> ag --failbackdisable -pg 3
Failback policy is disabled for port group 3

Upgrade and downgrade considerations for the Failback policy

• Downgrading to Fabric OS v6.3.0 or earlier is supported.
• Upgrading from Fabric OS v6.4.0 is supported.

Failback policy disabled on unreliable links (N_Port monitoring)

Links from all N_Ports are monitored for the number of online and offline static change notifications
(SCNs) that occur during a set time period (5 minutes). If the number of SCNs on a link exceeds a set
threshold, the link is considered unreliable, and failback is disabled for that N_Port. Failover continues
for the port as needed. Once the number of SCNs drops below the set threshold, the port is deemed
reliable again and failback is re-enabled. If the link from a preferred secondary N_Port for an F_Port
becomes unreliable, failover will not occur to that N_Port.
The default threshold is 25 SCNs per 5 minutes. You can modify the SCN threshold counter using the
following command.

ag --reliabilitycounterset "count"

You can view counter settings using the following command.

ag --reliabilitycountershow

72 Access Gateway Administrator's Guide

53-1003506-02
 Considerations for Failback policy disabled on unreliable links

Considerations for Failback policy disabled on unreliable links

Consider the following when an N_Port link becomes reliable again after being unreliable:
• Preferred N_Port settings are enforced.
• If failback is enabled, configured F_Ports will fail back to the N_Port.
• If the configured F_Ports are offline, they will go back online.
• If Device Load Balancing is enabled, rebalancing occurs.

Trunking in Access Gateway mode

The hardware-based Port Trunking feature enhances management, performance, and reliability of
Access Gateway N_Ports when they are connected to Brocade fabrics. Port trunking combines multiple
links between the switch and AG module to form a single, logical port. This enables fewer individual
links, thereby simplifying management. This also improves system reliability by maintaining in-order
delivery of data and avoiding I/O retries if one link within the trunk fails. Equally important is that framed-
based trunking provides maximum utilization of links between the AG module and the core fabric.
Trunking allows transparent failover and failback within the trunk group. Trunked links are more efficient
because of the trunking algorithm implemented in the switching ASICs that distributes the I/O more
evenly across all the links in the trunk group.
Trunking in Access Gateway is mostly configured on the Edge switch. To enable this feature, you must
install the Brocade ISL license on both the Edge switch and the module running in AG mode and ensure
that both modules are running the same Fabric OS version. If a module already has an ISL trunking
license, no new license is required. After the trunking license is installed on a switch in AG mode and
you change the switch to standard mode, you can keep the same license.

NOTE
N_Port trunking is not supported for HBAs connected to switches running in Access Gateway mode.
N_Port trunking is only supported for HBAs connected to switches running in Native mode.

NOTE
You can also enable F_Ports on the Access Gateway switch for trunking using the portcfgtrunkport
command.

How trunking works

Trunking in Access Gateway mode provides a trunk group between N_Ports on the AG module and
F_Ports on the Edge switch module. With trunking, any link within a trunk group can go offline or
become disabled, but the trunk remains fully functional and no reconfiguration is required. Trunking
prevents reassignments of the port ID when N_Ports go offline.

Configuring trunking on the Edge switch

Because AG trunking configuration is mostly on the Edge switch, information in this section is applicable
to the Edge switch module and not the AG module. On the AG module, you only need to ensure that the
trunking license is applied and enabled. On the Edge switch, you must first configure an F_Port trunk
group and statically assign an Area_ID to the trunk group. Assigning a Trunk Area (TA) to a port or

Access Gateway Administrator's Guide 73

53-1003506-02
Trunk group creation

trunk group enables F_Port masterless trunking on that port or trunk group. On switches running in
Access Gateway mode, the masterless trunking feature trunks N_Ports because these are the only
ports that connect to the Enterprise fabric. When a TA is assigned to a port or trunk group, the ports
will immediately acquire the TA as the area of its port IDs (PIDs). When a TA is removed from a port or
trunk group, the port reverts to the default area as its PID.

NOTE
By default, trunking is enabled on all N_Ports of the AG; ensure that this feature is enabled on N_Ports
that are part of a port trunk group.

Trunk group creation

Port trunking is enabled between two separate Fabric OS switches that support trunking and where all
the ports on each switch reside in the same quad and are running the same speed. Trunk groups form
when you connect two or more cables on one Fabric OS switch to another Fabric OS switch with ports
in the same port group or quad. A port group or a quad is a set of sequential ports; for example, ports
0-3. The Brocade 300 switch supports a trunk group with up to eight ports. The trunking groups are
based on the user port number, with eight contiguous ports as one group, such as 0-7, 8-15, 16-23,
and up to the number of ports on the switch.

Setting up trunking
Use the following steps to set up trunking.
1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account assigned to the admin role.
2. Ensure that both modules (Edge switch and the switch running in AG mode) have the trunking
licenses enabled.
3. Ensure that the ports have trunking enabled by issuing the portcfgshow command. If trunking is
not enabled, issue the portcfgtrunkport [ slot / ] port , 1 command.
4. Ensure that the ports within a trunk have the same speed.
5. Ensure that the ports within an ASIC trunk group are used to group the ports as part of a trunk on
the Edge switch or on an AG.
6. Ensure that both modules are running the same Fabric OS versions.

