Reference Guide

Managing Virtual Fabrics
∙ Virtual Fabrics overview..............................................................................................................................................................................................267
∙ Logical switch overview..............................................................................................................................................................................................268
∙ Management model for logical switches.......................................................................................................................................................... 273
∙ Logical fabric overview................................................................................................................................................................................................274
∙ Account management and Virtual Fabrics.......................................................................................................................................................279
∙ Setting up IP addresses for a logical switch....................................................................................................................................................279
∙ Supported platforms for Virtual Fabrics............................................................................................................................................................. 281
∙ Virtual Fabrics interaction with other Fabric OS features........................................................................................................................282
∙ Limitations and restrictions of Virtual Fabrics................................................................................................................................................283
∙ Enabling Virtual Fabrics mode............................................................................................................................................................................... 284
∙ Disabling Virtual Fabrics mode..............................................................................................................................................................................285
∙ Configuring logical switches to use basic configuration values.......................................................................................................... 286
∙ Creating a logical switch or base switch............................................................................................................................................................286
∙ Executing a command in a different logical switch context...................................................................................................................288
∙ Deleting a logical switch.............................................................................................................................................................................................288
∙ Adding and moving ports on a logical switch................................................................................................................................................289
∙ Displaying logical switch configuration............................................................................................................................................................. 290
∙ Changing the fabric ID of a logical switch........................................................................................................................................................290
∙ Changing a logical switch to a base switch.......................................................................................................................................................291
∙ Configuring a logical switch for XISL use ....................................................................................................................................................... 292
∙ Changing the context to a different logical fabric........................................................................................................................................ 293
∙ Creating a logical fabric using XISLs.................................................................................................................................................................. 293
Virtual Fabrics overview
Virtual Fabrics is an architecture to virtualize hardware boundaries. Traditionally, SAN design and management is done at the granularity
of a physical switch. Virtual Fabrics allows SAN design and management to be done at the granularity of a port.
Virtual Fabrics is a suite of related features that can be customized based on your needs. The Virtual Fabrics suite consists of the
following specific features:
∙ Logical switch
∙ Logical fabric
∙ Device sharing
This chapter describes the logical switch and logical fabric features. For information about device sharing with Virtual Fabrics, refer to
FC-FC routing and Virtual Fabrics on page 539.
NOTE
A note on terminology: Virtual Fabrics is the name of the suite of features. A logical fabric is a type of fabric that you can create
using the Virtual Fabrics suite of features.
NOTE
SNMPv3 is required to manage Virtual Fabrics.
Brocade Fabric OS Administration Guide, 8.0.1
53-1004111-02 267