Brocade Fabric OS Administrators Guide (Supporting Fabric OS v7.3.0) - Manual (Page 72)

A number of fabric-wide databases supported by Fabric OS (including ZoneDB, the ACL DCC, and
Admin Domain) allow a port to be designated by the use of a "D,P" (domain,port) notation. While the
"P" component appears to be the port number, for up to 255 ports it is actually the area assigned to
that port.
NOTE
The port area schema does not apply to the Brocade DCX-4S and DCX 8510-4 Backbones.
Configuring a device-switch connection
For 8-Gbps platforms only: To configure an 8 Gbps (and 8 Gbps only) connection between a device
and a switch, use the portCfgFillWord command.
The portCfgFillWord command provides the following configuration options:
• Mode Link Init/Fill Word
• Mode 0 IDLE/IDLE
• Mode 1 ARBF/ARBF
• Mode 2 IDLE/ARBF
• Mode 3 If ARBF/ARBF fails, use IDLE/ARBF
This command not applicable to Gen 5 (16-Gbps) platforms.
ATTENTION
Although this setting only affects devices logged in at 8 Gbps, changing the mode is disruptive
regardless of the speed at which the port is operating.
The setting is retained and applied any time an 8 Gbps device logs in. Upgrades from prior releases
which supported only Modes 0 and 1 will not change the existing setting, but switches reset to factory
defaults with Fabric OS v6.3.1 or later will be configured to Mode 0 by default. The default setting on
new units may vary by vendor.
Modes 2 and 3 are compliant with FC-FS-3 specifications (standards specify the IDLE/ARBF behavior
of Mode 2, which is used by Mode 3 if ARBF/ARBF fails after three attempts). For most environments,
Brocade recommends using Mode 3, as it provides more flexibility and compatibility with a wide range
of devices. In the event that the default setting or Mode 3 does not work with a particular device,
contact your switch vendor for further assistance.
Swapping port area IDs
If a device that uses port binding is connected to a port that fails, you can use port swapping to make
another physical port use the same PID as the failed port. The device can then be plugged into the
new port without the need to reboot the device.
If two ports are changed using the portSwap command, their respective areas and "P" values are
exchanged.
For ports that are numbered above 255, the "P" value is a logical index. The first 256 ports continue to
have an index value equal to the area ID assigned to the port. If a switch is using Core PID format,
and no port swapping has been done, the port index value for all ports is the same as the physical port
numbers. Using portSwap on a pair of ports will exchange those ports’ area ID and index values.
Port swapping has the following restrictions:
Configuring a device-switch connection
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