Configuration management for trunk areas

The porttrunkarea command does not allow ports from different admin domains (ADs) and ports from
different logical switches to join the same trunk area (TA) group.
When you assign a TA, the ports within the TA group will have the same Index. The Index that was
assigned to the ports is no longer part of the switch. Any Domain,Index (D,I) AD that was assumed to
be part of the domain may no longer exist for that domain because it was removed from the switch.

Trunk area assignment example

If you have AD1: 3,7; 3,8; 4,13; 4,14 and AD2: 3,9; 3,10, and then create a TA with Index 8 with ports
that have index 7, 8, 9, and 10. Then index 7, 9, and 10 are no longer with domain 3. This means that
AD2 does not have access to any ports because index 9 and 10 no longer exist on domain 3. This
also means that AD1 no longer has 3,7 in effect because Index 7 no longer exists for domain 3. AD1's
3,8, which is the TA group, can still be seen by AD1 along with 4,13 and 4,14.

74 Access Gateway Administrator's Guide

53-1003506-02
 Assigning a trunk area

A port within a TA can be removed, but this adds the Index back to the switch. For example, the same
AD1 and AD2 with TA 8 holds true. If you remove port 7 from the TA, it adds Index 7 back to the switch.
That means AD1's 3,7 can be seen by AD1 along with 3,8; 4,13 and 4,14.

Assigning a trunk area

You must enable trunking on all ports to be included in a trunk area (TA) before you can create a trunk
area. Use the portCfgTrunkPort or switchCfgTrunk command to enable trunking on a port or on all
ports of a switch.
Issue the porttrunkarea command to assign a static TA on a port or port trunk group, to remove a TA
from a port or group of ports in a trunk, and to display masterless trunking information.
You can remove specified ports from a TA using the porttrunkarea --disable command, however, this
command does not unassign a TA if its previously assigned Area_ID is the same address identifier
(Area_ID) of the TA unless all the ports in the trunk group are specified to be unassigned. For more
information on the porttrunkarea command, enter porttrunkarea --help or refer to the Fabric OS
Command Reference. F_Port trunking will not support shared area ports 16-47 on the Brocade FC8-48
blades.

TABLE 9 Address identifier

23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0

Domain ID Area_ID Port ID

1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account assigned to the admin role.
2. Disable the ports to be included in the TA.
3. Enable a TA for the appropriate ports. The following example enables a TA for ports 13 and 14 on
slot 10 with port index of 125.
switch:admin> porttrunkarea --enable 10/13-14 -index 125
4. Display the TA port configuration (ports still disabled) using the porttrunkarea --show enabled
command.
5. Enable the ports specified in step 3 using the portenable command.
switch:admin> portenable 10/13
switch:admin> portenable 10/14
6. Show the TA port configuration after enabling the ports using the porttrunkarea --show enabled
command. The ports that you enabled should appear in the output.

Enabling the DCC policy on a trunk

After you assign a Trunk Area, the porttrunkarea command checks whether there are any active
Device Connection Control (DCC) policies on the port with the index TA, and then issues a warning to
add all the device WWNs to the existing DCC policy with index as TA. All DCC policies that refer to an
Index that no longer exist will not be in effect.
Use the following steps to enable the DCC policy on a trunk.
1. Add the WWN of all the devices to the DCC policy against the TA.
2. Enter the secpolicyactivate command to activate the DCC policy.
You must enable the TA before issuing the secpolicyactivate command in order for security to
enforce the DCC policy on the trunk ports.
3. Turn on the trunk ports.

Access Gateway Administrator's Guide 75

53-1003506-02
Enabling trunking

Trunk ports should be turned on after issuing the secpolicyactivate command to prevent the ports
from becoming disabled in the case where there is a DCC security policy violation.

Enabling trunking
1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account assigned to the admin role.
2. Disable the desired ports by entering the portdisable port command for each port to be included in
the TA.
3. Enter the porttrunkarea--enable 3 command with the appropriate options to form a trunk group for
the desired ports. For example, if ports 36-39 were disabled in step 2, then the following example
command forms a trunk group for ports 36-39 with index 37. These will be connected to N_Ports on
an AG module.
switch:admin> porttrunkarea --enable 36-39 -index 37
Trunk area 37 enabled for ports 36, 37, 38 and 39.
4. Enter the portenable port command for each port in the TA to re-enable the desired ports, such as
ports 36-39.
5. Enter the switchshow command to display the switch or port information, including created trunks.

Disabling F_Port trunking

Use the following steps to disable F_Port trunking.
1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account assigned to the admin role.
2. Enter the porttrunkarea --disable command.
switch:admin> porttrunkarea --disable 36-39
ERROR: port 36 has to be disabled

If an error occurs as in the previous example, disable each port using the portdisable port
command, and then reissue the command.

switch:admin> porttrunkarea --disable 36-39

trunk area 37 disabled for ports 36, 37, 38 and 39.

