SAN Fabric Merge - first ever merge

[Davis McNeill]

Currently we have two dual-fabric SANs which we wish to merge into 1 dual fabric SAN.
History
All switches are Brocade, firmware version & PID formats are confirmed as compatable.
SAN 1 (EVA_SAN) consists of one brocade 4100 switch
SAN 2 (HGS_SAN) consists of 2 brocade 2800/3900 switches.

What steps do I need to take to merge the EVA SAN into the existing HSG_SAN?

We named the configs the same on all fabrics(both SANs) Do I need to rename the EVA_SAN Fabric cfg? Disable it? Or just delete that CFG an rezone the aliases/hosts on the current fabrics(HSG_SAN)

Any guidence and 'gotchas' are appreciated.

-Glen

[Steven Clementi]

Glen:

Seems like you covered a lot of things already.

First, make sure your 2800's PID format is 1. Sounds like you did this already, but just to make sure.

Since you have matching config names, as long as there are no duplicate zone names and/or aliases, you should be ok to do a merge.

If you can wipe the config on the 4100, that would be even better, but should not be necessary. If you like zoning admin work, then you might want to just wipe the config and re-do it. It's up to you though.

Last step is basically just putting in the ISL.

What type of servers/OS do you have in your SAN's?

There are some issues with PID format changes, but I thik you got that covered already. Let us know.

What are the switch firmware versions currently?

Do one fabric at a time, make sure things are working before you start the second fabric.

Steven

[Davis McNeill]

Thanks Steven,

Yes I have verified the PID formats & I I ran the Fabric Merge check utility from Brocade(great tool - I use it and SAN Health Utility often). It had errored on the CFG nams being the same. I plan on renaming the cfg on the EVA_SAN fabric over the weekend, and rerunning the merge-check, but that should not adversly affect the environment as long as I do one fabric at a time.

Swith fw ver =
2800 2.6.2d
3900 5.0.1d
4100 5.0.1d

OS's
EVA_SAN
W2k3, Linux(rehdat)

HSG_SAN
W2k3, Tru64, OpenVMS

Have verified reccomended HBA driver versions on all hosts w/HP support

** we will not be zoning hosts to both the EVA and HSG arrays.

Any idea, how long the topology update takes when you add the new switch to the fabric? Any perf impact?

Also what about designating a 'primary switch? Would like the 4100 to be the root switch on the fabrics after the merge?

Thanks again, -Glen

[Steven Clementi]

First, you do not need to disable the zone config to rename it. That will save you 1 step.

Any idea, how long the topology update takes when you add the new switch to the fabric? Any perf impact?

It should not take long at all. As long as the fabric merge goes ok, it should complete within a minute or so, or less. it only takes about 10 to 15 seconds for the switches to join. You should have relatively no perf impact at all. There will be a slight inturruption as the fabrics merge, but it should no effect local traffic.

Also what about designating a 'primary switch? Would like the 4100 to be the root switch on the fabrics after the merge?

There is not much that you can do. The "principal" switch is elected by finding the lowest Switch WWID on all the switches in the fabric. To force the 4100 to become the principal, you might need to shutdown the 2800/3800's (reboot them). Depends on the wwid's of all three switches though.


Steven

[Steven Clementi]

Also, once merged....

You should only make zoning changes from the 4100's interface.

If you have to admin the 2800, you may have some issues with java(using the web gui) if you use the same management station as you use for the 3900/4100's. You probably have experienced this already. Might be easier to just use telnet for the 2800.


Steven