HP Cisco MDS 9120 Cisco MDS 9000 Family Fabric Manager Configuration Guide - R - Page 801

Chapter 37 Advanced Features and Concepts Switch Interoperability Send documentation comments to [email protected] If all vendors followed the standards in the same manner, then interconnecting different products would become a trivial exercise. However, not all vendors follow the standards in the same way, thus resulting in interoperability modes. This section briefly explains the basic concepts of these modes. Each vendor has a regular mode and an equivalent interoperability mode, which specifically turns off advanced or proprietary features and provides the product with a more amiable standards compliant implementation. This section includes the following topics: • About Interop Mode, page 37-9 • Configuring Interop Mode 1, page 37-11 • Verifying Interoperating Status, page 37-12 About Interop Mode Cisco NX-OS software supports the following four interop modes: • Mode 1- Standards based interop mode that requires all other vendors in the fabric to be in interop mode. • Mode 2-Brocade native mode (Core PID 0). • Mode 3-Brocade native mode (Core PID 1). • Mode 4-McData native mode. For information about configuring interop modes 2, 3, and 4, refer to the Cisco MDS 9000 Family Switch-to-Switch Interoperability Configuration Guide. Table 37-2 lists the changes in switch behavior when you enable interoperability mode. These changes are specific to switches in the Cisco MDS 9000 Family while in interop mode. Table 37-2 Changes in Switch Behavior When Interoperability Is Enabled Switch Feature Domain IDs Timers F_S_TOV D_S_TOV E_D_TOV R_A_TOV Trunking Default zone Changes if Interoperability Is Enabled Some vendors cannot use the full range of 239 domains within a fabric. Domain IDs are restricted to the range 97-127. This is to accommodate McData's nominal restriction to this same range. They can either be set up statically (the Cisco MDS switch accept only one domain ID, if it does not get that domain ID it isolates itself from the fabric) or preferred. (If it does not get its requested domain ID, it accepts any assigned domain ID.) All Fibre Channel timers must be the same on all switches as these values are exchanged by E ports when establishing an ISL. The timers are F_S_TOV, D_S_TOV, E_D_TOV, and R_A_TOV. Verify that the Fabric Stability Time Out Value timers match exactly. Verify that the Distributed Services Time Out Value timers match exactly. Verify that the Error Detect Time Out Value timers match exactly. Verify that the Resource Allocation Time Out Value timers match exactly. Trunking is not supported between two different vendor's switches. This feature may be disabled on a per port or per switch basis. The default zone behavior of permit (all nodes can see all other nodes) or deny (all nodes are isolated when not explicitly placed in a zone) may change. OL-17256-03, Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 4.x Cisco MDS 9000 Family Fabric Manager Configuration Guide 37-9