Monitoring trunking
For F_Port masterless trunking, you must install Filter, EE, or TT monitors on the F_Port trunk port.
Whenever the master port changes, it is required to move the monitor to the new master port. For
example, if a master port goes down, a new master is selected from the remaining slave ports. If you
attempt to add a monitor to a slave port, it is automatically added to the master port.

AG trunking considerations for the Edge switch

TABLE 10 Access Gateway trunking considerations for the Edge switch

Category Description

Area assignment You statically assign the area within the trunk group on the Edge switch. That group is
the F_Port masterless trunk. The static trunk area you assign must fall within the
F_Port trunk group starting from port 0 on an Edge switch or blade.The static trunk
area you assign must be one of the port’s default areas of the trunk group.

76 Access Gateway Administrator's Guide

53-1003506-02
 Managing Policies and Features in Access Gateway Mode

TABLE 10 Access Gateway trunking considerations for the Edge switch (Continued)

Category Description

Authentication Authentication occurs only on the F_Port trunk master port and only once per the
entire trunk. This behavior is the same as E_Port trunk master authentication.
Because only one port in the trunk does FLOGI to the switch, and authentication
follows FLOGI on that port, only that port displays the authentication details when you
issue the portshow command.

NOTE
Authentication is also supported on switches configured in AG mode.

Management Server Registered Node ID (RNID), Link Incident Record Registration (LIRR), and Query
Security Attributes (QSA) Extended Link Service Requests (ELSs) are not supported
on F_Port trunks.

Trunk area The port must be disabled before assigning a Trunk Area on the Edge switch to the
port or removing a Trunk Area from a trunk group.You cannot assign a Trunk Area to
ports if the standby CP is running a firmware version earlier than Fabric OS v6.2.0.

PWWN The entire Trunk Area trunk group shares the same Port WWN within the trunk group.
The PWWN is the same across the F_Port trunk that will have 0x2f or 0x25 as the first
byte of the PWWN. The TA is part of the PWWN in the format listed in Table 11 .

Downgrade You can have trunking on, but you must disable the trunk ports before performing a
firmware downgrade.

NOTE
Removing a Trunk Area on ports running traffic is disruptive. Use caution before
assigning a Trunk Area if you need to downgrade to a firmware earlier than Fabric OS
v6.1.0.

Upgrade No limitations on upgrade to Fabric OS 7.1.0 if the F_Port is present on the switch.
Upgrading is not disruptive.

HA Sync If you plug in a standby CP with a firmware version earlier than Fabric OS v6.1.0 and a
Trunk Area is present on the switch, the CP blades will become out of sync.

Port Types Only F_Port trunk ports are allowed on a Trunk Area port. All other port types that
include F/FL/E/EX are persistently disabled.

Default Area Port X is a port that has its Default Area the same as its Trunk Area. The only time you
can remove port X from the trunk group is if the entire trunk group has the Trunk Area
disabled.

portCfgTrunkPort [slot/] portCfgTrunkPort [slot/] port, 0 will fail if a Trunk Area is enabled on a port. The port
port , 0 must be Trunk Area-disabled first.

switchCfgTrunk 0 switchCfgTrunk 0 will fail if a port has TA enabled. All ports on a switch must be TA
disabled first.

Port Swap When you assign a Trunk Area to a Trunk group, the Trunk Area cannot be port
swapped; if a port is swapped, then you cannot assign a Trunk Area to that port.

Access Gateway Administrator's Guide 77

53-1003506-02
Managing Policies and Features in Access Gateway Mode

TABLE 10 Access Gateway trunking considerations for the Edge switch (Continued)

Category Description

Trunk Master No more than one trunk master in a trunk group. The second trunk master will be
persistently disabled with reason "Area has been acquired".

Fast Write When you assign a Trunk Area to a trunk group, the trunk group cannot have fast write
enabled on those ports; if a port is fast- write-enabled, the port cannot be assigned a
Trunk Area.

FICON FICON is not supported on F_Port trunk ports. However, FICON can still run on ports
that are not F_Port trunked within the same switch.

FC8-48 blades F_Port trunking does not support shared area ports on the Brocade FC8-48 blades in
a 48000. F_Port trunking is supported on all ports on the Brocade FC8-48 in the DCX
and DCX-4S.

FC4-32 blade If an FC4-32 blade has the Trunk Area enabled on ports 16 - 31 and the blade is
swapped with a FC8-48 blade, the Trunk Area ports will be persistently disabled. You
can run the porttrunkarea command to assign a Trunk Area on those ports.

Trunking You must first enable trunking on the port before the port can have a Trunk Area
assigned to it.

PID format F_Port masterless trunking is only supported in CORE PID format.

Long Distance Long distance is not allowed when AG is enabled on a switch. This means you cannot
enable long distance on ports that have a Trunk Area assigned to them.

Port mirroring Port mirroring is not supported on Trunk Area ports or on the PID of an F_Port trunk
port.

Port speed Ports within a trunk must have the same port speed for a trunk to successfully be
created.

configDownload and If you issue the configdownload command for a port configuration that is not
configUpload compatible with F_Port trunking, and the port is Trunk-Area-enabled, then the port will
be persistently disabled.

