HP Cisco Nexus 5000 Cisco MDS 9000 Family CLI Configuration Guide - Release 4. - Page 705

Chapter 29 Configuring FICON About FICON Send documentation comments to [email protected] VSANs for FICON and FCP Mixing Cisco MDS 9000 Family FICON-enabled switches simplify deployment of even the most complex mixed environments. Multiple logical FICON, Z-Series Linux/FCP, and Open-Systems Fibre Channel Protocol (FCP) fabrics can be overlaid onto a single physical fabric by simply creating VSANs as required for each service. VSANs provide both hardware isolation and protocol specific fabric services, eliminating the complexity and potential instability of zone-based mixed schemes. By default, the FICON feature is disabled in all switches in the Cisco MDS 9000 Family. When the FICON feature is disabled, FC IDs can be allocated seamlessly. Mixed environments are addressed by the Cisco NX-OS software. The challenge of mixing FCP and FICON protocols are addressed by Cisco MDS switches when implementing VSANs. Switches and directors in the Cisco MDS 9000 Family support FCP and FICON protocol mixing at the port level. If these protocols are mixed in the same switch, you can use VSANs to isolate FCP and FICON ports. Tip When creating 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. Cisco MDS-Supported FICON Features The Cisco MDS 9000 Family FICON features include: • Flexibility and investment protection-The Cisco MDS 9000 Family shares common switching and service modules across the Cisco MDS 9500 Series and the 9200 Series. Refer to the Cisco MDS 9500 Series Hardware Installation Guide and the Cisco MDS 9200 Series Hardware Installation Guide. • High-availability FICON-enabled director-The Cisco MDS 9500 Series combines nondisruptive software upgrades, stateful process restart and failover, and full redundancy of all major components for a new standard in director-class availability. It supports up to 528 autosensing, 4/2/1-Gbps, 10-Gbps, FICON or FCP ports in any combination in a single chassis. See Chapter 10, "Configuring High Availability." • Infrastructure protection-Common software releases provide infrastructure protection across all Cisco MDS 9000 platforms. See Chapter 8, "Software Images." • VSAN technology-The Cisco MDS 9000 Family provides VSAN technology for hardware-enforced, isolated environments within a single physical fabric for secure sharing of physical infrastructure and enhanced FICON mixed support. See Chapter 20, "Configuring and Managing VSANs." • Port-level configurations-There are BB_credits, beacon mode, and port security for each port. See the "About Buffer-to-Buffer Credits" section on page 13-34, "Identifying the Beacon LEDs" section on page 13-18, and Chapter 16, "Configuring Trunking." • Alias name configuration-Provides user-friendly aliases instead of the WWN for switches and attached node devices. See Chapter 24, "Configuring and Managing Zones." • Comprehensive security framework-The Cisco MDS 9000 Family supports RADIUS and TACACS+ authentication, Simple Network Management Protocol Version 3 (SNMPv3), role-based access control, Secure Shell Protocol (SSH), Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP), VSANs, hardware-enforced zoning, ACLs, fabric binding, Fibre Channel Security Protocol (FC-SP), LUN OL-18084-01, Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 4.x Cisco MDS 9000 Family CLI Configuration Guide 29-5