Supported Switch Roles - Lenovo Flex System Fabric CN4093 Application Manual

Supported Switch Roles

NPV Gateway
Full-Fabric FC/FCoE Switch
© Copyright Lenovo 2015
The CN4093 can be used in the following Fibre Channel applications:
 Node Port Virtualized gateway (NPV), linking multiple FCoE nodes to an
upstream full fabric switch.
FC‐BB‐5 compliant full fabric FC/FCoE switch.

These functions are independent of each other, and can coexist or be used in
combination on the switch.
The CN4093 acts as a bridge between FCoE traffic and the Fibre Channel network.
The switch performs Ethernet encapsulation for traffic heading to Ethernet ports,
and performs decapsulation for traffic to Fibre Channel ports.
FCoE features are covered in "FCoE and CEE" on page
used independently or in conjunction with NPV gateway and full fabric switch
features.
As a Node Port Virtualized (NPV) gateway, the CN4093 can act as a Fibre Channel
collector, connecting numerous Fibre Channel end‐point devices (known as nodes)
for uplink to a Fibre Channel full fabric switch, performing stateless FC/FCoE
encapsulation and decapsulation.
This helps resolve a typical problem in Fibre Channel networks where port density
is low on Director Class SAN switches, or considered too valuable to relegate to
individual nodes. As an NPV gateway, the CN4093 acts as a proxy to the upstream
full fabric switch on behalf of the connected nodes.
The CN4093 supports standard Node Port Identifier Virtualization (NPIV)
behavior.
The NPV gateway allows concurrent logins from multiple node ports (and
multiple server connections) to be forwarded upstream to the full‐fabric switch.
The upstream switch provides full fabric services such as zoning enforcement, and
makes all switching decisions.
The gateway switch appears as a Fibre Channel end node to the full fabric switch,
and acts as proxy for the full fabric switch to its connected node devices.
When multiple uplink ports are available between the NPV gateway and the
upstream switch, nodes are not ensured to be assigned the same uplink whenever
they request a session.
Only FCoE end nodes are allowed to be downstream connections. All Fibre
Channel devices are connected to the full fabric FC switch.
As a full fabric FC/FCoE switch, the CN4093 authenticates connecting neighbors,
provides Fibre Channel IDs, enforces port security among zones, and informs
neighboring devices of network changes.
261. These features can be
Chapter 19: Fibre Channel
293