HP Intelligent Management Center v7.0 VAN Fabric Manager Administrator Guide

6 Managing SANs
The SAN management module allows operators to manage fabrics one of two ways:
• Completing fabric configurations in VFM according to the fabric planning.
• Quickly deploy SANs in VFM by first performing some basic configurations in VFM that allow
the operator to configure access between one server-storage pair at a time.
To complete configurations in VFM according to the fabric planning, follow these steps:
1. Create a fabric.
2. Import FCoE switches to the fabric.
3. Configure DCBX parameters for the FCoE switches and their CEE interfaces, enabling lossless
communication between the FCoE switches and servers.
4. Configure VSANs and VFC interfaces.
5. Configure zones to control the access between servers and storage devices.
VFM also provides default DCBX parameter configuration and VSAN auto discovery functions,
allowing operators to easily manage fabrics.
• Default DCBX parameters—The default DCBX parameters are applicable to FCoE switches
and CEE interfaces when there are no customized DCBX settings. This facilitates and unifies
the configuration of DCBX parameters.
• VSAN auto discovery—Uses a seed switch to discover other FCoE switches and VSANs in a
fabric. It can help the operators quickly add a fabric to help operators quickly add a fabric
to VFM.
Default DCBX parameters
DCBX parameters ensure packets lossless forwarding between FCoE switches and servers /storage
devices. The parameters are configured in FCoE switches, and the FCoE switches send the DCBX
information to a server or storage adapter to support FCoE.
Figure 10 DCBX application scenario
In a fabric, DCBX parameters apply to FCoE frames and FIP frames.
Table 5 shows the required DCBX parameters on FCoE switches and application of these parameters
on the CNAs.
Default DCBX parameters 33