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Re: Upgradation of fc ports in rx8640 and san switch

 
Mehul5
Frequent Advisor

Upgradation of fc ports in rx8640 and san switch

Hello Everyone,

 

I would like to know that how I acn upgrade the fc ports in rx8640 server and also in san switch.

 

Currently we are having 4gbps fc port in rx8640 but we want to increase upto 8gbps.

 

What are the pre-requisites for that.

 

Regards,

Mehul

8 REPLIES 8
Patrick Wallek
Honored Contributor

Re: Upgradation of fc ports in rx8640 and san switch

On your rx8640 you will have to install a new fibre channel card in order to get 8 Gb fibre speed.

 

For the rx8640 the AH400A is the supported single port 8 Gb card and teh AH401A is a dual-port 8Gb card.

 

As far as your switch is concerned, you will have to check with the vendor.  If the switch is older, you may need a completely new fibre switch to get 8 Gb port speeds.

 

If you post the make and model of the switch we should be able to tell you more.

Mehul5
Frequent Advisor

Re: Upgradation of fc ports in rx8640 and san switch

Hi Patrick,

 

Thanks for the information you provided.

 

The model of the switch is Brocade5100 and it is a 40 port switch.

 

Also please tell what are the pre-requisites for upgrading the fc port in rx8640 server.

 

Regards,

Mehul Yadav

Patrick Wallek
Honored Contributor

Re: Upgradation of fc ports in rx8640 and san switch

It appears that the Brocade 5100 switch does support 8 Gbps fibre connections.  You would need to contact your switch support to see what, if anything, is required to run at 8 Gbps.  I don't think anything should be required, but I'm not a SAN switch expert.

 

Brocade 5100 info:

http://www.brocade.com/downloads/documents/data_sheets/product_data_sheets/5100-DS-04.pdf

 

As far as your rx8640 is concerned you would need to buy a new card and install it.  I would also download the latest fibre channel drivers to support that card from: 

 

https://h20392.www2.hp.com/portal/swdepot/displayProductInfo.do?productNumber=FibrChanl-01

 

The drivers can be installed prior to installing the new card in the server.

 

Lastly, after the card is installed, you may need to update any zoning in your switch or SAN so that the new WWNs are know so you can see your storage.

 

 

Mehul5
Frequent Advisor

Re: Upgradation of fc ports in rx8640 and san switch


Hi Patrick,

 

Thank you for the info but I still have one query, do I need to upgrade the server with the latest firmwares and also this server is in cluster so do I have to upgrade the service guard cluster also.

 

Please suugest.

 

Regards,

Mehul Yadav

Patrick Wallek
Honored Contributor

Re: Upgradation of fc ports in rx8640 and san switch

No, there should not be any need to update Service Guard. 

 

As far as system firmware goes, it may not be a bad idea to update it, especially if you are booting from SAN and wish to boot via the 8 Gb fibre cards.

Mehul5
Frequent Advisor

Re: Upgradation of fc ports in rx8640 and san switch

Hi Patrick,

 

Thank you so much for the information and help.

 

But the backend team is suggesting that we have to upgrade the service guard cluster also as we have A.11.18.00 version of service guard cluster.

 

Regards,

Mehul

Patrick Wallek
Honored Contributor

Re: Upgradation of fc ports in rx8640 and san switch

>>But the backend team is suggesting that we have to upgrade the service guard cluster also as we have A.11.18.00

 

Why?  Why do they think SG needs to be upgraded?  SG has nothing at all to do with storage.  As long as you can see all of your data SG doesn't care what they are running on.

Mehul5
Frequent Advisor

Re: Upgradation of fc ports in rx8640 and san switch

Hi Patrick,

 

Thank you for the reply but since I am going to upgrade the server's fc port will it not affect the data if anything goes wrong and since this server is in cluster won't it affect my cluster in case of any failure.

 

Regards,

Mehul