Information About Unified Ports; Guidelines And Limitations For Unified Ports; Unidirectional Link Detection Parameter - Cisco nexus 5000 series Configuration Manual

Information About Unified Ports

switch(config)# interface ethernet [chassis/]slot/port
• The chassis ID is an optional entry that you can use to address the ports of a connected Fabric Extender.
Information About Unified Ports
Cisco Nexus unified ports allow you to configure a physical port on a Cisco Nexus device switch as a
1/10-Gigabit Ethernet, Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE), or 2-, 4-, 8-Gigabit native Fibre Channel port.
Currently, most networks have two types of switches for different types of networks. For example, LAN
switches carry Ethernet traffic up to Catalyst or Nexus switches carry FC traffic from servers to MDS switches.
With unified port technology, you can deploy a unified platform, unified device, and unified wire approach.
Unified ports allow you to move from an existing segregated platform approach where you choose LAN and
SAN port options to transition to a single, unified fabric that is transparent and consistent with existing practices
and management software. A unified fabric includes the following:
• Unified platform—Uses the same hardware platform and the same software code level and certifies it
• Unified device—Runs LAN and SAN services on the same platform switch. The unified device allows
• Unified wire—Converges LAN and SAN networks on a single converged network adapter (CNA) and
A unified fabric allows you to manage Ethernet and FCoE features independently with existing Cisco tools.

Guidelines and Limitations for Unified Ports

• Ethernet ports and Fibre Channel ports must be configured in the following order:

Unidirectional Link Detection Parameter

The Cisco-proprietary Unidirectional Link Detection (UDLD) protocol allows ports that are connected through
fiber optics or copper (for example, Category 5 cabling) Ethernet cables to monitor the physical configuration
of the cables and detect when a unidirectional link exists. When the switch detects a unidirectional link, UDLD
shuts down the affected LAN port and alerts the user. Unidirectional links can cause a variety of problems,
including spanning tree topology loops.
UDLD is a Layer 2 protocol that works with the Layer 1 protocols to determine the physical status of a link.
At Layer 1, autonegotiation takes care of physical signaling and fault detection. UDLD performs tasks that
Cisco Nexus 5000 Series NX-OS Layer 2 Switching Configuration Guide, Release 5.1(3)N1(1)
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The chassis ID is configured on a physical Ethernet or EtherChannel interface on the switch to identify
the Fabric Extender discovered through the interface. The chassis ID ranges from 100 to 199.
once for your LAN and SAN environments.
you to connect your Ethernet and Fibre Channel cables to the same device.
connects them to your server.
• Fibre Channel ports must be configured from the last port of the module.
• Ethernet ports must be configured from the first port of the module.
If the order is not followed, the following errors are displayed:
ERROR: Ethernet range starts from first port of the module
ERROR: FC range should end on last port of the module
Configuring Ethernet Interfaces
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