Note: Configurations that are not compatible with F_Port trunking are long distance,
port mirroring, non-CORE_PID, and Fast Write.

If you issue the configupload command, consider the following:

• A configuration file uploaded when AG mode is disabled cannot be downloaded

when AG mode is enabled.
• A configuration file uploaded when AG mode is enabled cannot be downloaded
when AG mode is disabled.
• A configuration file uploaded when the PG policy is enabled cannot be downloaded
when the APC policy is enabled.
• A configuration file uploaded when the APC policy is enabled cannot be
downloaded when the PG policy is enabled.

ICL port F_Port trunks are not allowed on ICL ports. The porttrunkarea command does not
allow it.

78 Access Gateway Administrator's Guide

53-1003506-02
 Trunking considerations for Access Gateway mode

TABLE 10 Access Gateway trunking considerations for the Edge switch (Continued)

Category Description

AD You cannot create a Trunk Area on ports with different Admin Domains. You cannot
create a Trunk Area in AD255.

DCC Policy DCC policy enforcement for the F_Port trunk is based on the Trunk Area; the FDISC
request to a trunk port is accepted only if the WWN of the attached device is part of
the DCC policy against the TA. The PWWN of the FLOGI sent from the AG will be
dynamic for the F_Port trunk master. Because you do not know ahead of time what
PWWN AG will use, the PWWN of the FLOGI will not go through DCC policy check on
an F_Port trunk master. However, the PWWN of the FDISC will continue to go through
DCC policy check.

D,I Zoning (D,I) AD Creating a Trunk Area may remove the Index ("I") from the switch to be grouped to the
Trunk Area. All ports in a Trunk Area share the same "I". This means that
(D, I) DCC and (PWWN, Domain,Index (D,I), which refers to an "I", that might have been removed, will no
I) DCC longer be part of the switch.

Note : Ensure to include AD, zoning, and DCC when creating a Trunk Area.

You can remove the port from the Trunk Area to have the "I" back into effect. D,I will
behave as normal, but you may see the effects of grouping ports into a single "I".

Also, D,I continues to work for Trunk Area groups. The "I" can be used in D,I if the "I"
was the "I" for the Trunk Area group.

Note : "I" refers to Index and D,I refers to Domain,Index.

Two masters Two masters is not supported in the same F_Port trunk group.

QoS Supported.

TABLE 11 PWWN format for F_Port and N_Port trunk ports

NAA = 2 2f:xx:nn:nn:nn:nn:nn:nn Port WWNs for: The valid range of xx is [0 - FF], for maximum
of 256.
(1) switch FX_Ports.

NAA = 2 25:xx:nn:nn:nn:nn:nn:nn Port WWNs for: switch The valid range of xx is [0 - FF], for maximum
FX_Ports of 256.
(1)

Trunking considerations for Access Gateway mode

Consider the following for trunking in Access Gateway mode:
• Access Gateway trunking is not supported on M-EOS or third-party switches.
• Trunk groups cannot span across multiple N_Port groups within an AG module in AG mode. Multiple
trunk groups are allowed within the same N_Port group. All ports within a trunk group must be part of
the same port group; ports outside of a port group cannot form a trunk group.
• The ag -wwnmapshow command will not display trunking for device-mapped ports. If a device is
mapped to a port with device mapping and that port is currently part of a trunk, then the device will
use that trunk. When trunking is used with the Device Load Balancing policy, then the load on each

Access Gateway Administrator's Guide 79

53-1003506-02
Upgrade and downgrade considerations for trunking in Access Gateway mode

trunk will be proportional to the number of ports in that trunk. Use the ag -show command to
determine the devices using a particular trunk.

Upgrade and downgrade considerations for trunking in Access

Gateway mode
Upgrading to Fabric OS v7.1.0 and downgrading to Fabric OS v6.4.0 and earlier is supported.

Adaptive Networking on Access Gateway

Adaptive Networking (AN) services ensure bandwidth for critical servers, virtual servers, or
applications in addition to reducing latency and minimizing congestion. Adaptive Networking in Access
Gateway works in conjunction with the Quality of Service (QoS) feature on Brocade fabrics. Fabric OS
provides a mechanism to assign traffic priority, (high, medium, or low) for a given source and
destination traffic flow. By default, all flows are marked as medium.
You can configure the ingress rate limiting and SID/DID traffic prioritization levels of QoS for the
following configurations:
• Supported HBA to AG to switch
• Unsupported HBA to AG to switch
• HBA (all) to Edge AG to Core AG to switch

QoS: Ingress rate limiting

Ingress rate limiting restricts the speed of traffic from a particular device to the switch port. On
switches in AG mode, you must configure ingress rate limiting on F_Ports.
For more information and procedures for configuring this feature, refer to "Ingress Limiting" in the
Fabric OS Administrator’s Guide.

QoS: SID/DID traffic prioritization

SID/DID traffic prioritization allows you to categorize the traffic flow between a given host and target as
having a high or low priority; the default is medium. For example, you can assign online transaction
processing (OLTP) to a high priority and the backup traffic to a low priority.
For detailed information on this feature, refer to "QoS: SID/DID traffic prioritization" in the Fabric OS
Administrator’s Guide.
The following figure shows the starting point for QoS in various Brocade and non-Brocade
configurations.

