Chapter 1 Access Gateway Basic Concepts; In This Chapter; Brocade Access Gateway Overview; Comparing Native Fabric And Access Gateway Modes - Brocade Communications Systems 8 Administrator's Manual

Access Gateway Basic Concepts

In this chapter

Brocade Access Gateway overview

Brocade Access Gateway (AG) is a Fabric OS feature that lets you configure your Enterprise fabric to
handle additional devices instead of domains. You do this by configuring F_Ports to connect to the
fabric as N_Ports, which increases the number of device ports you can connect to a single fabric.
Multiple AGs can connect to the DCX enterprise-class platform, directors, and switches.
Access Gateway is compatible with Fabric OS, M-EOS v9.1 or v9.6 and later, and Cisco-based
fabrics v3.0 (1) or later and v3.1 (1) and later. Enabling and disabling AG mode and configuring AG
features on a switch can be performed from the command line interface (CLI), Web Tools, or Fabric
Manager. This document describes configurations using the CLI commands. Please see the Web
Tools Administrator's Guide, the Fabric Manager Administrator's Guide, or the Data Center Fabric
Manager User Guide for more information about AG support in those tools.
After you set a Fabric OS switch to AG mode, the F_Ports connect to the Enterprise fabric as
N_Ports rather than as E_Ports.
eight hosts to a fabric using AG to the same configuration with Fabric OS switches in Native mode.
Switches in AG mode are logically transparent to the host and the fabric. Therefore, you can
increase the number of hosts that have access to the fabric without increasing the number of
switch domains. This simplifies configuration and management in a large fabric by reducing the
number of domain IDs and ports.

Comparing Native Fabric and Access Gateway modes

The following points summarize the differences between a Fabric OS switch functioning in Native
operating mode and a Fabric OS switch functioning in AG operating mode:
•
•
For comparison,
function in AG mode.
Access Gateway Administrator's Guide
53-1001760-01
•
Brocade Access Gateway overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
•
Fabric OS features in Access Gateway mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
•
Access Gateway port types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
•
Access Gateway hardware considerations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
The Fabric OS switch in Native mode is a part of the fabric; it requires two to four times as
many physical ports, consumes fabric resources, and can connect to a Fabric OS fabric only.
A switch in AG mode is outside of the fabric; it reduces the number of switches in the fabric
and the number of required physical ports. You can connect an AG switch to either a Fabric OS,
M-EOS, or Cisco-based fabric.
Figure 1 illustrates switch function in Native mode and
Figure 1 shows a comparison of a configuration that connects
Chapter
1
Figure 2 illustrates switch
1