Dell PowerVault ME4 Series Storage System Deployment Guide

Fibre Channel protocol

ME4 Series controller enclosures support controller modules with CNC host interface ports.

Using qualified FC SFP+ transceiver/cable options, these CNC ports can be configured to support Fibre Channel protocol in either four or two CNC ports. Supported data rates are 8 Gb/sec or 16 Gb/s.

The controllers support Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop (public or private) or point-to-point topologies. Loop protocol can be used in a physical loop or for direct connection between two devices. Point-to-point protocol is used to connect to a fabric switch. Point-to-point protocol can also be used for direct connection, and it is the only option supporting direct connection at 16 Gb/s.

The Fibre Channel ports are used for:

• Connecting to FC hosts directly, or through a switch used for the FC traffic.
• Connecting two storage systems through a switch for replication. See Cabling for replication.

The first option requires that the host computer must support FC and optionally, multipath I/O.

Use the PowerVault Manager to set FC port speed and options. See the topic about configuring host ports in the Dell PowerVault ME4 Series Storage System Administrator’s Guide. You can also use CLI commands to perform these actions:

• Use the set host-parameters CLI command to set FC port options.
• Use the show ports CLI command to view information about host ports.