Reference Guide

Figure 87 shows a logical representation of the physical chassis and devices in Figure 86. As shown in Figure 87, Fabric 128 and Fabric
15 are edge fabrics connected to a backbone fabric. Fabric 1 is not connected to the backbone, so the device in Fabric 1 cannot
communicate with any of the devices in the other fabrics.
FIGURE 87 Logical representation of EX_Ports in a base switch
Backbone-to-edge routing with Virtual Fabrics
Backbone-to-edge routing is not supported in the base switch, unless you use a legacy FC router. A legacy FC router is an FC router
configured on a Brocade 7500 switch.
Base switches can participate in a backbone fabric with legacy FC routers. You cannot connect devices to the base switch because the
base switch does not allow F_Ports. You can, however, connect devices to the legacy FC router, thus enabling backbone-to-edge
routing.
If you connect a legacy FC router to a base switch, you must set the backbone FID of the FC router to be the same as that of the base
switch.
In Figure 86 on page 540, no devices can be connected to the backbone fabric (Fabric 8) because base switches cannot have F_Ports.
Figure 88 shows an FC router in legacy mode connected to a base switch. This FC router can have devices connected to it, and so you
can have backbone-to-edge routing through this FC router. In this figure, Host A in the backbone fabric can communicate with device B
in the edge fabric with FID 20; Host A cannot communicate with device C, however, because the base switches do not support
backbone-to-edge routing.
Using FC-FC Routing to Connect Fabrics
Brocade Fabric OS Administration Guide, 8.0.1
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