Please ensure - the switch ports where you have connected the HBAs are enabled and configured for proper Speed. Have you installed the driver for the HBAs on the server - also please ensure that the HBAs are configured for properly (speed matching with the switch ports).

You may check for the physical light on the FC cable connectors at both ends - which will ensure physical connectivity being ok.

My 2 cents
Sandip

driver installed on the hosts. where i can check and configure on the fabric the speed for the port - my hba are Qlogic 4Gig channel

Depends on what type of switch you have - Most likely you will have a browser based management interface for the switch - bring that up and check the port status or double click on the port to check it. You can also login to the switch using CLI (Telnet or Ssh) - run the command to show the port status.

If we know the switch, we can provide more specific command.
Thanks,
Sandip

I have the Brocade SilkWorm 200E with 8 ports for now. i ma looking under the port admin or click on the port number and indeed it is in a U-Type anf not F or E
Not sure how to enable this?

Sure sure... you just started typing before me

Hi Allen - you had covered more .. In fact it shows how active the forums are and how helpful you all are - Most of the time, it happens to me other way round - I am generally slow in composing message and thus follow others - except this time

I was still typing when you posted Sandip... too quick for me

Anyway, I think the next step would be to doublecheck your physical cable from the HBA to the switch. Especially if you have patch panels and trunking infrastructure between the host and the switch. I always keep a known good 50 meter cable available for testing direct connection to rule out the physical cable infrastructure. If that doesn't fix it you might try a different port on the switch as well. I've run into the occasional failed SFP that didn't report as failed through the switch interface.

I understand Silkworm 200E supports 4 Gbps link speed. Ensure that the port speed is set to Auto - so that they can negotiate to the proper port speed.

Just to be sure, you may think of hard coding the speed on both the switch port and HBA to 4 Gbps or 2 Gbps even.

By default the port type is set to U-port and based on the device connected to the switch port it negotiates to N or F or E or anything else.

You can select the port and disable/enable it to reset and try. From CLI - the command will be -

portdisable
portenable

U doesn't mean it isn't enabled, it just means there is nothing logged in to the port. The only time you would force it to a specific port type would be if you wanted to ensure it could never be used for something else. The 'U' represents a 'universal' port that will allow a connection from a storage device or host HBA or another switch. Depending on what logs in to it it will auto configure as an 'F' port or 'E' port (or 'FL' port is it is capable of FCAL).

When you look at the port details you should be able to see clearly if the port is enabled or not.