Re: Anyone got recent info on private FC-AL loops on recent FC switches?

On Wed, Aug 09, 2006 at 02:37:24PM +0200, coyote-NW4UT3oFr8dBDLzU/[email protected] wrote:
> 
> I have a small lab setup with a single FC hub (Vixel, 8*1Gbps) where a few 
> hosts (SUN and x86) talk to a few FC JBOD's (Sun MultiPack-FC JBOD's).
> Although all of the HBA cards can 'talk fabric', I know that my JBOD's 
> aren't fabric-aware (they must run in FC-AL mode, aka private-loop). This 
> is not a problem as all I have is a single FC hub..
> 
> I'm considering the purchase of a 'Qlogic SANbox Express 1400' to replace 
> this aging/noisy FC hub but even after reading the docs, I have no idea if 
> I'll be able to run this kind of Switch in 'private loop mode'. Does 
> anyone have any experience with such a setup (Qlogic switches) and with 
> older non fabric-aware JBOD's?
> 
> I also considered a Brocade switch some time ago but it appeared that the 
> Brocade 'QuickLoop' "payware" feature was required to run this setup 
> (moreover the last version of FabricOS to support 'QuickLoop' was FabricOS 
> 3.x whereas current switches run FabricOS 4.x).

The current FabricOS is 5.1.  I recently took the course for the Brocade
Fabric Profession certification but haven't written the exam yet.  You
might want to have a look at the Brocade 200E - it's a really low-end
switch but runs the same FabOS as the rest of the bigger switches and
directors.  I do know they support loop since that was part of our labs
but I can't remember if there was a separate license installed on the
switches or not.  We had a Windows and Solaris system connected to a Sun
JBOD for the data.  The data sheet from Brocade's web site suggests that
loop is not an optional feature but is built in.  I checked my Brocade
switches and directors here and we don't have any licenses to suggest
that loop is an option and I have seen misconfigured clients come up as
loop devices.

The FabricOS 3.x series was for a totally different product line and was
before Brocade had the Linux-based frontend, 4Gbps support, hot code
load, etc.  4.x and 5.x is for all of the new stuff.

You're obviously a Linux user or you wouldn't be here, so you'll love
the command-line interface to the Brocade switches - it's rbash for the
default admin account (and full bash for the root & factory accounts
that you're not really supposed to use).  The firmware is a bunch of
PowerPC RPMs...  The Linux OS is used for the user interface - it's not
used for routing the fibre channel traffic.

I haven't heard if any Brocade folks are on this list, but if you need
to get a hold of one, let me know and I'll see if my local SE can find
somebody (or a reseller) in your area to talk to.

        .../Ed

-- 
Ed Wilts, RHCE
Mounds View, MN, USA
mailto:[email protected]
Member #1, Red Hat Community Ambassador Program

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