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Information About NPV
The following figure shows an interface-level view of an NPV configuration.
Figure 4: NPV Interface Configuration
NPV Mode
In NPV mode, the edge switch relays all traffic to the core switch, which provides the Fibre Channel switching
capabilities. The edge switch shares the domain ID of the core switch.
To convert a switch into NPV mode, you set the NPV feature to enabled. This configuration command
automatically triggers a switch reboot. You cannot configure NPV mode on a per-interface basis. NPV mode
applies to the entire switch.
In NPV mode, a subset of fabric mode CLI commands and functionality is supported. For example, commands
related to fabric login and name server registration are not required on the edge switch, because these functions
are provided in the core switch. To display the fabric login and name server registration databases, you must
enter the show flogi database and show fcns database commands on the core switch.
Server Interfaces
Server interfaces are F ports on the edge switch that connect to the servers. A server interface may support
multiple end devices by enabling the N port identifier virtualization (NPIV) feature. NPIV provides a means
to assign multiple FC IDs to a single N port, which allows the server to assign unique FC IDs to different
applications.
To use NPIV, enable the NPIV feature and reinitialize the server interfaces that will support multiple
Note
devices.
As the NPIV box has multiple FLOGIs from the NPV box, the disable-feature command is rejected.
Note
Server interfaces are automatically distributed among the NP uplinks to the core switch. All of the end devices
connected to a server interface are mapped to the same NP uplink.
In Cisco Nexus devices, server interfaces can be physical or virtual Fibre Channel interfaces.
Cisco Nexus 5500 Series NX-OS SAN Switching Configuration Guide, Release 7.x
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Configuring N Port Virtualization
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