80 Access Gateway Administrator's Guide

53-1003506-02
 Upgrade and downgrade considerations for Adaptive Networking in AG mode

FIGURE 13 Starting point for QoS

Upgrade and downgrade considerations for Adaptive Networking in AG

mode
Upgrading to Fabric OS v7.1.0 from Fabric OS v6.4.0 is supported. Note the following considerations
when upgrading to Fabric OS v7.1.0 from Fabric OS v6.2.X and earlier and downgrading from Fabric
OS v7.1.0 to Fabric OS v6.2.X and earlier:
• If any of the AG QoS-enabled ports are active and you attempt a firmware downgrade, the
downgrade is prevented. You must disable the QoS-enabled ports before performing a firmware
downgrade.
• Upgrades from earlier versions to Fabric OS v7.1.0 are allowed, but AG QoS-enabled ports do not
become effective until the ports are disabled or enabled so that QoS mode can be negotiated on the
ISLs.

Adaptive Networking on Access Gateway considerations

• QoS is configured in the fabric, as normal, and not on the AG module.
• QoS on Access Gateway is only supported on Fabric OS v6.3 and later.
• You should disable HBA QoS if connected to a Fabric OS v6.2 AG switch.
• Disable QoS on an AG port if it connects with a switch running Fabric OS v6.2. Otherwise, the port
will automatically disable with an error. To recover, disable QoS on the port, and then enable the
port.
• Disabling QoS on online N_Ports in the same trunk can cause the slave N_Port ID Virtualization
(NPIV) F_Port on the Edge switch to become persistently disabled with "Area has been acquired."
This is expected behavior because after QoS is disabled, the slave NPIV F_Port on the Edge switch
also tries to come up as a master. To avoid this issue, simply persistently enable the slave F_Port on
the switch.

Access Gateway Administrator's Guide 81

53-1003506-02
Per-Port NPIV login limit

• QoS takes precedence over ingress rate limiting

• Ingress rate limiting is not enforced on trunked ports.

Per-Port NPIV login limit

The Per-Port NPIV login limit feature allows you to set a specific maximum NPIV login limit on
individual ports. This feature works in both Native and Access Gateway modes. Using this feature, you
can use additional tools to design and implement a virtual infrastructure. In Access Gateway mode,
this feature allows smaller login limits for F_Ports and larger limits for N_Ports. Note that N_Ports are
restricted by the NPIV login limit of the connecting port on the Edge switch.
Note the following aspects of this feature:
• Upgrading between Fabric OS v6.4.0 and v7.1.0 will retain the NPIV settings.
• The value that you set is persistent across reboots and firmware upgrades.
• This feature supports virtual switches, so each port can have a specific NPIV login limit value in
each logical switch.
• The login limit default is 126. This value will be set for a port when the portCfgDefault command is
used to reset port default values. The F_Port must then be re-mapped to its N_Port after using
portCfgDefault.
• Before changing the login limits, you must disable the port.
• This feature only applies to ports enabled for NPIV operation. To enable NPIV functionality for a
port, you can use the portCfgNPIVPort --enable command when the switch is in Fabric OS Native
mode. For details, refer to the Fabric OS Command Reference.

Setting the login limit

Use the following procedure to set the NPIV login limit for a port.
1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account assigned to the admin role.
2. Disable the port by entering the portdisable port command.
3. Enter the portcfgnpiv --setloginlimit [Slot/]Port loginlimit [ Slot/ ] Port loginlimit command to set
the login limit. For example, the following example sets the login limit on port 12 to 200.
portcfgnpivport --setloginlimit 12 200

Duplicate PWWN handling during device login

Handling of logins from two devices using the same PWWN follows standards for all Fabric OS
switches. Having two devices with the same PWWN logged into the fabric at the same time may not
be desirable as there have been cases when ports coming online get stuck in G_Port state in the AG
switch. You can configure three policies:
• Default - The Access Gateway switch will not accept a second login request from a PWWN when a
device with the same PWWN has already logged into the fabric. The second request with similar

82 Access Gateway Administrator's Guide

53-1003506-02
 Performance Monitoring

PWWN will be rejected and the port will be persistently disabled with reason as "Duplicate Port WWN
detected."
• Enforced login - The second login request will have precedence over the existing login and Access
Gateway will accepts the login.
• Mixed - This option takes port type into consideration. The second login request will have
precedence over the existing login in case of a duplicate entry exit on the F_Port with an NPIV device
logged in. The first login takes precedence over the second login request in case of a duplicate entry
exit on the F_Port without any NPIV device logged in.
You can configure different handling of duplicate PWWNs other than the default operation using the
configure command through the F_Port login parameters. For more information on configuration and
handling of duplicate PWWNs during device login, refer to the "Duplicate PWWN handling during device
login" section in the Fabric OS Administrator’s Guide.
This feature is supported in the following configurations:
• AG switch connected to AG switch in cascaded configuration.
• AG switch connected to Brocade fabric switch.
• AG switch connected to a Brocade Host Bus Adapter (HBA).

