SAN zoning with 4gb FC VC modules

[Jonathan Paul_1]

I am looking for advice on san zoning with 4gb fc virtual connect modules.
I have:
c7000 with 4 bl680's
eva4400
4 vc-enet and 2 4gb vc fc modules
2 hp brocade san switches

Obviously this is in test phase, but currently I just have one zone on each switch. Created an alias for all 6 wnn's and put them all in a single zone. From what I have read this is not best practice, but am confused on how things works with the virtual connects.

Do I want 5 zones on each switch ? One zone (4 total) for each wnn coming out of the hba and then another for the 2 connections to the SAN ?

Any advice is appreciated!

[Uwe Zessin]

Create single-initiator (=blade) / single-target (= EVA-4400 controller-port) zones - so a total of 8 zones per fabric. This is:
1. required for the EVA-4400
2. today's best practice

[Jonathan Paul_1]

Thanks for the response, that is where I was going from what I had read, but wanted to verify. One question I do have is that I currently only have six cables plugged into each san switch and you mentioned 8 zone, with 6 cables wouldn't I only have six zones ?

And then currently when I do a portshow 'portnumber' on my san switches, I see 2 wnn's logged into each of the initiator ports, is this because I am using virtual connects ?

[Uwe Zessin]

Cables?

You wrote you have four BL680c. If each one has an FC mezzanine card it means 4 WWNs per fabric. These are the initiators.

The EVA-4400 has two controllers, each with two host ports. C1/Port_1 and C2/Port_1 go into the first fabric - C1/Port_2 and C2/Port_2 go into the second fabric. Those are two target WWNs per fabric.

BL1/1->C1/1
BL1/1->C2/1
BL2/1->C1/1
BL2/1->C2/1
BL3/1->C1/1
BL3/1->C2/1
BL4/1->C1/1
BL4/1->C2/1
---------
eight zones in first fabric.

BL1/2->C1/2
BL1/2->C2/2
BL2/2->C1/2
BL2/2->C2/2
BL3/2->C1/2
BL3/2->C2/2
BL4/2->C1/2
BL4/2->C2/2
---------
eight zones in second fabric.


My guess is that you have aggregated two initiator ports on that VC port. Can you store the output of the 'portshow' command in a little .TXT file and attach it?

[Jonathan Paul_1]

Attached is the portshow for 2 of the 4 ports that are connected to the vc modules.


Ok things are starting to make sense, your diagram really helps. So if this sounds right I think I am on the right track.

Create 8 zones per switch. In each zone place 2 aliases, one initiator and a san target, obviously giving each initiator a link to both san targets on each switch, resulting in a total of 8 zones.

[Steven Clementi]

In some/most cases it is also acceptable to create only four zones..

z1:Blade1, ControllerAport1, ControllerBPort1
z2:Blade2, ControllerAport1, ControllerBPort1
z3:Blade3, ControllerAport1, ControllerBPort1
z4:Blade4, ControllerAport1, ControllerBPort1

This would require a little less management and should not cause any zoning related problems, at the cost of less granular control over singling out a specific path to your storage.

Either way works well and I have never see any issues with this since technically it is the same storage array. Just don;t mix storage arrays and/or tape devices in the same zones.


Steven

[Uwe Zessin]

Steven, there is an EVA-4400 involved...

[Steven Clementi]

I am all for better, more granular control over my SAN environment.

;o)