Administrator Guide

Fabric OS Administrator’s Guide 137
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FCS policies
7
FCS policies
Fabric Configuration Server (FCS) policy in base Fabric OS may be performed on a local switch
basis and may be performed on any switch in the fabric.
The FCS policy is not present by default, but must be created. When the FCS policy is created, the
WWN of the local switch is automatically included in the FCS list. Additional switches can be
included in the FCS list. The first switch in the list becomes the Primary FCS switch.
Switches in the fabric are designated as either a Primary FCS, backup FCS, or non-FCS switch. Only
the Primary FCS switch is allowed to modify and distribute the database within the fabric.
Automatic distribution is supported and you can either configure the switches in your fabric to
accept the FCS policy or manually distribute the FCS policy. Changes made to the FCS policy are
saved to permanent memory only after the changes have been saved or activated; they can be
aborted later if you have set your fabric to distribute the changes manually.
FCS policy restrictions
The backup FCS switches normally cannot modify the policy. However, if the Primary FCS switch in
the policy list is not reachable, then a backup FCS switch is allowed to modify the policy.
Once an FCS policy is configured and distributed across the fabric, only the Primary FCS switch can
perform certain operations. Operations that affect fabric-wide configuration are allowed only from
the Primary FCS switch. Backup and non-FCS switches cannot perform security, zoning and AD
operations that affect the fabric configuration. The following error message is returned if a backup
or non-FCS switch tries to perform these operations:
Can only execute this command on the Primary FCS switch.
Operations that do not affect the fabric configuration, such as show or local switch commands, are
allowed on backup and non-FCS switches.
FCS enforcement applies only for user-initiated fabric-wide operations. Internal fabric data
propagation because of a fabric merge is not blocked. Consequently, a new switch that joins the
FCS-enabled fabric could still propagate the AD and zone database.
Table 27 on page 138 shows the commands for switch operations for Primary FCS enforcement.
TABLE 26 FCS policy states
Policy state Characteristics
No active policy Any switch can perform fabric-wide configuration changes.
Active policy with one entry A Primary FCS switch is designated (local switch), but there are no backup
FCS switches. If the Primary FCS switch becomes unavailable for any reason,
the fabric is left without an FCS switch.
Active policy with multiple entries A Primary FCS switch and one or more backup FCS switches are designated. If
the Primary FCS switch becomes unavailable, the next switch in the list
becomes the Primary FCS switch.