Cisco Nexus 5000 Series Switch Fabric Manager Software Configuration Guide, NX-OS 4.0 (OL-16598-01, June 2008)

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17-5
Nexus 5000 Series Switch Fabric Manager Software Configuration Guide
OL-16598-01
Chapter 17 Distributing Device Alias Services
Device Alias Databases
About Device Alias Distribution
By default, device alias distribution is enabled. The device alias feature uses CFS to distribute the
modifications to all switches in a fabric.
If device alias distribution is disabled, database changes are not distributed to the switches in the fabric.
The same changes would have to be performed manually on all switches in the fabric to keep the device
alias database up-to-date. Database changes immediately take effect, so there would not be any pending
database and commit or abort operations either. If you have not committed the changes and you disable
distribution, then a commit task will fail.
The following example displays a failed device alias status:
Distributing the Device Alias Database
To enable the device alias distribution using Fabric Manager, perform this task:
Step 1 Expand End Devices, and then choose Device Alias in the Physical Attributes pane.
You see the device alias configuration in the Information pane as shown in Figure 17-2.
Figure 17-2 Device Aliases in Fabric Manager
Step 2 Click the CFS tab.
Step 3 Choose enable from the Feature Admin column to enable switch aliases.
Step 4 Choose commitChanges from the Config Action column for the newly enabled switches.
Step 5 Click Apply Changes to commit and distribute these changes, or click Undo Changes to discard any
unsaved changes.
About Creating a Device Alias
When you perform any device alias configuration task (regardless of which device alias task), the fabric
is automatically locked for the device alias feature. Once you lock the fabric, the following situations
apply:
• No other user can make any configuration changes to this feature.
• A copy of the effective database is obtained and used as the pending database. Subsequent
modifications are made to the pending database. The pending database remains in use until you
commit the modifications to the pending database or discard (abort) the changes to the pending
database.