Proxy Devices; Edge Sans Connected Through A Backbone Fabric - HP A7533A - Brocade 4Gb SAN Switch Base Administrator's Manual

If an FR4- 1 8i blade is attached to an edge fabric using an EX_Port, it will create translate phantom
domains in the fabric corresponding to the imported edge fabrics with active LSANs defined. If you
import devices into the backbone fabric, then a translate phantom domain is created in the backbone
device in addition to the one in the edge fabric.
If you lose connectivity to the edge fabric due to link failures or disabling the IFL, by issuing the
portDisable command from the switch in the attached fabric, translate phantom domains remain
visible. This prevents unnecessary fabric disruptions caused by translate phantom domains repeatedly
going offline and online due to corresponding IFL failures. To remove the translate phantom domain
from the backbone, disable all EX_Ports or VEX_Ports through which the translate phantom domain was
created.
Figure 33 shows another metaSAN consisting of a host in Edge SAN 1 connected to storage in Edge
SAN 2 through a backbone fabric connecting two 4/256 SAN Director, each containing an FR4- 1 8i.
4/256 SAN Director
with
FR4-18i blade
EX_Port
IFL
E_Port
Edge SAN 1
= LSAN
Figure 33

Edge SANs connected through a backbone fabric

Proxy devices

A 400 MP Router, 4/256 SAN Director or DC Director with an FR4- 1 8i achieves interfabric device
connectivity by creating proxy devices (hosts and targets) in attached fabrics that represent real devices in
other fabrics. For example, a host in Fabric 1 can communicate with a target in Fabric 2 as follows:
• A proxy target in Fabric 1 represents the real target in Fabric 2.
• Likewise, a proxy host in Fabric 2 represents the real host in Fabric 1.
The host discovers and sends Fibre Channel frames to the proxy target. The 400 MP Router, 4/256 SAN
Director or DC Director with an FR4- 1 8i receives these frames, translates them appropriately, then delivers
them to the destination fabric for delivery to the target.
The target responds by sending frames to the proxy host. Hosts and targets are exported from the edge
SAN to which they are attached and, correspondingly, imported into the edge SAN reached through Fibre
Channel routing.
298 Using the FC-FC Routing Service
ISL
Backbone
fabric
Edge SAN 2
Figure 34 illustrates this concept.
4/256 SAN Director
with
FR4-18i blade
EX_Port
IFL
E_Port