Performance Monitoring
Performance monitoring is available through the Flow Vision "Flow Monitor" for platforms using Fabric
OS 7.2 and later. With Fabric OS 7.4.0 and later, legacy Advanced Performance Monitoring features
are no longer supported.

Flow Monitor
Flow Vision is a licensed feature supported on platforms using Fabric OS 7.2 and later. It provides a
unified platform to manage traffic-related applications on Fabric OS devices. Storage administrators can
use this platform to simulate, monitor, and capture the network’s traffic patterns and to make capacity-
planning decisions based on the collected statistical data.
To access Flow Vision, the Fabric Vision (FV) license must be installed on the hardware platform.
The Flow Monitor component of Flow Vision is supported by Access Gateway. Flow Monitor allows you
to monitor the network’s traffic pattern and provides statistics to make capacity planning decisions
based on the collected data. Flow Monitor provides a single interface to manage flows and unifies
different performance monitoring features such as end-to-end monitors and frame monitors.
Flow Monitor expands on basic performance monitoring by allowing you to monitor any hardware-
supported flow parameters and define your own flows using combinations of source and destination
devices, source and destination IDs, LUN IDs, CSCTL values, and frame types as parameters.
Following are examples of monitors that you can replicate using Flow Monitor:
• End to End Monitor - This measures the traffic in terms of word count between a pair of ports (host
and target). Use this to view end-to end traffic values on an Access Gateway.
• Frame monitoring - Set up an SCSI monitor so that you can view the -frametype frame and byte
count for a flow.
• LUN monitoring - This allows you to view the -frametype frame and byte count for a specific LUN.
• Flow learning monitor - This learns flows going through a specific F_Port in the Access Gateway.
• DST monitor - This provides the legacy support equivalent to a frame monitor.

Access Gateway Administrator's Guide 83

53-1003506-02
Considerations for the Brocade 6505 and 6510

Access Gateway switches support flow monitors on F_Ports only, and only the ingress port parameter
is supported. For more information on using Flow Monitor features for Access Gateway in Flow Vision,
refer to the Flow Vision Administrator's Guide.

Considerations for the Brocade 6505 and 6510

The Brocade 6505 and 6510 can function in either Fabric OS Native mode or Brocade Access
Gateway mode. These switches are shipped in Fabric OS Native mode. They are also supported in
Access Gateway cascaded configurations. All PoD licenses must be present to support Access
Gateway for all releases prior to Fabric OS 7.3.0. However, starting with Fabric OS 7.3.0, all PoD
licenses are not required.

84 Access Gateway Administrator's Guide

53-1003506-02
SAN Configuration with Access Gateway

● Connectivity of multiple devices overview.......................................................................85

● Direct target attachment..................................................................................................85
● Target aggregation..........................................................................................................87
● Access Gateway cascading............................................................................................ 88
● Fabric and Edge switch configuration............................................................................. 89
● Connectivity to Cisco fabrics........................................................................................... 90
● Rejoining Fabric OS switches to a fabric........................................................................ 91

Connectivity of multiple devices overview

This chapter describes how to connect multiple devices to a switch in Access Gateway (AG) mode, and
discusses Edge switch compatibility, target aggregation, direct target attachment, port requirements,
NPIV HBA, and interoperability. Switches in AG mode can connect to third-party fabrics with the
following firmware versions:
• Fabrics operating with M-EOSc v9.6.2 or later and M-EOSn v9.6 or later.
• Cisco fabrics that support standards-based NPIV.

Considerations for connecting multiple devices

Consider the following points when connecting multiple devices to a switch in AG mode:
• AG does not support daisy chaining when two AG devices are connected to each other in a loop
configuration.
• Loop devices and FICON channels/control unit connectivity are not supported.
• When a switch is in AG mode, it can be connected to NPIV-enabled HBAs, or F_Ports that are NPIV-
aware. Access Gateway supports NPIV industry standards per FC-LS-2 v1.4.

Direct target attachment

FCP targets can directly connect to an AG module instead of through a fabric connection, as illustrated
in the following figure.

Access Gateway Administrator's Guide 85

53-1003506-02
Considerations for direct target attachment

FIGURE 14 Direct target attachment to switch operating in AG mode

Although target devices can be connected directly to AG ports, it is recommended that the switch
operating in AG mode be connected to the core fabric.

Considerations for direct target attachment

Consider the following points for direct target attachment:
• Direct target attachment to AG is only supported if the AG module is also connected to a core
fabric. A switch module running in AG mode does not provide Name Services on its own, and
routing to the target devices must be established by the core fabric.
• Hosts and targets cannot be mapped to the same N_Port.
• Redundant configurations should be maintained so that when hosts and targets fail over or fail
back, they do not get mapped to a single N_Port.
• Hosts and targets should be in separate port groups.
• Direct target attachment configurations are not enforced.

86 Access Gateway Administrator's Guide

53-1003506-02
 Target aggregation

Target aggregation
Access Gateway mode is normally used as host aggregation. In other words, a switch in AG mode
aggregates traffic from a number of host systems onto a single uplink N_Port. Similarly, many targets
can be aggregated onto to a single uplink N_Port, as shown in the following figure. Target aggregation
has many applications. As one example, you can consolidate targets with various lower Fibre Channel
speeds (such as 1, 2, or 4 Gbps) onto a single high-speed uplink port to the core fabric. This reduces
the number of core fabric ports used by target devices and allows higher scalability.

