VC FlexFabric 3.51 with 1 VC Domain and 3 enclosures question

[chuckk281]

Terri had a configuration question:

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I have a customer configuration with VC FlexFabric v3.51 with 1 VC Domain and 3 enclosures that shows VC SAN degraded because 3rd enclosure won't have SAN connection

This is normal behavior. The question is, any workaround to prevent VCM from reporting the SAN fabric as degraded.

Configuration: 3 enclosures in one VC domain. All with FlexFabric. Enc0 & Enc1 do have SAN connectivity from the FlexFabric. Enc2 does not have SAN connectivity and will not have SAN connectivity – Encl2 needs Virtual Connect Ethernet traffic only.

Customer does not have VCEM. When you configure the VC SAN in VCM, it will automatically populate all 3 enclosures (such as picking icbay 1, X1 for instance). There is no option to exclude one enclosure from the VC SAN fabric.

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Input from James:

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There is no workaround.  As you stated, in a Multi-Enclosure System (MES) environment it will grab that X1 link in all 3 enclosures.  You cannot change it.

The only way to prevent this would be to have a solo enclosure (no SAN), and a 2 enclosure MES (SAN).

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And from Chris:

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As James stated, you must have a VC-FC module in the same I/O bays in all enclosures, otherwise you will have failed links.  The reason why this behaves this way is because VC-FC modules have no stacking capabilities, unlike the Ethernet Modules.  The Multi-Enclosure Stacking Whitepaper outlines this requirement.  The only resolution is to remove this 3rd slave enclosure and put it in its own VC Domain.

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Any other questions or input?