Brocade Fabric OS v6.4.3f Release Notes v1.0

Fabric OS v6.4.3f Release Notes v1.0 Page 14 of 149
If Bottleneck detection feature is currently enabled on the switch running FOS v6.3.x, you must disable it
before upgrading to FOS v6.4; otherwise, frame drops may occur due to increased Hot Code Load (HCL) time.
7800 platform and FX8-24 blade must be power cycled after upgrading from FOS v6.3 to FOS v6.4. This is
necessary to load the new FPGA image that enables IPv6 capability for FCIP links to 7800 and FX8-24 blade.
This step is mandatory even if IPv6 will not be used on the FCIP ports. Not performing this step will result in
unpredictable behaviors on the FCIP links. Please note that in the case of FX8-24, only the FX8-24 blade needs
to be power cycled and not the entire DCX/DCX-4S chassis.
Note:
Firmware downgrade from FOS v7.x to FOS v6.4.3 will be blocked if a configured port name is longer than 32
characters even though FOS v6.4.3 supports a port name longer than 32 characters.
Important Notes
This section contains information that you should consider before you use this Fabric OS release.
DCFM Compatibility
FOS v6.4 is compatible with Brocade’s Data Center Fabric Manager (DCFM) v10.4 management
software. DCFM is a comprehensive SAN management application that enables end-to-end management of
Brocade Data Center Fabrics. It is the next-generation successor product to legacy Brocade management
products (Brocade Fabric Manager (FM) and Brocade Enterprise Fabric Connectivity Manager (EFCM)).
DCFM 10.4 is available in three editions:
 DCFM Professional: a fabric management application that is ideally suited for small-size businesses
that need a lightweight management product to manage their smaller fabrics. It manages one FOS
fabric at a time and up to 1,000 switch ports. It provides support for Brocade FC switches, Brocade
HBAs / CNAs, and Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) / Converged Enhanced Ethernet (CEE) switches.
 DCFM Professional Plus: a SAN management application designed for medium-size businesses or
departmental SANs for managing up to four physical or virtual fabrics (FOS, M-EOS and Mixed fabrics)
and up to 2,560 switch ports. It supports Brocade backbone and director products (DCX-4S, 48Ks,
etc.), FC switches, Fibre Channel Over IP (FCIP) switches, Fibre Channel Routing (FCR) switches/
Integrated Routing (IR) capabilities, Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) / Converged Enhanced
Ethernet (CEE) switches, and Brocade HBAs / CNAs.
 DCFM Enterprise: a management application designed for enterprise-class SANs for managing up to
24 physical or virtual fabrics and up to 9,000 switch ports. DCFM Enterprise supports all the
hardware platforms and features that DCFM Professional Plus supports, and adds support for the
Brocade DCX Backbone and Fiber Connectivity (FICON) capabilities.
DCFM 10.4 now includes introductory support for FOS switches or fabrics using Administrative Domains
(ADs). These details and more about DCFM’s new enhancements can be found in the DCFM 10.4 Release
Notes, DCFM 10.4 User Guide, and DCFM 10.4 Installation, Migration, & Transition Guide.
EFCM and Fabric Manager Compatibility
With the introduction of DCFM, both EFCM and Fabric Manager (FM) have been put into sustaining mode.
Consequently, neither EFCM nor FM are qualified or supported for management of switches operating with FOS
v6.3 and later firmware versions. Very basic evaluation has shown that there are significant compatibility
issues between FM and FOS v6.3, including (but not limited to) compromised functionality in the zoning dialog
and performance graphs, port enabling/disabling, and the FICON wizard. Similar issues are anticipated to be
present when managing FOS v6.4 with FM.
WebTools Compatibility
FOS v6.4 is qualified and supported only with JRE 1.6.0 Update 16.
FOS v6.4.3f is qualified and supported with Oracle JRE 1.7.0 update 25, update 45, and update 51.
Launching WebTools with Oracle JRE 1.7.0 update 51 through Brocade Network Advisor is only