Network Adapter Requirements - IBM Flex System FC3171 Installation And User Manual

Network adapter requirements

A compatible Fibre Channel adapter or host bus adapter (HBA) must be installed in
each compute node or other blade device that you want to communicate with the
switch. The following devices are examples of compatible network adapters for the
switch:
For additional information about these network adapters, see the applicable
Installation and User's Guide on the Support CD that comes with these products.
Network adapters determine the IBM Flex System chassis switch bays that can
support each switch. The network adapter has two Fibre Channel ports. To enable
the switch to communicate with a compute node or other blade device, at least one
of the previously specified supported types of switches must be installed in the IBM
Flex System chassis. For details about installation, configuration, and use of an
network adapter, see the documentation that comes with the network adapter.
Table 3 summarizes the bay and port interconnections for each switch and network
adapter. In this table, the bay numbers correspond to the switch bays in the IBM
Flex System chassis. Installing a second switch enables a redundant path and a
separate Fibre Channel connection from the compute node or other blade device to
the external devices on the Fibre Channel network and SAN. Thus, the second
switch port connection in Table 3 allows for dual paths from the compute node or
other blade device to the external Fibre Channel devices.
Installing a second switch in the IBM Flex System chassis provides a backup switch
in case one switch fails. You must install the second switch such that two switches
occupy bays 1 and 2, or 3 and 4.
Table 3. Switch bay/expansion-card port correlation
Standard switch bay
in IBM Flex System
chassis
For additional information about the applicable switch bays and expansion-card
ports, see the documentation that comes with the IBM Flex System chassis and the
network adapter.
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IBM Flex System FC3171 8 Gb SAN Switch and Pass-thru Installation and User's Guide
Fibre Channel switch function
1 Port 0 connection on the Fibre Channel network adapter in the
IBM Flex System chassis
2 Port 1 connection on the Fibre Channel network adapter in the
IBM Flex System chassis
3 Port 0 connection on the Fibre Channel network adapter in the
IBM Flex System chassis
4 Port 1 connection on the Fibre Channel network adapter in the
IBM Flex System chassis