Fabric OS Administrator's Guide v7.0.0 (53-1002148-02, June 2011)

Fabric OS Administrator’s Guide 331
53-1002148-02
Chapter
16
Dynamic Fabric Provisioning: Fabric Assigned WWN
In this chapter
•Introduction to Dynamic Fabric Provisioning using FA-PWWN . . . . . . . . . . 331
•User- and auto-assigned FA-PWWN behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
•Configuring FA-PWWNs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
•Supported switches and configurations for FA-PWWN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
•Configuration upload and download considerations for FA-PWWN . . . . . . 336
•Firmware upgrade and downgrade considerations for FA-PWWN . . . . . . . 336
•Security considerations for FA-PWWN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336
•Restrictions of FA-PWWN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337
•Access Gateway N_Port failover with FA-PWWN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337
Introduction to Dynamic Fabric Provisioning using FA-PWWN
Fabric OS v7.0.0 introduces Dynamic Fabric Provisioning (DFP) to simplify server deployment in
your Fibre Channel SAN (FC SAN) environment.
Server deployment typically requires that multiple administrative teams (for example, server and
SAN/storage teams) coordinate with each other to perform configuration tasks such as zone
creation in the fabric and LUN mapping/masking on the storage device. These tasks must be
completed before the server is deployed. Before you can configure WWN zones and LUN masks,
you need to find out the physical port world wide name (PWWN) of the server. This means that
administrative teams cannot start their configuration tasks until the physical server arrives (and its
physical PWWN is known). Because the configuration tasks are sequential and interdependent
across various administrative teams, it may take several days before the server gets deployed in an
FC SAN.
Dynamic fabric provisioning simplifies and accelerates new server deployment and improves
operational efficiency by using a fabric-assigned PWWN or FA-PWWN. An FA-PWWN is a “virtual”
port WWN that can be used instead of the physical PWWN to create zoning and LUN
mapping/masking. When the server is later attached to the SAN, the FA-PWWN is then assigned to
the server.
The FA-PWWN feature allows you to do the following:
• Replace one server with another server, or replace failed HBAs/Adapters within a server,
without having to change any zoning or LUN mapping/masking configurations.
• Easily move servers across ports or Access Gateways by way of reassigning the FA-PWWN to
another port.