FIGURE 15 Target aggregation

Access Gateway Administrator's Guide 87

53-1003506-02
Access Gateway cascading

Access Gateway cascading

Access Gateway cascading is an advanced configuration supported in Access Gateway mode. Access
Gateway cascading allows you to further increase the ratio of hosts to fabric ports to beyond what a
single switch in AG mode can support.
Access Gateway cascading allows you to link two Access Gateway (AG) switches back to back. The
AG switch that is directly connected to the fabric is referred to as the Core AG. In this document, the
AG switch connected to the device is referred to as the Edge AG.

FIGURE 16 Access Gateway cascading

AG cascading provides higher over-subscription because it allows you to consolidate the number of
ports going to the main fabric. There is no license requirement to use this feature.

Access Gateway cascading considerations

Note the following configuration considerations when cascading Access Gateways:
• Only one level of cascading is supported. Note that several Edge AGs can connect into a single
Core AG to support an even higher consolidation ratio.
• AG trunking between the Edge and Core AG switches is not supported. Trunking between the Core
AG switch and the fabric is supported.
• It is recommended that you enable Advanced Device Security (ADS) policy on all AG F_Ports that
are directly connected to devices.
• APC policy is not supported when cascading.
• Loopbacks (Core AG N_Port to Edge AG F_Port) are not allowed.
• The agshow command issued on the fabric will discover only the Core AG switches. If issued as
agshow --name AG name, then the F_Ports of both the Core and Edge AG switches will be shown
for the Core AG switch.

88 Access Gateway Administrator's Guide

53-1003506-02
 Fabric and Edge switch configuration

• Due to high subscription ratios that could occur when cascading AGs, ensure there is enough
bandwidth for all servers when creating such configurations. The subscription ratio becomes more
acute in a virtual environment.
• Starting with Fabric OS 7.3.0 and later, the registration and de-registration of FDMI devices
connected to an AG or cascaded AG is supported, and the fdmishow command on AG will display
the local FDMI devices connected to the AG. However, remote FDMI devices will not be displayed.

Fabric and Edge switch configuration

To connect devices to the fabric using Access Gateway, configure the fabric and Edge switches within
the fabric that will connect to the AG module using the following parameters. These parameters apply to
Fabric OS, M-EOS, and Cisco-based fabrics:
• Install and configure the switch as described in the switch’s hardware reference manual before
performing these procedures.
• Verify that the interop mode parameter is set to Brocade Native mode.
• Configure the F_Ports on the Edge switch to which Access Gateway is connected as follows:
‐ Enable NPIV.
‐ Disable long distance mode.
‐ Allow multiple logins for M-EOS switches. The recommended fabric login setting is the maximum
allowed per port and per switch.
• Use only WWN zoning for devices behind AG.
• If DCC security is being used on Edge switches that directly connect to AG, make sure to include the
Access Gateway WWN or the port WWN of the N_Ports. Also include the HBA WWNs that will be
connected to AG F_Ports in the switch’s Access Control List (ACL). It is recommended to use AG
ADS policy instead of the DCC policy on the Edge switch.
• Allow inband queries for forwarded fabric management requests from the hosts. Add the Access
Gateway switch WWN to the access list if inband queries are restricted.
Before connecting Access Gateway to classic Brocade switches, disable the Fabric OS Management
Server Platform Service to get accurate statistical and configuration fabric data.

Verifying the switch mode

1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account assigned to the admin role.
2. Enter the switchShow command to display the current switch configuration.
The following example shows partial output for this command for a switch in the Fabric OS Native
mode where switchMode displays as Native.

switch:admin> switchshow
switchName: switch
switchType: 76.6
switchState: Online
switchMode: Native
switchRole: Subordinate
switchDomain: 13
switchId: fffc01
switchWwn: 10:00:00:05:1e:03:4b:e7
zoning: OFF
switchBeacon: OFF
----------------------------------------=

Refer to Table 5 on page 30 for a description of the port state.

Access Gateway Administrator's Guide 89

53-1003506-02
Enabling NPIV on M-EOS switches

If the switch is in Native mode, you can enable AG mode; otherwise, set the switch to Native mode,
and then reboot the switch.

Enabling NPIV on M-EOS switches

1. Connect to the switch and log in as admin on the M-EOS switch.
2. Enable Open Systems Management Server (OSMS) services by entering the following commands.
For the Mi10K switch, enter the following command.

fc osmsState vfid state

In the command, vfid is the virtual fabric identification number. The state variable can be enable for
the enabled state or disable for the disabled state.
The osmsState variable can be enable or 1 for the enabled state or disable or 0 for the disabled
state.
3. Enable NPIV functionality on the Edge fabric ports so that multiple logins are allowed for each port.
Enter the following command on the M-EOS switch to enable NPIV on the specified ports.
config NPIV

Your M-EOS switch is now ready to connect.

