Brocade Network OS Administrator’s Guide v4.1.1 - Manual (Page 217)

For more information on Port Grouping policy modes, refer to Port Grouping policy modes on page
230.
N_Port Monitoring for unreliable links
The N_Port monitoring for unreliable links feature monitors links from all N_Ports on the VDX switch to
F_Ports on the FC fabric. If online and offline static change notifications (SCNs) exceed a set threshold
during a specific time period, the link is considered unreliable, and the N_Port is taken offline. The
VF_Ports mapped to the N_Port also go offline. If the N_Port is in a port group and Automatic Login
Balancing is enabled, the VF_Ports mapped to the N_Port are distributed among available N_Ports in
the same port group.
Additional features and functions
Following are additional features and functions of Access Gateway:
• Access Gateway enables VDX switch FC ports as N_Ports. Hosts attached to VDX switch VF_Ports
can connect directly with F_Ports on a Fibre Channel fabric edge switch through these N_Ports.
• Instead of using ISL connections and possibly limited domain resources, the use of N_Ports
increases the number of available device ports on the switch and can resolve scalability issues as
the number of Fibre Channel and VCS Fabrics grow.
• Through the use of N_Port ID Virtualization (NPIV), multiple FCoE initiators can access the SAN
through the same physical port.
• When enabling AG mode, VF_Ports are mapped to available N_Ports in a round-robin fashion as
ENodes log in. However, you can re-map any VF_Port to switch N_Ports.
• Access Gateway can operate in both fabric cluster and logical chassis cluster modes.
• You can configure additional FC port attributes for the AG switch N_Ports as you would on non-AG
switches. Port trunking is not supported, however. Refer to Configuring Fibre Channel Ports on page
199
Requirements
Following are VCS-related requirements for enabling Access Gateway mode.
• VCS mode and FCoE must be enabled to enable Access Gateway on the switch. A FCoE license is
required.
Limitations
Following are limitations you should be aware of when using Access Gateway mode:
• AG is not supported in standalone mode.
• Port trunking is not supported on the AG switch N_Ports.
• Hosts connected to an Access Gateway switch cannot communicate with targets on the VCS Fabric.
• Only one VDX switch configured for Access Gateway can connect with one FC Fabric. Ports
connected to a second FC fabric are disabled.
• Access Gateway can operate in both fabric cluster mode and logical chassis cluster modes. The AG
configuration is not distributed in fabric cluster mode and is distributed in logical chassis cluster
mode.
• You can only configure VF_Port to N_Port mapping for devices directly attached to VF_Ports and
F_Ports on the connected FC switch. These mappings control device logins through appropriate
N_Ports.
• Since all switch FC ports are configured as N_Ports when AG mode is enabled:
Using Access Gateway
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