brocade interoperability mode

[Bob_Vance]

subject: brocade interoperability mode

While playing with a test environment involving Brocade 2800s (fw 2.6.1) and Cisco MDS916 and MDS9509, I discovered that "out of the box", the Brocades and Cisco wouldn't talk to each other.

However, research revealed the necessity for Brocade "interoperability mode".

After setting it ("interopmode 1" followed by reboot), the Brocades and Ciscos "linked up" just fine. The Cisco Fabric manager saw all the WWNs attached to the Brocades and everything was looking hunky-dory...

until I discovered that the devices attached to the Brocades would no longer communicate !!!!

I have a couple of HP-UX boxes and a 4/40 tape library attached to one of the Brocades. After enabling the interoperability mode on the switch, the HP boxes can no longer see the tape. After a hpux reboot, the devices have simply disappeared ('ioscan' shows no tape devices at all).

Simply disabling interoperability mode ("interopmode 0" followed by reboot) enables the hpux boxes to see the tape again (after an 'ioscan').

There is no zoning enabled on the switch (the zone configs shown in the config dump are not enabled).

I must be missing something simple. Any ideas would be appreciated.

I have attached the switch configuration.

tks
bv

[Crutescu Mircea_1]

Hello,

i have currently the same pb.

We have migrated our san to an EVA5000 and a VA7400, with a coreswitch 2/64 at 2Gb/s

On another site, we have a brocade 2800 connected to our library (galactica 6/60 and 4/40)

I have configured an ISL between the two switches, but i am not able to write to the galactica.

Have solved your problem ?


Thanks for the help

Vincent

PS : contact me at v.vaurette@unesco.org

[Uwe Zessin]

Vincent,
did the 2800 and the 2/64 even form a common fabric? Note that you need to the the 'core PID addressing' flag on the 2800.

[Brian Bleijenberg]

Hi Bob

In order to make the ISL between a Brocade and a cisco work, Be sure the filters on both switches on the ISL port are of the same value, ofcourse you will lose the VSAN feature (it's cisco only) you can find it inthe brocade user guide

Hope this helps
grtz Brian

[Bob_Vance]

Thanks guys.
I no longer have access to this hardware -- it's been replaced/removed.

However, the issue wasn't specifically the Brocade/Cisco link -- setting interoperability mode allowed this to happen.

The issue was: after setting the interoperability mode, the HP-UX boxes attached to the Brocade couldn't see the 4/40 tape drives attached to the same Brocade switch.

tks
bv

[Uwe Zessin]

According to the documentation the domain ID must be between 97..127 for interoperability. If you have changed the domain ID, then the old hardware paths on HP-UX are no longer valid.

[Bob_Vance]

Thanks.

Yes, the Domain IDs are(were) in the correct range. Simply turning off the interop mode on the Brocade without changing anything else allowed the tape drives to be seen again. I think that it had something to do with FC loop or Quickloop, but, again, I can't test it anymore.

Anyone else with a similar test setup, even without the Ciscos, can test/check it by setting interop mode on a Brocade.

tks
bv

[Uwe Zessin]

You got it! Quickloop is disabled!

[Bob_Vance]

OK.
You've got the cause --

now what's the solution ;>)

[Uwe Zessin]

A solution is in two easy steps:

1.) get rid of this stuff - you have done it already - good!

2.) become a gardener

;-)

[Francesco Ciacci]

I have the same problem, whith interopmode activated I cannot reach the devices attached to the briocade switch.
If I disable the interopmode all work fine.

What I can do?

Thanks

francesco

[Sheldon Smith]

Create a zone and put the devices in it. The set interopmode and reboot.

Activating INTEROPMODE forces the Brocade switches to change from wide-open mode to zone-only mode. It appears the assumption is the switch is being added to a big(?) fabric; for security reasons "we" don't want the devices on the Brocade switch popping up willy-nilly.

[Bob_Vance]

Thanks
(where were you 2 years ago ;>)

Of course, I am way past being able to test this anymore, but maybe it might help someone in the future.

bv