cisco alias management

Question

I know how to create alias' for new host/wwn attachments to our cisco 9513 directors but I don't know how to 'change' the alias name for an existing wwn alias. the only commands I can find in the manuals refer to setting alias on a new wwn: the sequence of commands to set the initial alias/: config t device-alias database device-alias name alias_name pwwn 10:00:00:00:c9:73:a1:34 device-alias commit if I try to enter in a new alias for a wwn that already has an alias present, I get the error 'alias already present' and it doesn't take the new alias name I want to assign.

Smiley6 · Accepted Answer

Hello. Since you are doing the 'device-alias', you can run the following commands to change the name of your device alias:Example: MDS9506-01# show device-alias database device-alias name x335-1 pwwn 21:01:00:e0:8b:b0:72:17Total number of entries = 1MDS9506-01# config terminalEnter configuration commands, one per line. End with CNTL/Z.MDS9506-01(config)# device-alias database MDS9506-01(config-device-alias-db)# device-alias rename x335-1 x335-1-new MDS9506-01(config-device-alias-db)# exitMDS9506-01(config)# device-alias commit MDS9506-01(config)# endMDS9506-01# sho device-alias database device-alias name x335-1-new pwwn 21:01:00:e0:8b:b0:72:17Total number of entries = 1MDS9506-01#

dynamox · Answer

how about: fcalias rename current-name new-name vsan vsanid

jimkunysz · Answer

yes, that worked!I'm so used to the quality of EMC documentation that the cisco documentation leaves something to be desired.Thanks.

kmcintyre1 · Answer

One more last question:  Is renaming a device-alias disruptive to the hosts?  Can it be done online? Thanks!

hersh1 · Answer

It is a non-disruptive change so it can be done online.

airxpress · Answer

hershal wrote:It is a non-disruptive change so it can be done online. I cant seem to find this in any documentation stating that it is non-disruptive.  Can anyone show me where this can be found?  Thanks

hersh1 · Answer

I'm not really sure it will specfically say anywhere that its non-disruptive. The logic on why this is the case is because zones contain WWNs and NOT device-aliases. The GUI and CLI simply display the device-alias instead of the WWN as a reference.  Therefore changing the device-alias doesn't change the zoning and thus no outage.

airxpress · Answer

Even when operating in enhanced mode?

Device alias supports two modes: basic and enhanced mode.

• When device alias runs in the basic mode, all applications function like the applications on the 3.0

switches. When you configure the basic mode using device aliases, the application immediately

expands to pWWNs. This behavior continues until the mode is changed to enhanced.

• When device alias runs in the enhanced mode, all applications accept the device-alias configuration

in the native format. The applications store the device alias name in the configuration and distribute

it in the device alias format instead of expanding to pWWN. The applications track the device alias

database changes and take actions to enforce it.

From my understanding if I were to rename the device-alias it will update the zones as well.

ajbarth · Answer

when renaming a device-alias in enhanced mode, any zones which have it as a member will get updated.

Connectrix

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