MSA1000 to Dell M600 Series Blade

[Micheal Wall]

Greetings!

I have been tasked with getting our MSA1000 SAN connected to several Dell M600 Series Blade servers using the FC Chasis module. However, I have been unsuccessful in getting a FC link light on the blade chasis. When I plug the MSA1000 into an old HP DL380, I immediately get a link light on the DL380. I can only assume that the problem I'm having is related to the FC module on the Dell M6xx chasis, but I refuse to believe that this won't work. What seems easier to believe is that I simply don't know what I'm doing wrong. Could someone point me in the right direction?

Very best regards.

[Uwe Zessin]

The MSA1000 has 4 different possibilities for I/O connectivity:

- a one-port pass-through module that transparently routes the controller's port to the outside for 1 or 2 GigaBit connectivity

- a (external) 2-port Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop hub

- a 6-port Fabric Switch that does not (as far as I know) operate with any other switch

- a 8-port Brocade-based Fabric Switch running old FOS V3 software

Depending on which firmware revision is installed on the MSA1000 controller module, it is also possible to lock it for Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop protocol on its host port.


Hope this helps a bit - good luck!

[Micheal Wall]

I apologize for the lack of information. It has a an 2/8 FC switch. I'm assuming that it is a Brocade based on the information you provided. However, the only markings I can find on it say "HP StorageWorks MSA SAN switch 2/8."

The revision number is 4.48.B342.

All of this is a bit over my head. I have a conceptual understand of how it's supposed to work. Do you have any suggestions for me?

Thanks so much for the reply.

[Johan Guldmyr]

Hey, this FC Chassi module in the M600 - is that a FC switch? Brocade too? If so, you would need to merge them into the same fabric.

You can log on to the 2/8 SAN switch at the back of the MSA1000 and check the CLI/web interface to see what is going on. Switchshow or errdump/errshow are two CLI commands that should give you some more information.