13Configuring The Distributed Management Server; Distributed Management Server Overview; Platform Services In A Virtual Fabric - HP A7533A - Brocade 4Gb SAN Switch Base Administrator's Manual

13 Configuring the Distributed Management Server

Distributed Management Server overview

The Fabric OS Distributed Management Server (MS) allows a SAN management application to retrieve
information and administer interconnected switches, servers, and storage devices. The management server
assists in the autodiscovery of switch-based fabrics and their associated topologies.
A client of the management server can find basic information about the switches in the fabric and use this
information to construct topology relationships. The management server also allows you to obtain certain
switch attributes and, in some cases, modify them. For example, logical names identifying switches can be
registered with the management server.
The management server provides several advantages for managing a Fibre Channel fabric:
• It is accessed by an external Fibre Channel node at the well-known address FFFFFAh, so an
application can access information about the entire fabric management with minimal knowledge of the
existing configuration.
• It is replicated on every HP StorageWorks switch within a fabric.
• It provides an unzoned view of the overall fabric configuration. This fabric topology view exposes the
internal configuration of a fabric for management purposes; it contains interconnect information about
switches and devices connected to the fabric. Under normal circumstances, a device (typically an FCP
initiator) queries the name server for storage devices within its member zones. Because this limited view
is not always sufficient, the management server provides the application with a list of the entire name
server database.
Platform services
The management server is located at the Fibre Channel address FFFFFAh. By default, all management
services except platform services are enabled; the MS platform service and topology discovery are
disabled.
Use the msplMgmtActivate and msplMgmtDeactivate commands to activate and deactivate the
platform services throughout the fabric. The msplMgmtActivate command attempts to activate the MS
platform service for each switch in the fabric. The change takes effect immediately and is committed to the
configuration database of each affected switch. MS activation is persistent across power cycles and
reboots.
Before issuing the msplMgmtActivate command, run the msCapabilityShow command to verify that
all switches in the fabric support the MS platform service; otherwise, the command will fail.
When FCS policy is enabled, the msplMgmtActivate command can be entered only from the primary
FCS switch.
The execution of the msplMgmtActivate command is subject to Admin Domain restrictions that may be
in place. See the Fabric OS Command Reference manual and see Chapter 1,
configuration tasks" on page 29 and Appendix A,
NOTE: The commands msplMgmtActivate and msplMgmtDeactivate are allowed only in AD0
and AD255.

Platform services in a Virtual Fabric

Each Logical Switch has a separate Platform Database. All platform registrations done to a Logical Switch
are valid only in that particular Logical Switch's Virtual Fabric.
Activating the platform service by entering the msplMgmtActivate command will activate platform
services on all Logical Switches in a Virtual Fabric. Similarly, entering the msplMgmtDeactivate
command will deactivate the platform service on all Logical Switches in a Virtual Fabric. The msPlatShow
command displays all platforms registered in a Virtual Fabric.
"Configuring the PID format" on page 523 for details.
Fabric OS 6.2 administrator guide 293
"Performing basic