Adding a new Brocade SAN Switch

[Rob Buxton]

Hi All,
Thought I'd ask the experts before going ahead with this.
We have two fabric switches ( 2/16ELs running 3.2.1b) These are separated by two MPRs and a number of other switches. We want to replace these two switches with new 4/8 SAN Switches. At the moment these are running version 5.3.0 but we are thinking of upgrading these to 6.1 before starting.

From reading various documents and forums it seems that at each end of the link I should just be able to connect the new switch to the old one and then let the zoning information propagate to the new 4/8 SAN Switch.
Is this correct?

Apart from items like IP address etc. do I need to configure anything else - DomainID for instance or do I leave everything unconfigured?

Any issues with adding a fabric switch running 6.2 (or the older 5.3) to a fabric switch running the older 3.2.1 firmware?

The zoning info on the existing switches is all LSAN zones that allows the two EVAs to replicate.

TIA
Rob.

[IBaltay]

Hi,

this thread can help regarding to the new switches addition:
http://forums12.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=1252158

the firmware 3.2.1b can be upgraded only to the 3.2.1c which is latest

there are 2 current/latest firmware lines:
a) 5.3.1a
b) 6.1.0c

[Rob Buxton]

Thanks - I'd not spotted that thread.
These threads do refer to similar switches. Any known issues going from the older switches to the new?

Would it be worth upgrading the old switches from 3.2.1b to 3.2.1c before the merge?

[IBaltay · Accepted solution]

Hi,
the 3.2.1b is still active (jul 06), and 3.2.1c (jun 07) is recommended. So you can live with the current firmware.
There are some 2/16EL limitations
a) only 1 storage front port on a single switch or if needed it should be separated into the next quad (with max 3 EVA 3K/5k/4k/6k/8k Front ports).
b) not to be a part of the core fabric (only edge switches)
c) only HBA connection from each host

[IBaltay]

Hi,
(little errata in c) only 1 HBA connection from each host :-)

[Rob Buxton]

Thanks for the advice, the aim is to replace the 2/16EL's. So we'll link the new switch to the fabric making sure it has a unique domainID. Let the Zone info propagate.
Migrate the CommandView Server, MPR Link and EVA connections across and then remove the link to the 2/16EL.

There will be a brief outage on the data replication link, but we can live with that.

Just needed to make sure that 3.2.1b and 6.1.0 can live together for the short time it takes us to move and test stuff.

[IBaltay]

Hi,
only to be perfectly sure for CA replication (assumed) to have the APTPOLICY set to 1 (port base routing - static) especialy on the new switches which have the default APTPOLICY set to 3 (exchange base routing -dynamic). This setting should be applied to all switches:
http://h200003.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?lang=de&cc=de&taskId=110&prodSeriesId=471548&prodTypeId=12169&objectID=c00590193

[IBaltay]

Hi,
it is better to use the new Brocades for the ISL links because e.g. they have 4Gb ports and the best is to use any newer Core switches (Directors), which are more powerful and modular (ISL trunks) then edge switches

[Rob Buxton]

Switches merged without problems.