Fibre Channel IP Address on a san switch

[medali.benchaabane]

Is it possible to set an IP address for the Fibre Channel IP Address on a san switch?

Is it possible to telnet to this address and mange the switch ?

[medali.benchaabane]

just to clarify why. the ethernet port is broken and i can't access the switch

[Jonathan Harris_3]

Not exactly sure what you're asking.

You can not assign an IP address to a fibre port.

However, your switch should have an ethernet port that will allow you to connect it to your IP network. Once you've assigned an address to this port, you can then telnet in to the switch to manage it (provided your switch is setup for telnet access).

[Uwe Zessin]

Yes, it is possible to set an IP address to access the switch in-band (Fibre Channel) via IP, but:

- you need to do that in advance
- the address must be on a different subnet
- you need another switch to act as a router
- you to hack a route to the router switch
- ?whatever I have forgotten since I played with it years ago :-(

[Jonathan Harris_3]

Ah, I see.

You'll need to read the manual to see if you've got anything like a console port. As far as I'm aware, fibre channel ports do not support in-band management.

[Jonathan Harris_3]

Uwe,

Do you have any documents detailing how to assign an IP address to a fibre port?

[Uwe Zessin]

Huh? That is not what I meant!
You do not assign an IP address to a physical FC port.

You can use "ipaddrset" to assign a separate IP address to an internal 'pseudo port'. To reach this port, you need a second FC switch to act as a router between its LAN port, its 'IP/FC pseudo port' and the FC network.

There are drivers available today which allow to talk IP over FC (IPFC), but I have never tried to access a switch that way.

[Frantisek Kysela]

Hi,
on cisco mds you can assign ip address to vsan interface (not to physical fibre channel port) and access managements via IPFC protocol. In this case you also need allow ip routing in this box. Then you will be able manage all san switches through only connected management port.

Frantisek

[kris rombauts]

I tried it once for the very same reason (Ethernet port defective) on a old Brocade 2800 switch using a dedicated FC HBA in a server and all IP testing worked just fine i.e. i could ping but no telnet. I think inbound switch management via fibre is not a feature that is implemented, at least not on the older switches at the time.

Kris

[Matt Burgess]

I've used this, but never for telnet. My understanding is that the in-band managemnet is implemneted for use with Brocade Fabric Manager (and possible Web Tools).

ie. One switch has a 'real' ip address and you access that one. It in turn gives you in-band management of all of the devices in the fabric.

If you have a faulty ip port I would suggest having a serial cable connected and using remote desktop/SSH to a nearby pc.

[Cass Witkowski]

On an old StorageWorks San switch you may have to set up the IP address, subnet mask, speed and gateway address on the front LCD display and reboot the switch for the ethernet to work.