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January 17th, 2008 08:00
NPIV protocol on a silkworm 3900 series switch
Our company has just purchased it's first "C" class HP blade environment. We currently only have Brocade 12.4 switch type (Silkworm 3900 Series) switches. The switches are at os level v4.2.2. Will these support NPIV? and if so is it a matter of just entering the command npiv enable?
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GlenH
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January 17th, 2008 14:00
Welcome to the forum's.
This sort of information is available in the emc support matrix which is available here: http://elabnavigator.emc.com
The brocade switch modules in the C class blades are generally NPIV capable at the right code level. You need to look at the modules in your blade chassis and then look them up in the support matrix. The blade modules running NPIV are deemed "Access Gateways" and you will see them listed as such - just do a search on "access gateway" and you'll see a list of the ones we support.
eg: you might select "HPQ Brocade 4/12 SAN Switch for HP c-Class Bladesystem (AE370A) as Access Gateway" and then look up "Switched Fabric Topology Parameters" to get the results.
The brocade firmware v4.2.2 is not NPIV aware so you will need to upgrade the firmware of blade switches as well as all other switches in the fabric to get NPIV functionality.
You'll see the switches and firmware versions listed in the matrix that support NPIV - in your case, I would strongly recommend you go to v5.3.0a rather than 5.2.1 or 5.2.2 which are also listed at present.
For those interested, NPIV was first introduced in fw 5.1.0 and the access gateway feature in v5.2.1.
Once you get to the right firmware, you can set the blade switch modules to access gateways using "ag --modeemable" (NB: This is disruptive and will reboot the switch). Depending on the fabric switch models you may also need to enable NPIV on all switches that the access gateways connect to in the fabric.
There are some good case study's and examples of enabling NPIV in the "EMC Networked Storage Topology Guide" which is available in Powerlink or also from elab navigator (see the link "EMC Topology Guide") so I'd highly recommend you download that and read it before attempting the changes.
Good Luck,
Glen.