Evaluating The Fabric; Pid Format Recommendations For Adding New Switches - HP A7533A - Brocade 4Gb SAN Switch Base Administrator's Manual

NOTE: Switches that are queried using outside calls should be configured using PID 1 (core PID) to ensure
that the correct port numbering is used in other management applications.
Table 101 shows various combinations of existing fabrics, new switches added to those fabrics, and the
recommended PID format for that combination. The criteria for the recommendations are first to eliminate
host reboots, and second to minimize the need for a host reboot in the future.
Table 101

PID format recommendations for adding new switches

Existing Fabric OS versions;
PID format
3.1.2 and later; Core PID
3.1.2 and later/4.2.0 and later;
Core PID
3.1.2 and later/4.2.0 and later;
Extended Edge PID

Evaluating the fabric

If there is a possibility that your fabric contains host devices with static PID bindings, you should evaluate
the fabric in the following ways:
• Find any devices that bind to PIDs.
• Determine how each device driver will respond to the PID format change.
• Determine how any multipathing software will respond to a fabric service interruption.
If current details about the SAN are already available, it might be possible to skip the Data Collection step.
If not, it is necessary to collect information about each device in the SAN. Any type of device might be
able to bind by PID; each device should be evaluated before attempting an online update. This information
has broad applicability, because PID-bound devices are not able to seamlessly perform in many routine
maintenance or failure scenarios.
1. Collect device, software, hardware, and configuration data.
The following is a non-comprehensive list of information to collect:
• HBA driver versions
• Fabric OS versions
• RAID array microcode versions
• SCSI bridge code versions
526 Configuring the PID format
Switch to be added Recommendations (in order of preference)
3.1.2 and later 1
2
4.2.0 and later 1
2
3.1.2 and later/4.2.0 Use Core PID for new switch.
and later
Host reboot is not required.
3.1.2 and later/6.0 Change fabric to Core PID. Extended Edge is not supported in
Fabric OS 6.0.
Host reboot is required.
Convert existing fabric to Core PID format, upgrading the
version of Fabric OS, if necessary. Set Core PID format for
new switch.
Host reboot is required.
If devices are bound statically and it is not possible to reboot,
convert existing fabric to Extended Edge PID format,
upgrading the version of Fabric OS, if necessary. Use
Extended Edge PID format for new switch.
Host reboot is not required.
Convert existing fabric to Core PID format, upgrading the
version of Fabric OS, if necessary. Set Core PID format for
new switch.
Host reboot is required.
If devices are bound statically and it is not possible to reboot,
convert existing fabric to Extended Edge PID format,
upgrading the version of Fabric OS, if necessary. Use
Extended Edge PID format for new switch.
Host reboot is not required.