Device Alias Modes; Device Alias Mode Guidelines And Limitations For Device Alias Services - Cisco Nexus 5500 Series NX-OS Configuration Manual

Device Alias Databases
Step 5
EXAMPLES
This example shows how to display the device alias configuration.
switch# show device-alias name x
device-alias name x pwwn 21:01:00:e0:8b:2e:80:93

Device Alias Modes

You can specify that aliases operate in basic or enhanced modes.
When operating in basic mode, which is the default mode, the device alias is immediately expanded to a
pWWN. In basic mode, when device aliases are changed to point to a new HBA, for example, that change is
not reflected in the zone server. Users must remove the previous HBA's pWWN, add the new HBA's pWWN,
and then reactivate the zoneset.
When operating in enhanced mode, applications accept a device alias name in its native format. Instead of
expanding the device alias to a pWWN, the device alias name is stored in the configuration and distributed
in its native device alias format. So applications such as zone server, PSM, or DPVM can automatically keep
track of the device alias membership changes and enforce them accordingly. The primary benefit of operating
in enhanced mode is that you have a single point of change.
Whenever you change device alias modes, the change is distributed to other switches in the network only if
device alias distribution is enabled or on. Otherwise, the mode change only takes place on the local switch.
Note Enhanced mode, or native device alias-based configurations, are not accepted in interop mode VSANs.
IVR zoneset activation fails in interop mode VSANs if the corresponding zones have native device
alias-based members.

Device Alias Mode Guidelines and Limitations for Device Alias Services

Device Alias services have these configuration guidelines and limitations:
• If two fabrics running in different device alias modes are joined together, the device alias merge fails.
There is no automatic conversion to one mode or the other during the merge process. In this situation,
you must select one mode over the other.
• Before changing from enhanced to basic mode, you must first explicitly remove all native device
alias-based configurations from both local and remote switches, or replace all device alias-based
configuration members with the corresponding pWWN.
Cisco Nexus 5500 Series NX-OS SAN Switching Configuration Guide, Release 7.x
158
Command or Action
device-alias rename old-device-name
new-device-name
Example:
switch(config-device-alias-db)#
device-alias rename mydevice mynewdevice
Distributing Device Alias Services
Purpose
Renames an existing device alias with a new
name.
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