Supported Configurations; Fibre Channel Routing Concepts - HP A7533A - Brocade 4Gb SAN Switch Base Administrator's Manual

Supported configurations

In an edge fabric that contains a mix of administrative domain (AD)-capable switches and switches that
are not aware of AD, the FC router must be connected directly to the AD-capable switch. For more
information, see
You can use SANtegrity to configure M-Series switches connecting to a B-Series router. For more
information, see
The supported configurations are:
• FC router connected to an HP nonsecured fabric.
• FC router connected to an HP secured fabric.
• FC router connected to a McDATA fabric configured for Open Mode 1.
• FC router connected to a McDATA fabric configured for McDATA fabric mode.
• FC router connected to HP secured and nonsecured fabrics with EX_Port trunking enabled.
• FC router interoperating with older FC routers (XPath OS 7.4.x and Fabric OS 5.1.
McDATA Enterprise OS switches cannot exist in the backbone fabric.

Fibre Channel routing concepts

Fibre Channel routing introduces the following concepts:
• Backbone Fabric
A backbone (BB) fabric is an intermediate network that connects one or more edge fabrics. In a SAN,
the backbone fabric consists of at least one FC router and possibly a number of Fabric OS-based Fibre
Channel switches (see
• Edge Fabric
An edge fabric is a Fibre Channel fabric with targets and initiators connected through the supported
platforms by using an EX_Port or VEX_Port.
• EX_Port, VEX_Port
Special types of ports, called an EX_Port and a VEX_Port, function similarly to an E_Port and VE_Port
respectively, but terminate at the switch and do not propagate fabric services or routing topology
information from one edge fabric to another.
See "Configuring and monitoring FCIP extension
• Interfabric link (IFL)
The link between an E_Port and an EX_Port or between a VE_Port and a VEX_Port is called an
interfabric link. You can configure multiple IFLs from an FC router to an edge fabric.
Figure 37 shows a metaSAN consisting of three edge fabrics connected through a 4/256 SAN
Director or DC Director containing an FR4- 1 8i with interfabric links.
312 Using the FC-FC routing service
"Use of administrative domains with LSAN zones and
"Implementing an interoperable
Figure 39).
FCR" on page 329.
fabric" on page 245.
services" on page 385 for details about VE_Ports.