A Metasan With Interfabric Links - HP A7533A - Brocade 4Gb SAN Switch Base Administrator's Manual

Host
Edge
fabric 1
E_Port
Fibre
IFL
Channel
switch
Figure 37

A metaSAN with interfabric links

Fabric ID (FID)
•
Every EX_Port and VEX_Port uses the fabric ID (FID) to identify the fabric at the opposite end of the
interfabric link (IFL). The FID for every edge fabric must be unique from the perspective of each
backbone fabric.
• If EX_Ports and VEX_Ports are attached to the same edge fabric, they must be configured with the
same FID.
• If EX_Ports and VEX_Ports are attached to different edge fabrics, they must be configured with a
unique FID for each edge fabric.
If two different backbones are connected to the same edge fabric, the backbone fabric IDs must be
different but the edge fabric ID must be the same. Configuring the same backbone fabric ID for two
backbones that are connected to the same edge is invalid. In this configuration, a RASLog message
displays a warning about fabric ID overlap.
NOTE: Backbone fabrics that share connections to the same edge fabrics must have unique backbone
fabric IDs.
• Fibre channel router
A switch running the FC-FC routing service. See
platforms that can be FC routers.
• Logical storage area networks (LSANs)
An LSAN is defined by zones in two or more edge or backbone fabrics that contain the same devices.
You can create LSANs that can span fabrics. These LSANs enable Fibre Channel zones to cross
physical SAN boundaries without merging the fabrics while maintaining the access controls of zones
(see Figure 38).
An LSAN device can be a physical device, meaning that it physically exists in the fabric, or it can be a
proxy device.
Target
Edge
fabric 2
E_Port
IFL
Long Distance IFL
EX_Ports
4/256 SAN Director
with FR4-18i blade
"Supported
Target
Edge
fabric 3
E_Port
Fibre
Channel
switch
26415a
platforms" on page 31 1 for a list of
Fabric OS 6.1.x administrator guide 313