Brocade Network OS Administrator’s Guide v4.1.1 - Manual (Page 214)

‐ By default, each switch is assigned 64 VF_Ports.
‐ There is no limit the number of VF_Ports that you can map to an N_Port.
‐ Up to 64 NPIV logins are allowed per VF_Port.
Default port numbers are specific to the switch platform:
‐ VDX 6730-76 — Valid VF_Ports are 75–139
‐ VDX 6730-32 — Valid VF_Ports are 32–95
NOTE
In Network OS commands, VF_Ports are designated by the format domain/rbridge-id/VF_Port. For
example, 1/2/26 designates that VF_Port 26 resides in domain 1 and RBridge 2.
• L2 interface ports — Ethernet TRILL ports that connect with other VDX switches in the Brocade
VCS Fabric cluster. Port numbers are specific to the switch platform:
‐ VDX 6730-76 — Valid TRILL ports are 16–75
‐ VDX 6730-32 — Valid TRILL ports are 8–31
Since all VDX switch FC ports are enabled as N_Ports in Access Gateway mode, FC hosts or targets
cannot directly attach to the AG switch. Once you enable Access Gateway mode, you can configure
additional FC port attributes for the N_Ports as you would on non-AG switches. Port trunking is not
supported, however. Refer to
Configuring Fibre Channel Ports on page 199
Transitioning from native VCS to AG mode
Be aware of the following interface and port functions after enabling AG mode:
• The system reboots. Native VCS configuration is retained.
• CEE interfaces will be in a no-shutdown state.
• If FC ports are connected to FC switch F_Ports, the connected N_Port(s) should come up
automatically. Devices connected to mapped VF_Ports should come up after the fcoeport default
command is executed on the interface port.
• VDX switch Ethernet ports are under the native VCS switch configuration.
• For default VF_Port to N_Port mapping, VF_Ports are mapped to N_Ports sequentially in a round-
robin fashion as ENodes log in. If you change mapping through the map fport interface fcoe port
command, this mapping will be applied instead.
• VCS Fabric services will run on VCS ports and not under the Access Gateway dæmon.
Comparison of Access Gateway, ISL, and FC switch ports
A switch in Access Gateway (AG) mode uses VF_Ports and N_Ports to connect devices to the Fibre
Channel (FC) switch. The connected FC switch connects to the AG switch N_Ports through F_Ports
and presents a variety of ports for connection to FC fabric devices.
Access Gateway (AG) multiplexes host connections to the fabric. AG presents a VF_Port to a FCoE
host and an N_Port to an edge Fibre Channel fabric switch. Multiple VF_Ports mapped to N_Ports
provide multiple device ports for connection to the FC fabric.
Using N_Port ID Virtualization (NPIV), AG allows multiple FCoE initiators to access the SAN on the
same physical port. This reduces the hardware requirements and management overhead of hosts to
the SAN connections.
In contrast to the AG switch, the connected FC switch presents F_Ports (or FL_Ports) to storage
devices hosts and presents E_Ports, VE_Ports, or EX_Ports to other switches in the fabric.
In contrast to the AG switch, the connected FC switch presents F_Ports (or FL_Ports) to storage
devices hosts and presents E_Ports, VE_Ports, or EX_Ports to other switches in the fabric.
Comparison of Access Gateway, ISL, and FC switch ports
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