FCoE Cookbook for HP Virtual Connect Version 4.20 Firmware Enhancements May 2014

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FCoE VLAN cannot be configured as a native VLAN (the VLAN that carries untagged traffic on trunk ports, by default
VLAN 1).
Interfaces connecting to VC must be configured as trunk ports and STP edge ports.
For each Blade server, one vfc interface with MAC Binding must be defined because Virtual Connect is running in FIP
snooping mode.
NPIV support is required in FC switches that connect to the Nexus NP Ports.
When multiple NP ports belonging to the same Cisco VSAN are used to connect to the Brocade fabric, the Nexus uses
dynamic login distribution to load balance the server connections across all available NP uplinks. The NP uplink
interface with the minimum load is selected from the available NP uplinks as the external interface:
Different NP ports can be connected to different core switches as long as they belong to the same SAN Fabric.
When a NP uplink fails, the disrupted server connections re-login on other NP uplink.
Cisco Nexus SAN Port Channel and VSAN trunking features are not supported with Brocade/Qlogic SAN fabrics.
Since Brocade has no concept of VSANs, any VSANs can be connected to a Brocade fabric.
When Multiple VSANs are used, there are 2 options:
o If you want to assign servers to a specific FC interface: map one NP uplink to one VSAN.
o If you don’t need to assign servers to any specific FC interfaces: map all NP uplinks to all VSANs.
Since the Nexus is running in NPV mode, all zoning needs to be performed from the Brocade fabric.
Virtual Connect configuration
Before you configure the upstream switches, Virtual Connect requires the creation of an Active/Active configuration of
two converged Shared Uplink Sets (SUS). Refer to the Virtual Connect configuration section.
If you need to improve the Ethernet traffic service level control, refer to the Quality of Service in the Virtual Connect
Domain section.
Nexus configuration
Current NX-OS limitations
There is currently an NX-OS limitation with FCoE Port Channels on Cisco Nexus 5000 and 5500 series. When a Port
Channel is carrying FCoE traffic, all interfaces of this port channel must belong to the same Nexus Unified Port Controller
(UPC) ASIC. At this time, it is not supported to configure an FCoE port channel across different Unified Port Controllers.
For more information, see Appendix A.
Note: These limitations will be removed in a future NX software release.
Details about the configuration:
NPV mode is used.
Interfaces eth1/5 and eth1/6 are connected to the VC modules thought FCoE using a port channel po200.
Interfaces eth1/17 are connected to the datacenter LAN.