N Port Identifier Virtualization; About Interface States; Administrative States; Operational States - HP Cisco MDS 9020 - Fabric Switch Configuration Manual

Chapter 12 Configuring Interfaces
S e n d d o c u m e n t a t i o n c o m m e n t s t o m d s f e e d b a c k - d o c @ c i s c o . c o m

N Port Identifier Virtualization

N port identifier virtualization (NPIV) provides a means to assign multiple FC IDs to a single N port.
This feature allows multiple applications on the N port to use different identifiers and allows access
control, zoning, and port security to be implemented at the application level.
example application using NPIV.
Figure 12-2
Application
server
You must globally enable NPIV for all VSANs on the MDS switch to allow the NPIV-enabled
applications to use multiple N port identifiers.
Note All of the N port identifiers are allocated in the same VSAN.

About Interface States

The interface state depends on the administrative configuration of the interface and the dynamic state of
the physical link.

Administrative States

The administrative state refers to the administrative configuration of the interface as described in
Table
Table 12-1
Administrative State
Up
Down

Operational States

The operational state indicates the current operational state of the interface as described in
OL-16184-01, Cisco MDS SAN-OS Release 3.x
NPIV Example
LUN 1
E-mail
N_Port_ID 1
LUN 2
Web
N_Port_ID 2
LUN 3
Print
N_Port_ID 3
N port
Node
controller
12-1.
Administrative States
Description
Interface is enabled.
Interface is disabled. If you administratively disable an interface by shutting
down that interface, the physical link layer state change is ignored.
Figure 12-2
MDS switch
F port
Cisco MDS 9000 Family CLI Configuration Guide
Fibre Channel Interfaces
shows an
Table 12-2.
12-7