HP StorageWorks 2/8-EL quickloop fabric assist version 3.0.x user guide - Page 34
How Fabric Assist Mode Works, Zone Configuration Limits
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Using QuickLoop Fabric Assist Mode How Fabric Assist Mode Works There are significant implications about the implementation of Fabric Assist zones, especially considerations of LIPs, and the interaction with QuickLoop zones. The standard QuickLoop implementation imposes the following limitations: ■ A QuickLoop is confined to at most two switches in a fabric. ■ There can only be 29 private hosts supported in a QuickLoop. ■ Even though a target device can be public, it is forced to perform as a private loop device in a QuickLoop. This prohibits the public target from using fabric functions such as Extended Fabrics. Fabric Assist mode zoning supports operations between private initiators and public targets without imposing these limitations. The initiator and target can exist anywhere in the fabric. A public target remains public, with full fabric functionality. In order to support this, prior to loop initialization, phantom translation tables are set up in the switch that is connected to a private initiator. These tables represent phantom targets on the private initiator's loop. The switch creates a phantom table entry for each target zoned with the private host. Upon completion of the initialization process, the private host will "see" a valid AL_PA for each target that it has been zoned with. As the initiator communicates with each phantom, the phantom translation process transforms the frame into a public frame, and transmits it to the fabric. Zone Configuration Limits The number of public targets that may be zoned with a single private host depends on the number of phantom nodes that may be created on the private host's loop. The number of phantoms that may be created are limited only by the number of entries within the phantom tables of the switch, and the total number of available AL_PAs. The switch's phantom translation table may contain a maximum of 125 unique phantom translations. The existing translative process utilizes the same phantom translation tables, thus reducing the maximum number of Fabric Assist targets that may exist if this feature is used. Each private looplet has its own allocation of 126 AL_PAs. Therefore each private host may be zoned with all 125 public targets. 34 Quickloop Fabric Assist User Guide
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