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June 22nd, 2015 07:00
ISL's between 8510 and existing DCX switches
Hello Team,
We have an existing infrastructure of DCX switches 4 in number and are planning on ISLing them into the newly brought 8510's while taking advantage of VF's-We may have to create BS and VF's if want to use XISL's(just my thought).
Since the old DCX fabric already has its own zoning DB and we want to import it into the new switches(with VF's),should we use XISL with BS or dedicated withing a VF?
Thanks in advance..
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tech511
31 Posts
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June 27th, 2015 08:00
anything??
Ed Schulte
2 Intern
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151 Posts
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June 27th, 2015 12:00
Hi tech51,
That is not that easy, it all depends how your setup is.
First off when you have the new Director, enable VF before going into production, that will save you a reboot.
Second, if the DCX is not in VF mode you only can use it with DISL (Dedicated ISL's). These are ISL directly connected to your VF on the 8510..
In your post you describe 2 scenario's, but you don't say if your DCX is in VF mode.
If not then you cannot use XISL's, and the DCX can only attached as a normal switch.
If the DCX has VF mode enabled, then the second option is possible.
Using XISL's, depends on the performance you want, but in general it is a good idea, since the XISL's are in a seperate fabric.
With regards the zoning, if you have several VF's on the DCX and several zone DB's can you should handle as adding normal switches to a fabric, if the DCX is not in vf mode and is working as only one physical chassis, with one DB, then you only able to use that, as mentioned above, as dedicated within one VF. There is no XISL possible then.
Best Regards,
Ed
tech511
31 Posts
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June 28th, 2015 17:00
Thanks Edschulte and Rangac1,
Pardon my partial knowledge when composing the original question.
I now have all the details...the Prod ED-DCX fabric is non-virtaul Fabric(about 5 switches). The new switch that will be introduced is an DCX-8510. We want to leverage VF's on the 8510.
That being said per your comments, i understand routing traffic via XISL is not possible. I will use DISL(ISL between logical switch 8510 and DCX fabric). that should merge the switch into the fabric and import the zoneset...
There is one other concerns...the prod DCX(existing) fabric has an older version of FOS -v6.4.3d1..
Will fabric merge happen?
Will the 8510 acquire the zoneset?
Any other concern..I should think about..Please comment.
Any document with the procedure will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks Again.
Ed Schulte
2 Intern
•
151 Posts
1
June 29th, 2015 02:00
Hi tech51,
Perfect, thanks for clearing that up, that saves us explaining the works of virtual fabrics.
With regards you questions:
Will fabric merge happen?
Answer: yes. (see below.)
Will the 8510 acquire the zoneset?
Answer: yes. (see below.)
Any other concern. I should think about.. Please comment.
Yes you should.
ED-8510 comes with 7.x firmware. And in principal, all switches in the same fabric need to be on the same firmware, so stop compatibility issue's with features and anything else.
So the advise it to upgrade to 7.x code first on all the DCX's, then plan your introduction of the ED-8510.
You are saying the you are running FOS v6.4.3d1, that looks to me not a EMC GA code version. EMC went GA with version 6.4.3d.
Any document with the procedure will be greatly appreciated.
On the EMC support site https://support.emc.com/downloads/ you should be able to find the ED-8510 director, and under the documentation, you can find the Administrator guide (and more).
For example on page 269 of the FOS 7.3.0 Admin guide, explains everything about Virtual fabrics.
I hope this answered your questions.
Regards,
Ed