Users Guide

Fabric OS Administrator’s Guide 479
53-1002920-02
Chapter
19
Fabric-Assigned PWWN
In this chapter
•Fabric-Assigned PWWN overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 479
•User- and auto-assigned FA-PWWN behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 480
•Configuring an FA-PWWN for an HBA connected to an Access Gateway . . 481
•Configuring an FA-PWWN for an HBA connected to an edge switch . . . . . 482
•Supported switches and configurations for FA-PWWN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 483
•Configuration upload and download considerations for FA-PWWN . . . . . . 483
•Security considerations for FA-PWWN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 483
•Restrictions of FA-PWWN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484
•Access Gateway N_Port failover with FA-PWWN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484
Fabric-Assigned PWWN overview
Fabric-Assigned PWWN simplifies server deployment in a Fibre Channel SAN (FC SAN) environment
by using a virtual port World Wide Name (PWWN) instead of a physical PWWN to configure zoning
and LUN mapping and masking.
Server deployment typically requires that multiple administrative teams (for example, server and
storage teams) coordinate with each other to perform configuration tasks such as zone creation in
the fabric and LUN mapping and masking on the storage device. These tasks must be completed
before the server is deployed. Before you can configure WWN zones and LUN masks, you must find
out the physical PWWN of the server. This means that administrative teams cannot start their
configuration tasks until the physical server arrives (and its physical PWWN is known). Because the
configuration tasks are sequential and interdependent across various administrative teams, it may
take several days before the server gets deployed in an FC SAN.
You can use a fabric-assigned PWWN (FA-PWWN) to configure services such as zoning and LUN
masking before you have a physical server. An FA-PWWN is a “virtual” port WWN that can be used
instead of the physical PWWN. When the server is later attached to the SAN, the FA-PWWN is
assigned to the server.
For example, you can use the FA-PWWN feature to perform the following tasks:
• Replace one server with another server, or replace failed HBAs or adapters within a server,
without having to change any zoning or LUN mapping and masking configurations.
• Easily move servers across ports or Access Gateways by way of reassigning the FA-PWWN to
another port.
• Use the FA-PWWN to represent a server in boot LUN zone configurations so that any physical
server that is mapped to this FA-PWWN can boot from that LUN, thus simplifying boot over SAN
configuration.