H3C Technologies H3C S5830V2 Series Switches - Manual (Page 51)

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Setting up a fabric
Overview
A fabric transmits data for servers and disk devices. When setting up a fabric, you must assign a domain
ID to each FC switch in the fabric and assign an FC address to each node connected to the fabric.
You can build a fabric through one of the following modes:
• Dynamic mode—A principal switch is automatically selected to assign domain IDs to all switches in
the network, and then each switch assigns FC addresses to the N_Ports connected to it. The
dynamic mode enables centralized network management and is applicable to large-sized
networks.
• Static mode—You must manually assign domain IDs to all switches in the network, and then each
switch assigns FC addresses to the N_Ports connected to it. The static mode avoids network flapping,
but it is applicable only to simple, small-sized networks. This mode does not involve a principal
switch selection process.
Figure 21 Fabric setup workflows
Principal switch selection
During the dynamic fabric building process, it is the principal switch that assigns domain IDs to all
switches in the network.
The switch with the highest priority is selected as the principal switch. When multiple switches have the
same priority, the switch with the smallest WWN is chosen.
The principal switch selection process is as follows:
1. When the principal switch selection starts, each switch performs the following operations:
{
Considers itself to be the principal switch.
{
Records itself in the principal switch information.
{
Starts the Principal Switch Selection Timer (PSST), which is 10 seconds.
2. Before the PSST times out, the switches exchange packets carrying the principal switch information
to select a principal switch. On receiving such a packet, a switch compares the priority and WWN