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

Fabric OS Administrator’s Guide 437
53-1002148-02
EX_Port trunking
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If router port cost is used with EX_Port trunking, the master port and slave ports share the router
port cost of the master port.
See Chapter 23, “Using the FC-FC Routing Service,” for more information about EX_Ports and the
FC router.
Masterless EX_Port trunking
EX_Port trunking is masterless except for EX_Ports on enterprise-class platforms.
For the enterprise-class platforms, Virtual Fabrics must be enabled for masterless EX_Port trunking
to take effect. For the fixed-port switches, Virtual Fabrics can be enabled or disabled.
If masterless EX_Port trunking is not in effect and the master port goes offline, the entire
EX_Port-based trunk re-forms and is taken offline for a short period of time. If there are no other
links to the edge fabric from the backbone, the master port going offline may cause a traffic
disruption in the backbone.
Supported configurations and platforms
EX_Port trunking is an FCR software feature and requires that you have a trunking license installed
on the FC router and on the edge fabric connected to the other side of the trunked EX_Ports.
EX_Port trunking is supported only with Brocade edge fabrics. You can use EX_Port frame trunking
in the following configurations and cases:
• For ports with speeds of 2 Gbps up to a maximum speed of 16 Gbps and trunking over long
distance.
• In the edge fabric, when the FC router is connected to a switch that supports eight ports from
the trunkable group.
• When the FC router is connected to an edge fabric using a mix of trunked and non-trunked
EX_Ports. All will share the same front domain.
• In edge-to-edge, backbone-to-edge, and dual backbone configurations.
Masterless EX_Port trunking has additional configuration requirements. See “Masterless EX_Port
trunking” for these additional requirements.
NOTE
QoS and EX_Port trunking can co-exist; however, if some ports in the trunk group have QoS enabled
and some have QoS disabled, then two trunk groups will form: one with QoS enabled and one with
QoS disabled.
Backward compatibility support
For backward compatibility, an FC router that supports EX_Port trunking can continue to
interoperate with older FC routers and all previously supported Brocade switches in the backbone
fabric or Brocade edge fabric.
Configuring EX_Port trunking
With EX_Port trunking, you use the same CLI commands as you do for E_Port trunking. See
“Configuring trunk groups” on page 431 for instructions.