Brocade Network Advisor SAN User Manual v11.1x (53-1002167-01, May 2011)

Brocade Network Advisor SAN User Manual 413
53-1002167-01
Chapter
17
Virtual Fabrics
In this chapter
•Virtual Fabrics overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413
•Virtual Fabrics requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415
•Configuring Virtual Fabrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416
Virtual Fabrics overview
NOTE
Virtual Fabrics requires that you have at least one Virtual Fabrics-enabled physical chassis running
Fabric OS 6.2.0 or later in your SAN.
Virtual Fabrics enables you to divide one physical chassis into multiple logical switches that can be
managed by separate administrators. Logical switches consist of one or more ports that act as a
single FC switch. You can interconnect logical switches to create a logical fabric.
The following lists the benefits of using the Management application to manage Virtual Fabrics:
• Enables you to view your entire SAN (both physical and virtual) at a glance.
• Enables you to easily determine which devices in your SAN are logical switches. Logical
switches are shown with a Virtual Fabrics icon ( ).
• Enables you to manage a logical switch the same as a physical switch, so that fewer physical
chassis are required for Management application deployment.
• Enables you to use a logical switch for discovery and eliminate the requirement for one
physical chassis for each fabric.
• Enables you to manage multiple Virtual Fabrics-capable physical chassis from the same
interface.
• Enables you to provide logical isolation of data, control, and management paths at the port
level.
Before using the Management application to manage Virtual Fabrics, you should familiarize
yourself with Virtual Fabrics concepts, as described in the Fabric OS Administrator’s Guide.