Technical data

Fabric OS Administrator’s Guide 8-1
Publication Number: 53-0000518-09
Chapter
8
Configuring the Distributed Management Server
The Brocade Fabric OS Distributed Management Server allows a SAN management application to
retrieve information and administer interconnected switches, servers, and storage devices. The
management server assists in the autodiscovery of switch-based fabrics and their associated topologies.
A client of the management server can find basic information about the switches in the fabric and use
this information to construct topology relationships. The management server also allows you to obtain
certain switch attributes and, in some cases, modify them. For example, logical names identifying
switches can be registered with the management server.
The management server provides several advantages for managing a Fibre Channel fabric:
• It is accessed by an external Fibre Channel node at the well-known address FFFFFAh, so an
application can access information about the entire fabric management with minimal knowledge of
the existing configuration.
• It is replicated on every SilkWorm switch within a fabric.
• It provides an unzoned view of the overall fabric configuration. This fabric topology view exposes
the internal configuration of a fabric for management purposes; it contains interconnect
information about switches and devices connected to the fabric. Under normal circumstances, a
device (typically an FCP initiator) queries the Name Server for storage devices within its member
zones. Because this limited view is not always sufficient, the management server provides the
application with a list of the entire Name Server database.
Enabling and Disabling the Platform Services
The management server is located at the Fibre Channel well-known address FFFFFAh. All
management services except platform services are enabled by default.
To enable platform services
1. Connect to the switch and log in as admin.
2. Enter the msplMgmtActivate command.
N
ote
Management server platform service is available only with Fabric OS v2.3.0 and later.
switch:admin> msplmgmtactivate
Request to activate MS Platform Service in progress......
*Completed activating MS Platform Service in the fabric!
switch:admin>