McDATA Sphereon 4500 User Manual
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McDATA® Sphereon™ 4500 Fabric Switch Product Manager User Manual
Configuring the Switch
Set the same value for E_D_TOV on all switches on a multiswitch fabric. If 
the value is not the same, the fabric segments.
Switch Priority
Setting this value determines the principal switch for the multiswitch 
fabric. Select either Principal (highest priority), Default, or Never 
Principal (lowest priority) from the Switch Priority drop-down list.
If all switches are set to Principal or Default, the switch with the 
highest priority and the lowest WWN becomes the principal switch. 
Following are some examples of principal switch selection when 
switches have these settings.
•
If you have three switches and set all to Default, the switch with 
the lowest WWN become the principal switch.
•
If you have three switches and set two to Principal and one to 
Default, the switch with the Principal setting that has the lowest 
WWN becomes the principal switch.
•
If you have three switches and set two to Default and one to Never 
Principal, the switch with the Default setting and the lowest WWN 
becomes the principal switch.
Note that at least one switch in a multiswitch fabric needs to be set as 
Principal or Default. If all of the switches are set to Never Principal, all 
of the interswitch links (ISLs) will segment. If all but one switch is set 
to Never Principal and the switch that was Principal goes offline, then 
all of the other ISLs will segment.
We recommend configuring switch priority as Default. If you are considering 
changing this value to something other than the default, refer to sections on 
principal switch selection for multiswitch fabrics in the 
McDATA Products
in a SAN Environment - Planning Manual (620-000124)
for details.
In the audit log you may notice that the Principal setting maps to a 
number code of 1, Default maps to a number code of 254, and Never 
Principal maps to a number code of 255. The number codes 2-253 are 
no longer in use.
Interop Mode
Select either McDATA Fabric 1.0 or Open Fabric 1.0 mode. Use Open 
Fabric 1.0 if the fabric contains McDATA directors and switches and 
other open-fabric compliant switches. Use this mode to manage 
heterogeneous fabrics. McDATA recommends using this mode. Use 
McDATA Fabric 1.0 if the fabric contains McDATA directors and 
switches that are also operating in McDATA Fabric 1.0 mode.
