Technical data

Fabric OS Administrator’s Guide C-1
Publication Number: 53-0000518-09
Appendix
C
Using Remote Switch
The Brocade Remote Switch feature, which aids in ensuring gateway compatibility, was formerly a
licensed feature. Its functionality is now available as part of the Fabric OS standard feature set through
the use of the portCfgIslMode command, which is described in “Linking Through a Gateway” on
page 2-17. For those who use Remote Switch as part of their legacy set of tools, this appendix contains
a description and procedure for the feature.
Remote Switch, enables you to connect two remote Brocade switches over an IP network, enabling
communication of IP or ATM protocols as well as Fibre Channel traffic.
The Brocade Remote Switch feature functions with the aid of a “bridging device” or Fibre Channel
gateway. The gateway supports both a Fibre Channel physical interface and a secondary, non-Fibre
Channel physical interface, such as IP, SONET, or ATM. Remote Switch functions over E_Port
connections. With Remote Switch on both fabrics, the gateway accepts Fibre Channel frames from one
fabric, tunnels them across the network, and passes them to the other fabric. From the viewpoint of the
connected hosts and storage devices, fabrics using Remote Switch interact the same as locally
connected switches.
Remote Switch provides many of the same capabilities of normal ISL links including,
• Coordinated fabric services
The Remote Switch fabric configuration fully supports all fabric services, including distributed
name service, registered state change notification, and alias service.
• Distributed management
Management tools such as Advanced Web Tools, Fabric OS, and SNMP are available from both the
local switch and the remote switch. Switch management is routed through the Fibre Channel
connection; thus, no additional network connection is required between sites.
• Support for interswitch links (ISLs)
Sites requiring redundant configurations can connect multiple E_Ports to remote sites by using
multiple gateways. Standard Fabric OS routing facilities automatically maximize throughput and
provide automatic failover during interruption on the WAN connection.
The Remote Switch feature operates in conjunction with a gateway. The gateway provides an E_Port
interface that links to the SilkWorm E_Port. After the link between the two E_Ports has been negotiated,
the gateway E_Port moves to passthrough mode and passes Fibre Channel traffic from the SilkWorm
E_Port to the WAN.
The gateway accepts Fibre Channel frames from one side of a Remote Switch fabric, transfers them
across a WAN, and passes them to the other side of the Remote Switch fabric.