Do I need to virtual connect Fibre channel module ?

[anand narine]

Hi all
My c7000 came with 2 Brocade 4/24 san switches. How does this differ from the VC-Fc modules ? Do I need the VC-Fc modules if I want to connect the blade servers to a MSA2312fc ?

[The Brit]

No. The SAN switch and the VC Module are two independent solutions for connecting blades to SAN Storage.

You must however, make sure that the HBA (Mezz card) in your blades is on the appropriate slot to talk to the SAN Switches.

Mezz slot 1 talks to IC Bays 3 & 4.
Mezz slot 2 talks to IC Bays 5 & 6 (plus 7 & 8 if the card is a 4-port card)

(see attachment)

Hope this helps.

Dave.

[anand narine]

My blades have only one mezzanine card each.
This provides each blade with 2 virtual HBAs.
Correct me if i'm wrong but I beleive that you cannot use the Virtual connect module to connect to the MSA2312. The blades should be able to connect to the MSA via the brocade switch and a VC-fc is not needed.

[The Brit]

Correct.

You can connect to the MSA2312fc with Virtual Connect, however you would require an external SAN switch to act as intermediary.

the 4/24 SAN switch performs the same function as an external SAN Switch so VC FC modules are not required.

NOTE: Virtual connect provides a much different and more flexible solution and is completely independent of the non-VC solutions such as 4/34 blade SAN switches

HTH

Dave.