Virtual Connect fiber module and CISCO MDS 9000

[Jan Mietle]

Hi
Has done any SAN zoning using Fabric Manager (Cisco MDS 9000) and the Virtual Connect modules for the C-class blades? The reason I'm asking is that I've got the Virtual Connect FC module set up to use Virtual Connect assigned WWN addresses, yet in fabric manager I see the WWN's of the Emulex cards on the actual blade and this isn't what I expected. Is there a problem with the VC-FC module, or am I missing something?

Does anyone have a quick step by step guide on how the zoning should be done in Fabric manager?

Any input would be appreciated.

Best regards,

Jan

[HEM_2]

Jan

I'm not familiar with zoning in fabric manager but the actual WWN's shouldn't be showing up if you have set VC-FC to "Use Virtual Connect assigned WWN Addresses"

There is a newer version of firmware out for the VC-FC module. You might try upgrading and see if it makes a difference:

http://h18023.www1.hp.com/support/files/server/us/download/27078.html

[Jan Mietle]

Hi Hem
Thanks for your suggestion. It's my understanding as well that WWN should be a Virtual Connect assigned one as well.

"Unfortunately" I'm already running the latest firmware 1.15a, but thanks for the suggestion.

I've also tried recreating and reconfiguring the FC modules, but to no avail. (My Ethernet connection got corrupted by a firmware upgrade, and albeit it all looked ok in Virtual Connect, it wasn't passing the traffic corrently. Something for the other people out there ;-))

Jan

[Wezley Hunter · Accepted solution]

Jan,
I have come across this issue before but with the qlogic cards but noticed the reason was that the minimum supported firmware revision of the HBA was 1.16 and not 1.26 for OBA FW 1.30 and VC-ETH FW 1.15a and VC-FC FW 1.02. When creating server profiles via the VC assigned WWNs it looked like the VC module couldnt assign the virtual WWNs and so the adapter would fall back to using its burnt it address instead. Updating to the latest HBA FW fixed the problem I had with that. Just got a different issue now :(

Verify that the HBA firmware of the Emulex HBA mezzanines are in line with the versions listed on:
http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/blades/components/c-class-compmatrix.html
-----
Emulex boot-pair 6.00a2 (with BIOS 3.00a4) and 3.2a1 HBAnywhere or later

[Jan Mietle]

That was it!!! I'd upgraded all the firmware (using the firmaware CD 7.80) and that doesn't include the firmware for the Emulex LPe 1105 HBAs... Grrr. In the end I had to create a DOS boot disk and put both the new firmware and the HBA bios onto it and flash them all manually. What a pain in the backside to do manually on the blades.

HP, may I suggest that you include a server blade firmware utility in the Onboard Administrator?

I had also logged a call with HP and it's shocking that a newsgroup is better support than a fully paid (and costly) support contract.

Points allocated ;-)

Best regards,

Jan

[Jan Mietle]

Wezley Hunter's suggestion pointed me to looking at the Emulex firmware and BIOS secifically.