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Re: Creating a fabric with Storageworks 4/64 switches

 
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jeffturl_1
Advisor

Creating a fabric with Storageworks 4/64 switches

I have a couple of 4/64 switches, and was looking to add additional switches to create a fabric, at the moment the two switches are independant of each other with each having its own zoning infomation.

I want to add two more 4/64 switches to create two fabrics, so keeping the current zoning infomation. Are there any documents on how to do this? all switches are 4/64 base models do i need any license to put them into a fabric?

Regards
Jeff
13 REPLIES 13
Johan Guldmyr
Honored Contributor

Re: Creating a fabric with Storageworks 4/64 switches

Hey, as for license, you can see in here:

http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/12345_div/12345_div.HTML

If you look at the details of which are included in the power pack license.

Depending on what you want to do, how close they are etc, you may want ISL trunking. But it's not necessary to create one ISL (not trunked then).

As for merging a new switch to a fabric, one way to do it is to do a configupload from the original switch, then configdownload the config on the new switch. (not all settings are in the config file though, it's text based so you can have a peak - I think IP, hostname, unique domain id, etc are not so you need to set those up first). Then you just need to put a cable between the switches, in an e_port, and you should be good to go :)

This guide looks pretty good actually:

http://networkadminkb.com/kb/Knowledge%20Base/SAN/How%20to%20merge%20two%20Brocade%20fabrics.aspx
jeffturl_1
Advisor

Re: Creating a fabric with Storageworks 4/64 switches

Thanks for the responce, the link for merging the switches was most useful. The switches will be located in the same cab. What i am trying to achieve is expand the existing standalone 4/64 to get extra ports, so i was thinking i could add an additional switch (same model) and put an ISL link bewteen them, so the zoning info will get copied to the new switch. Do i need a seperate license then to do this? am i correct in assuming best practice would be to have 2 ISL links between the two switches. would this then achieve what i want? the new switches to be added to the existing ones will not have any configuration on them when added to the existing ones.
Johan Guldmyr
Honored Contributor

Re: Creating a fabric with Storageworks 4/64 switches

Yes, if you add an empty switch and put an ISL between them it will copy the zoning database. But if the original switch has non-default default zoning or time out values (E_A_TOV for example) then it will not merge and you will get an error in errshow/switchshow saying what is not compatible.

If you put two ISLs between the switches they will not trunk unless you have the trunking license.
jeffturl_1
Advisor

Re: Creating a fabric with Storageworks 4/64 switches

what is the difference between an ISL link and a trunk link?

looking at the existing 4/64 the licenseshow comes back with the following:

Fabric license
First Ports on Demand license - additional 16 port upgrade license

To be honest i was expecting to see a zoning license as well, anyway i assume the existing switch already has the necessary fabric license needed?
Johan Guldmyr
Honored Contributor
Solution

Re: Creating a fabric with Storageworks 4/64 switches

An ISL is just one inter-switch-link.
An ISL trunk is at least two links, uses two SFPs on each switch, with loadbalancing etc.

Here is a brochure from brocade about ISL trunking:

http://www.brocade.com/downloads/documents/data_sheets/product_data_sheets/ISLTrunking_DS_07.pdf

Yeah, you shouldn't need any extra licenses.

Here is some more info about the zoning license:

http://community.brocade.com/thread/3285
jeffturl_1
Advisor

Re: Creating a fabric with Storageworks 4/64 switches

thanks for all your posts they have been most useful. i did not know that about the trunking/ISL links. i suppose the next question is how do you know if there is congestion on a single ISL link and need to upgrade to a trunk and use multiple ISL's? are there any good free monitoring tools from HP?

My existing switch has a fabric license, so i will need a fabric license on the new switch to create a fabric. without a fabric license i presumably can't create E-ports?

I notice on an old brocade switch it has a 2 domain fabric license, what does this allow?

Regards
Jeff
Johan Guldmyr
Honored Contributor

Re: Creating a fabric with Storageworks 4/64 switches

No problem jeff :)

I suspect that the 2 domain license only allows for a fabric with two switches.
Each switch is often one domain. It is identified by a unique domain id - DID.

I don't know of an HP tool that does monitoring to identify congestion etc.
Brocade has some features with toptalker/fabric watch but they are not free.
But you can for example use SNMP and cacti to monitor the traffic on the switches.

Oh, right, I almost forgot: check out HP DCFM - It's a JAVA based tool that you can use to monitor.
The free version (DCFM Professional) however only manages one fabric at a time.
jeffturl_1
Advisor

Re: Creating a fabric with Storageworks 4/64 switches

Thanks i will have a look at the DCFM.

One final question, are HP licenses transferable? i.e if we bought a second hand 4/64 (as they are EOL now) and we bought AG457A#ABA 4/64 FULL would all ports be useable? or if the previous owner had a power pack license would this be transferred if we bought a switch with the license already on it?

Regards
Jeff
Johan Guldmyr
Honored Contributor

Re: Creating a fabric with Storageworks 4/64 switches

I'm unsure.

I believe the license is tied to the serial number/wwn of the switch. If you want to transfer it you would need to do it via HP or Brocade = might get tricky.