Users Guide

Fabric OS Administrator’s Guide 445
53-1002920-02
Chapter
16
In-flight Encryption and Compression
In this chapter
•In-flight encryption and compression overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445
•Configuring in-flight encryption and compression on an EX_Port . . . . . . . 450
•Configuring in-flight encryption and compression on an E_Port . . . . . . . . 451
•Viewing the encryption and compression configuration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 452
•Configuring and enabling authentication for in-flight encryption. . . . . . . . 453
•Enabling in-flight encryption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455
•Enabling in-flight compression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456
•Disabling in-flight encryption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456
•Disabling in-flight compression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457
In-flight encryption and compression overview
In-flight encryption provides security for frames while they are in flight between two switches.
In-flight compression provides better bandwidth use on the ISLs, especially over long distance.
The in-flight encryption and compression features allow frames to be encrypted or compressed at
the egress point of an ISL between two Brocade switches, and then to be decrypted or
decompressed at the ingress point of the ISL. Frames are never left in an encrypted or compressed
state when delivered to an end device.
These features use port-based encryption and compression. You can enable the in-flight encryption
and compression features for both E_Ports and EX_Ports on a per-port basis. By default, these
features are initially disabled for all ports on a switch.
NOTE
No license is required to configure and enable in-flight encryption or compression.
Both ends of the ISL must terminate in 16 Gbps-capable FC ports.
Encryption and compression can be enabled at the same time, or you can enable either encryption
or compression selectively. Figure 57 shows an example of 16 Gbps links connecting three
Brocade switches. One link is configured with encryption and compression, one with just
encryption, and one with just compression.