HP StorageWorks 8/80 HP StorageWorks Fabric OS 5.2.x administrator guide (5697 - Page 200

Special types of ports, called an EX_Port and a VEX_Port, function somewhat like an E_Port, but terminate at the switch and do not propagate fabric services or routing topology information from one edge fabric to another. The link between an E_Port and EX_Port, or VE_Port and VEX_Port is called an interfabric Link (IFL). You can configure multiple IFLs from a 400 MP Router, a B-Series MP Router blade (operating in a 4/256 SAN Director using chassis configuration option 5), from additional MP Routers, or from all three. FC-FC Routing services do not support EX_Ports and VEX_Ports connected to the same edge fabrics (refer to Figure 9). Refer to "Configuring and monitoring FCIP tunneling" on page 367 for details about VE_Ports. • Fabric ID (FID) Every EX_Port and VEX_Port uses the FID property to identify the fabric at the opposite end of the IFL. You should configure all of the EX_Ports and VEX_Ports attached to the same edge fabric with the same FID. The FID for every edge fabric must be unique from each backbone fabric's perspective. You should also configure the FID for all of the EX_Ports and VEX_Ports from a backbone fabric to uniquely reference each of the attached edge fabrics. Note, though, when two different backbones are connected to the same edge fabric, the backbone fabric IDs are different (but the edge fabric FID should be the same). If two backbones with the same backbone fabric ID are connected to the same edge, the FC-FC Routing service will work on only one of the backbone fabrics. When two backbone fabrics are not connected to the same edge, they can have the same backbone fabric ID. • Edge Fabric A Fibre Channel fabric with targets and initiators connected through the supported platforms via an EX_Port or VEX_Port. • Backbone Fabric A backbone fabric is an intermediate network that connects two or more edge fabrics. A backbone fabric consists of at least one 400 MP Router, 4/256 SAN Director with a B-Series MP Router blade, or MP Router and possibly a number of Fabric OS-based Fibre Channel switches. It also enables hosts and targets in one edge fabric to communicate with devices in the other edge fabrics (see to Figure 10). A backbone fabric also enables hosts and targets in one edge fabric to communicate with devices in other edge or backbone fabrics. NOTE: While the 400 MP Router and 4/256 SAN Director with a B-Series MP Router blade facilitate communication between devices in edge fabrics with those in a backbone fabric, this is not true of the MP Router. • metaSAN A collection of SAN devices, switches, edge fabrics, Logical Storage Area Networks (LSANs), and MP Routers that comprise a physically connected but logically partitioned storage network. In this chapter, metaSAN is used for the collection of all SANs interconnected with Fibre Channel routers. A simple metaSAN can be constructed using a 400 MP Router, 4/256 SAN Director with a B-Series MP Router blade, or MP Router to connect two or more separate fabrics. Additional 400 MP Routers, 4/256 SAN Director with B-Series MP Router blades, or MP Router can be used to increase the available bandwidth between fabrics, and for redundancy. • proxy PID The port ID of the proxy device. A proxy device is a virtual device presented into a fabric by a Fibre Channel router, and represents a real device on another fabric. When a proxy device is created in a fabric, the real Fibre Channel device is considered to be imported into this fabric. The presence of a proxy device is required for interfabric device communication. The proxy device appears to the fabric as a real Fibre Channel device, has a name server entry, and is assigned a valid port ID. The port ID is only relevant on the fabric in which the proxy device has been created. • phantom domains The Fibre Channel Router emulates two levels of phantom domains. The first set of phantom domains are known as front phantom domains. There is one front phantom domain from FCR to an edge fabric. The second level of phantom domains is known as a "translate phantom domain." The EX_Ports also present translate phantom domains in edge fabrics as being topologically behind the front domains; if the translate phantom domain is in a backbone fabric, then it is topologically present behind the Fibre Channel router because there is no front domain in a backbone fabric.The translate phantom domain is a router virtual domain that represents an entire fabric. Device connectivity can be achieved from one 200 Using the FC-FC routing service