Cisco MDS ISL Question

[Heather O'Neil]

Hi All,

I am getting ready to add an ISL (via FCIP) between our primary data center and our DR site. There is one Cisco 9506 with an IPS line card at each site. What's the best way to create the E port without causing the fabrics to merge? We do not want the fabrics to merge at all, we simply want to access a FC attached tape drive at the remote site via IVR.

I seem to remember that by default the MDS switches have trunking enable when creating an E port. Is this correct? I only want one VSAN at the primary site to be able to talk across the ISL to another VSAN at the DR site. Again, I don't want any other VSANs or fabric merge.

Any ideas on how best to approach this?

Thanks so much in advance!

-Heather