HP B-series Fabric OS 6.3.2e Release Notes (5697-1816, March 2012) - includes all 6.3.2x versions

Zoning
Beginning with Fabric OS 6.2.0, all WWNs containing uppercase characters are automatically
converted to lowercase when associated with a zone alias and stored as part of a saved
configuration on a switch. For example, a WWN entered as either AA.BB.CC.DD.EE.FF.GG.HH
or aa.bb.cc.dd.ee.ff.gg.hh when associated with a zone alias will be stored as
aa.bb.cc.dd.ee.ff.gg.hh on a switch operating with Fabric OS 6.2.0 or later. This
behavioral change in saved zone alias WWN members does not impact most environments.
However, in a scenario where a switch with a zone alias WWN member with uppercase characters
(saved on the switch with pre-Fabric OS 6.2.0 code) is merged with a switch with the same alias
member WWN in lower case characters, the merge fails, since the switches do not recognize
these zoning configurations as being the same. For additional details and workaround solutions,
refer to the latest Fabric OS Administrator Guide.
ICLs
• If a DC SAN Director with an 8-link ICL license is connected to a DC SAN Director with a
16-link license, the DC SAN Director with the 16-link license will report enc_out errors. The
errors are harmless, but will continue to increment. These errors will not be reported if a DC
SAN Director with a 16-link license is connected to a DC04 SAN Director with only 8-link ICL
ports.
• If ICL ports are disabled on only one side of an ICL link, the enabled side may see enc_out
errors.
Extended Fabrics and R_RDY flow control
Starting with Fabric OS 5.1, the Extended Fabrics feature is supported with R_RDY flow control.
(R_RDY flow control mode can be enabled using the portCfgISLMode command.) R_RDY flow
control mode that uses IDLE primitives does not support frame-based trunking for devices such as
Time Division Multiplexor (TDM). To overcome this limitation and provide support for frame-based
trunking with Extended Fabrics, Fabric OS 6.2.x and later has been enhanced to support
interoperability with these distance extension devices.
Fabric OS 6.3.0 and later allows Extended Fabrics E_Ports to operate in VC_RDY mode using
either ARB or IDLE primitives as fill words. This allows frame-based trunking to be supported on
Extended Fabrics E_Ports even when IDLE primitives are configured for these ports when operating
in native VC_RDY mode. Prior to this change, frame-based trunking was supported only when ARB
primitives were used in VC_RDY mode. With Fabric OS 6.2.x, frame-based trunking is supported
on Extended Fabrics E_Ports even if IDLE or ARB primitives are used when operating in native
VC_RDY mode.
Implementation
The portcfglongdistance CLI parameter VC Translation Link Init is now overloaded
to specify whether the long-distance link should use IDLE or ARB primitives. By default vc_init
is enabled. When vc_init is enabled, the long-distance link uses ARB primitives. When vc_init
is disabled, the link uses IDLE primitives.
The buffer-to-buffer credit recovery feature is not supported on Extended Fabrics E_Port when it is
configured to use IDLE primitives. The user must disable the buffer-to-buffer credit recovery feature
using the portcfgcreditrecovery command and specifying the disable option; otherwise,
the link will continuously reset.
The Adaptive Networking SID/DID Traffic Prioritization QoS feature is not supported on Extended
Fabrics E_Ports when IDLE primitives are configured on these ports. In this mode, only data virtual
channels are available when QoS-related virtual channels are not available.
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