Cisco MDS-9124 Troubleshooting Guide - Page 319

Send documentation comments to [email protected] 16 C H A P T E R Troubleshooting FICON Fibre Connection (FICON) interface capabilities enhance the Cisco MDS 9000 Family by supporting both open systems and mainframe storage network environments. Inclusion of Control Unit Port (CUP) support further enhances the MDS offering by allowing in-band management of the switch from FICON processors. This chapter includes the following sections: • FICON Overview, page 16-1 • FICON Configuration Requirements, page 16-6 • Initial Troubleshooting Checklist, page 16-7 • FICON Issues, page 16-9 FICON Overview The Cisco MDS 9000 Family supports the Fibre Channel, FICON, iSCSI, and FCIP capabilities within a single, high-availability platform. Fibre Channel and FICON are different FC4 protocols and their traffic are independent of each other. If required, devices using these protocols can be isolated using VSANs. The Cisco SAN-OS FICON feature supports high-availability, scalability, and SAN extension technologies including VSANs, IVR, FCIP, and PortChannels. Tip When you create a mixed environment, place all FICON devices in one VSAN (other than the default VSAN) and segregate the FCP switch ports in a separate VSAN (other than the default VSAN). This isolation ensures proper communication for all connected devices. You can implement FICON on the following switches: • Any switch in the Cisco MDS 9500 Series. • Any switch in the Cisco MDS 9200 Series (including the Cisco MDS 9222i Multiservice Modular Switch). • Cisco MDS 9134 Multilayer Fabric Switch. • MDS 9000 Family 18/4-Port Multiservice Module. OL-9285-05 Cisco MDS 9000 Family Troubleshooting Guide, Release 3.x 16-1