HP Virtual Connect 4Gb Fibre Channel Module cabling

[Osama Odeh_1]

can we connect the left four external four port to san switch A
and connect the right external four port to san switch b

thnx
o.odeh

[Adrian Clint · Accepted solution]

Yes thats the usual way.

[JKytsi]

And even better if switch A = fabric_A and switch B = fabric_B

[Osama Odeh_1]

fine; what about the performance when we connect the left four external uplinks to fabric_A the four external uplinks to fabric_B

or using two from left and two from right

[Ken Krubsack]

We have 4 enclosures configured that way and not seen any performance issues... even with one enclosure having 8 VM hosts and another one with 5.

[Osama Odeh_1]

we used for long period only tw cables from left two fabric_a and two from right to fabric_b
on production ;
but what happend before two days I connected aditional 2 cable from left to fabric_a(totally 4 cables) and aditional 2 cable from right to fabric_b(totally 4 cables) and add them to SAN profile on VC manager
but acritical problem occured that many of our VMs on vmware hosted on san cannot respnde for seconds this happend after 10 minute of cabling . then I minimize configuration to use only 2 fromleft and 2 from right .and the problem disappear.

[The Brit]

Points to remember when creating VC SANs,

1. The ports in a VC SAN must all come from the same module.

2. The ports in a VC SAN must all connect to the same FABRIC.

Example 1.
VC SAN Fabric
FC Module 1

Port 1 --> SAN_1 ---> Fabric_A
Port 2 --> SAN_1 ---> Fabric_A
Port 3 --> SAN_1 ---> Fabric_A
Port 4 --> SAN_1 ---> Fabric_A

FC Module 2

Port 1 --> SAN_2 ---> Fabric_B
Port 2 --> SAN_2 ---> Fabric_B
Port 3 --> SAN_2 ---> Fabric_B
Port 4 --> SAN_2 ---> Fabric_B

Example 2:

FC Module 1

Port 1 --> SAN_A1 ---> Fabric_A
Port 2 --> SAN_A1 ---> Fabric_A
Port 3 --> SAN_B1 ---> Fabric_B
Port 4 --> SAN_B1 ---> Fabric_B

FC Module 2

Port 1 --> SAN_A2 ---> Fabric_A
Port 2 --> SAN_A2 ---> Fabric_A
Port 3 --> SAN_B2 ---> Fabric_B
Port 4 --> SAN_B2 ---> Fabric_B

Both of these configurations obey the rules (we actually use Example 2 since it provides redundancy in the event of a SAN Switch/Fabric failure)

Dave

[The Brit]

One other thing, check that any additional SAN Switch ports that you use (for the additional FC connections) are correctly zoned (if zoning is in use), and check that they have NPIV enabled.

Dave

[The Brit]

I notice that you have marked the thread indicating that you have found the answer. Could you post the solution, so that it can benefit other users.

You might also want to assign points, if appropriate. (it encourages people to help.)

Dave.