HP StorageWorks 2/16V Brocade Access Gateway Administrator's Guide - Supportin - Page 14

1 Access Gateway port types The following figure compares a configuration that connects eight hosts to the fabric using Brocade Access Gateway to the same configuration with standard fabric switches. Figure 1-1 Access Gateway and fabric switch comparison The difference between the fabric switch (Fabric OS native mode) and Brocade Access Gateway is as follows: • The Fabric OS switch is a part of the fabric; it requires two through four times as many physical ports, consumes fabric resources, and can connect to a Brocade-based fabric only. • Brocade Access Gateway is outside the fabric; it reduces the number of switches on the fabric and the number of required physical ports. You can connect Brocade Access Gateway to either a Brocade-, Cisco-, or McDATA-based fabric. Note When using a Brocade blade server embedded switch in Access Gateway mode, most switch features are no longer applicable. These features include Admin Domains, Advanced Performance Monitoring, direct connection to SAN target devices, Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop support, Fabric Manager, FICON, IP over FC, ISL Trunking, Extended Fabrics, Management Services, Name Services (SNS), port mirroring, Secure Fabric OS, SMI-S, and Zoning. These switch features are available in the default switch mode of operation. Access Gateway port types Brocade Access Gateway differs from a typical fabric switch because it connects to the fabric using node ports (N_Ports). Typically fabric switches connect to the enterprise fabric using ISL (InterSwitch Link) ports, such as an E_Port. The following defines the Fibre Channel (FC) port terms used in this manual: • F_Port, fabric port. A switch port that connects a host, HBA, or storage device to the SAN. • N_Port, node port. A host, HBA, or storage device port that connects to the F_Port of the fabric switch. 1-2 Access Gateway Administrator's Guide Publication Number: 53-1000430-01