HP Virtual Connect Fibre Channel Networking Scenarios Cookbook

Considerations

A multipathing I/O driver must be running on the server Operating System to prevent server I/O disruption when a

failure occurs somewhere between VC and the external fabric. This automatic failover allows smooth transition

without much disruption to the traffic. However, the hosts must perform re-login before resuming their I/O

operations. Only a redundant SAN fabric with a properly configured multipathing I/O driver running on the server

Operating System can provide a completely transparent transition.

The SAN switch ports connecting to the VC-FC modules must be configured to accept NPIV logins. Due to the use of

NPIV, special features that are available in standard FC switches such as ISL Trunking, QoS or extended distances are

not supported with VC-FC and VC FlexFabric.

Requirements

This configuration requires:

 Four VC Fabric-Attach SAN fabrics with two SAN switches that support NPIV

 At least two VC-FC modules

 A minimum of four VC fabric uplink ports connected to the redundant SAN fabric.

For more information about configuring FC switches for NPIV, see "Appendix C: Brocade SAN switch NPIV

configuration" or "Appendix D: Cisco MDS SAN switch NPIV configuration" or "Appendix E: Cisco NEXUS SAN switch

NPIV configuration" depending on your switch model.

Additional information, such as over subscription rates and server I/O statistics, is important to help with server

workload distribution across VC-FC ports.

Installation and configuration

Switch configuration

Appendices B, C and D provide the steps required to configure NPIV on the upstream SAN switch in a Brocade, Cisco

MDS or Cisco Nexus Fibre Channel infrastructure.

VC CLI commands

In addition to the GUI, you can complete many of the configuration settings within VC using a CLI command set. In

order to connect to VC via a CLI, open an SSH connection to the IP address of the active VCM. Once logged in, VC

provides a CLI with help menus. The Virtual Connect CLI guide also provides many useful examples. The following

scenario provides the CLI commands needed to configure each setting of the VC.

Configuring the VC module

 Physically connect the uplink ports on the first VC-FC module to switch port in SAN Fabric 1

 Physically connect the uplink ports on the second VC-FC module to switch port in SAN Fabric 2

Defining a new VC SAN Fabric using the GUI

Configure the VC-FC modules from the HP Virtual Connect Manager home screen: