Npv mode, Transit mode – H3C Technologies H3C S5830V2 Series Switches User Manual
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Connect to an FC switch through an FC interface.
•
Connect to an ENode or FCF switch through a VFC interface.
In this situation, an FCoE virtual link is set up between Ethernet interfaces of the two devices. The
FCoE virtual link provides communication over a lossless Ethernet network. The peer end of the
FCoE virtual link can be a VN interface or a VFC interface.
Like an FC switch, each FCF switch is assigned a domain ID. Each FC SAN supports a maximum of 239
domain IDs, so an FC SAN cannot have more than 239 switches.
NPV mode
An FC SAN needs a large number of edge switches that are connected directly to nodes. NPV switches
are developed to expand the number of switches in an FC SAN.
Figure 11 NPV network diagram
As shown in
, the NPV switch resides between nodes and the core switch on the edge of the
fabric. The core switch is a switch operating in FCF mode. The NPV switch is connected to the nodes
through its F_Ports and to the core switch through its NP_Port. In this way, the NPV switch forwards traffic
from its connected nodes to the core switch.
The NPV switch appears as an FCF switch to nodes and as a node to the core switch.
For more information about NPV, see "
Transit mode
FCoE supports FC SANs built on lossless Ethernet networks, and allows Transit switches to be added
between FCF switches and ENodes.
shows a scenario where ENodes are connected to FCF
switches through a Transit switch.
Figure 12 Transit network diagram