HP Virtual Connect Dual Hop FCOE to Cisco Nexus

[wwalker327]

I just updated our firmware up to 4.01 and I am trying to get FCOE configured on our 10GB uplinks.  We currently have two 10GB upplinks per HP Virtual Connect 10GB/24 up to Cisco Nexus 55XX series switches.  So each interconnect bay has an A and a B side switch uplink and are in a VPC.  All the ethernet works great and all ports show "Linked/Active".  However the FCOE shows as degraded and shows this error:

Fcoe network Network_FCOEA has mismatched switch IP 1.1.1.1 1.1.1.2;

Fcoe network Network_FCOEB has mismatched switch IP 1.1.1.1 1.1.1.2

Is there anything special I have to do on the blade side to get dual hop FCOE working?  Or is there something special our network guys need to do to get this working?

Thanks,

William

[wwalker327]

Also does NPIV need to be enabled on the Cisco Nexus ports the 10GB uplinks are connected to?   They are connected to Cisco Nexus 55XX series switch to the unified ports via a twinax cable.

Thanks,

William

[Casper42]

You can't cross the uplinks in vPC mode when using Dual Hop.

The reason is FC traffic is now passed upstream as a VLAN.

If the left side of VC and Left Nexus switch are SAN_A, then the uplink from VC1 to NX2 will be receiving SAN_A traffic instead of the SAN_B it expects, and vice versa.

So with Dual Hop FCoE, at least for now, you need to have VC Bay 1 uplinks all connected to the same physical Nexus Switch, and same for VC Bay 2 to the other Nexus.

NPIV, I don't remember from my limited traning in March but there is a newly released Dual Hop FCoE CookBook that should walk you through the entire process.  Since only NX5K are currently qualified, the examples should all be there for how to configure both sides.

http://bizsupport1.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c03808925/c03808925.pdf

PS: Please post back whether even if you get this working as I am sure others will be along right behind you with similar questions.  Thx.