Method for replacing Brocade Switch

[ischurek]

We have EVA 8000 with 2 Fabrics 4100 attached implementing full redundancy at our whole SAN [Clients have 2 HBAs, 2 switches, etc] We have implemented Zoning on both Fabrics.

We would like to replace the 4100 32 ports with 4900 48 ports without taking down the clients, and storage. Any idea what is the best practice here?

Thanks
IS.

[Mark Poeschl_2 · Accepted solution]

Assuming you use WWID-based zoning you can do this:

1) Make sure new switches DO NOT have any zoning configuration in them.
2) Make sure new switches have a unique Domain ID (not matching any existing switch's Domain ID).
3) Make sure PID format is the same on both old and new switches
("configshow" and "configure" are the commands to display and change these values.)
4) Connect one new switch to one old switch
5) Verify that correct zoning configuration shows up in new switch
6) Move fiber connections one at a time from old switch to new switch. Traffic should automatically fail over to redundant fabric.
7) Once everything is migrated to first new switch repeat steps 4-6 for redundant fabric.

[ischurek]

We do not use the WWID-Based zoning. We are using port-based. Any idea what is the best way in this configuration?

Thanks
IS

[Sheldon Smith]

Make very sure each cable is marked with its current port number.

1) Make sure new switches DO NOT have any zoning configuration in them.
2) Make sure new switches have the same Domain ID as the switches they are replacing.
3) Make sure PID format is the same on both old and new switches ("configshow" and "configure" are the commands to display and change these values.)
4) Remove the cables from one 4100 switch. Traffic should automatically fail over to redundant fabric.
5) Shutdown and remove the switch.
6) Put the corresponding 4900 in its place. Connect it to one of the other old switches.
7) Verify that correct zoning configuration shows up in new switch.
8) Plug in all the cables that were removed from the old switch to the new switch.
9) Once everything is migrated to first new switch repeat steps 4-8 for redundant fabric.

[ischurek]

If I understand well in steps 6 you are referring to connect the switch to the 2nd â oldâ 4100, so actually this is the same steps as was mentioned in the previous method referring to WWID-based zoning.

Is it possible to use the "configupload" for 4100, and download the configuration by "configdownload" to 4900?

Thanks
IS

[Sheldon Smith]

Pretty much. I did not understand how many switches you have in your fabric at this time.

If you have four (or more) switches, such that you can replace one of each side of the fabric at a time, then you can simply unplug one, plug in its replacement, the zoning gets copied over from the others on that side of the fabric, and you replace the cables.

If you only have two switches to begin with, then you need to "configupload" from the old, and "configdownload" to the new. Which you can do ahead of time. If you have rack space, you can rack the new ones adjacent to the old ones, so you can just unplug a cable from the old and plug it into the corresponding port on the new.

[ischurek]

How can I be 100% sure that the configuplod and configdownload works good for 4100 to 4900. I am sure it goes well for the same box. I have not seen it in Brocde spec.

Thanks
IS

[Sheldon Smith]

Well, you can "configupload" from both the old and the new switches. The uploaded files are most (all?) text. What you really want is the zoning section from the bottom of the old config file copied over to the (presumably empty) zoning section of the new config file. Then send that back down to the new switch.

(Don't forget to assign points to responses that help.)

[ischurek]

Thanks