NOTE
You can run the agshow command to display Access Gateway information registered with the
fabric. When an Access Gateway is exclusively connected to non-Fabric-OS-based switches, it will
not show up in the agshow output on other Brocade switches in the fabric.

Connectivity to Cisco fabrics

When connecting a switch in Access Gateway mode to a Cisco fabric, you need to make sure that
NPIV is enabled on the connecting switch and that Fabric OS v3.1 or later is used.

Enabling NPIV on a Cisco switch

1. Log in as admin on the Cisco MDS switch.
2. Enter the show version command to determine if you are using the correct SAN operating system
version and if NPIV is enabled on the switch.
3. Enter the following commands to enable NPIV:
configure terminal
npiv enable
4. Press Ctrl-Z to exit.
5. Enter the following commands to save the MDS switch connection:
copy
run
start

Your Cisco switch is now ready to connect to a switch in Access Gateway mode.

90 Access Gateway Administrator's Guide

53-1003506-02
 Rejoining Fabric OS switches to a fabric

Rejoining Fabric OS switches to a fabric

When a switch reboots after AG mode is disabled, the Default zone is set to no access. Therefore, the
switch does not immediately join the fabric to which it is connected. Use one of the following methods to
rejoin a switch to the fabric:
• If you saved a Fabric OS configuration before enabling AG mode, download the configuration using
the configDownload command.
• If you want to rejoin the switch to the fabric using the fabric configuration, use the following
procedure.
To rejoin the Fabric OS switch to a fabric, perform the following steps:
1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account assigned to the admin role.
2. Enter the switchDisable command to disable the switch.
3. Enter the defZone --allAccess command to allow the switch to merge with the fabric.
4. Enter the cfgSave command to commit the Default zone changes.
5. Enter the switchEnable command to enable the switch and allow it to merge with the fabric.
The switch automatically rejoins the fabric.

Reverting to a previous configuration

1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account assigned to the admin role.
2. Enter the switchDisable command to disable the switch.
3. Enter the configDownload command to revert to the previous configuration.
4. Enter the switchEnable command to bring the switch back online.
The switch automatically joins the fabric.

Access Gateway Administrator's Guide 91

53-1003506-02
Reverting to a previous configuration

92 Access Gateway Administrator's Guide

53-1003506-02
Troubleshooting

The following table provides troubleshooting information for Fabric OS switches in AG mode.

TABLE 12 Troubleshooting

Problem Cause Solution

Switch is not in Switch is in Native Disable switch using the switchDisable command.
Access Gateway switch mode
mode Enable Access Gateway mode using the ag --modeenable
command.
Answer yes when prompted; the switch reboots.
Log in to the switch.
Display the switch settings using the switchShow command.
Verify that the field switchMode displays Access Gateway mode.

NPIV disabled on Inadvertently turned off On the Edge switch, enter the portCfgShow command.
Edge switch ports
Verify that NPIV status for the port to which Access Gateway is
connected is ON.
If the status displays as "--" NPIV is disabled. Enter the
portCfgNpivPort port_number command with the enable option to
enable NPIV.
Repeat this step for each port as required.

Need to reconfigure Default port setting not Enter the portCfgShow command.
N_Port and F_Ports adequate for customer
environment For each port that is to be activated as an N_Port, enter the
portCfgNport port_number command with the 1 option.
All other ports remain as F_Ports.
To reset the port to an F_Port, enter the portCfgNpivPort
port_number command with the disable option.

LUNs are not visible Zoning on fabric switch Verify zoning on the Edge switch.
is incorrect.
Verify that F_Ports are mapped to an online N_Port. Refer to Table
Port mapping on 7 on page 33.
Access Gateway mode
switch is incorrect. Perform a visual inspection of the cabling; check for issues such as
wrong ports, twisted cable, or bent cable. Replace the cable and
Cabling not properly try again. Ensure the F_Port on AG module is enabled and active.
connected.

Access Gateway Administrator's Guide 93

53-1003506-02
Troubleshooting

TABLE 12 Troubleshooting (Continued)

Problem Cause Solution

Failover is not Failover disabled on Verify that the failover and failback policies are enabled, as follows:
working N_Port.
Enter the ag --failoverShow command with the port_number
option.
Enter the ag --failbackShow command with the port_number
option.
Command returns "Failback (or Failover) on N_Port port_number
is supported."
If it returns, "Failback (or Failover) on N_Port port_number is not
supported." Refer to Adding a preferred secondary N_Port
(optional) on page 67.

Access Gateway is Access Gateway must Disable switch using the switchDisable command.
mode not wanted be disabled.
Disable Access Gateway mode using the ag --modeDisable
command.
Answer yes when prompted; the switch reboots.
Log in to the switch.
Display the switch settings using the switchShow command.
Verify that the field switchMode displays Fabric OS Native mode.

"Login Rejected by The CNA host is Messages display as designed. After the switch has completed
FC stack" messages retrying a login before LOGO processing, it will accept another login.
on console may be the switch has finished
seen during F_Port precessing a previous
and N_Port fabric logout (LOGO)
disruptions on attempt.
Brocade 8470 in AG
mode.

94 Access Gateway Administrator's Guide

53-1003506-02