Mcdata Open Fabric Mode Configuration Restrictions; Upgrade And Downgrade Restrictions; Zoning Restrictions - HP A7533A - Brocade 4Gb SAN Switch Base Administrator's Manual

McDATA Open Fabric mode configuration restrictions

• Maximum 200 devices.
• Maximum 4 switch (domain ID) limitation.
• Domain IDs must be in the 97 to 127 value range on Fabric OS switches for successful connection to
McDATA switches. The firmware automatically assigns a valid domain ID, if necessary. If Fabric OS 6.0
is installed on a Brocade switch, and when McDATA Open Fabric is enabled on the switch, then from a
McDATA perspective, 97- 1 27 appear as 1-31.
• Does not support domain, port zoning, or default zoning.
• Does not support McDATA SANtegrity feature.
• No Zone activations or zoning management.
• No support for Brocade proprietary features.
• The msplMgmtDeactivate command must be run prior to connecting the Brocade switch to a
McDATA switch to deactivate any platform management functions because McDATA switches do not
understand Brocade proprietary frames used o exchange platform information.

Upgrade and downgrade restrictions

• Brocade only supports one version upgrades and downgrades, for example if you have Fabric OS
5.2.0 installed, you must upgrade to Fabric OS 5.3.0(only) before upgrading to Fabric OS 6.0.
• In McDATA Fabric mode - Fabric OS 5.2.1_NI is the on Fabric OS version that can upgrade directly to
Fabric OS 6.0.

Zoning restrictions

Zone activation is only supported in McDATA Fabric mode. It allows you to create new zone configurations
or modify enabled zone configurations, which can be activated as the enabled zone configuration from
McDATA or Brocade switches. You can save these configurations to the defined Database on the local
Brocade switch. Zone activation allows fabric-wide and stand alone activation of zone configuration.
Before creating or configuring a zone, see the following zone requirements for McDATA Fabric mode:
• A zoning license and a fabric license must be installed on each Fabric OS switch.
• There are four zoning limits that must be met:
• Maximum Number of Zones – 2047 (+1 for the default zone)
• Maximum Number of Member per Zone – 4096
• Maximum Number of Unique Zone Members per Zone Set – 4096
• Maximum Zone Set Definition Size – 0x32000
• No support in the FCR Backbone
• Only zoning by port WWN is allowed; you must use the port WWN of the device, such as
10:00:00:00:c9:28:c7:c6.
• Zone members specified by node WWN are ignored.
• When a Brocade switch or director is reconfiguring, wait until the fabric routes are completely set up
before entering zoning commands that must propagate to other switches. Use the fabricShow
command to verify that all fabric routes are set up and all switch IP addresses and names are present.
(The fabricShow command only shows the WWN and domain ID for switches from other
manufacturers.)
• When no zoning configuration is in effect, and without Default Zoning enabled on McDATA by default,
all ports are isolated and traffic is not permitted. This is unlike Brocade behavior with Brocade Native
mode enabled (and all data traffic is enabled). If the default zone is disabled and there is no active
configuration, then no device can communicate with any other device in the fabric if zoning has been
disabled on a Brocade switch. For details, see "Activating Default Zones" in
Zoning" on page 403.
• Allows you to define zones in the effective configuration or the Defined Database.
• The Cfgenable and cfgdisable commands activate the effective zone configuration.
"Administering Advanced
Fabric OS 6.x administrator guide 485