Adaptive Networking/Flow-Based Qos Prioritization - HP A7533A - Brocade 4Gb SAN Switch Base Release Note

Adaptive networking/flow-based QoS prioritization

When using QoS in a fabric with 4-G ports or switches, Fabric OS 6.0 or later must be installed
on all products in order to pass QoS info. E_Ports from the HP StorageWorks DC SAN Backbone
Director or HP StorageWorks DC04 SAN Director to other switches must come up after 6.0 is
running on those switches.
Flow-based QoS is not supported on any 8-Gb FC blades in the HP StorageWorks 4/256 SAN
Director.
Any products that are not capable of operating with Fabric OS 6.0 cannot exist in a fabric with
flow-based QoS. Major problems occur if previous-generation 2-Gb products exist in the fabric.
For the HP StorageWorks SAN Switch 4/32 and SAN Switch 4/32B, if all of the ports are E_Ports
and the switch is upgraded to Fabric OS 6.2.x, the buffers on the E_Ports are changed to utilize
the QoS model. If the switch is rebooted, 28 of 32 ports will come up in QoS mode; the last four
ports will come up in buffer-limited mode. Workarounds include disabling long distance configur-
ation for these ports or explicitly disabling QoS on other ports, freeing up buffers for the last four
ports.
With the Fabric OS 6.2.1 and later firmware upgrade, the default behavior of the Adaptive Net-
working QoS feature changes as follows:
Default QoS behavior is disabled on 4-Gb platforms.
Default QoS behavior is disabled on the Extended Fabrics E_Ports on both 4-Gb and 8-Gb
platforms.
This fix addressed the following unexpected behaviors that occurred when the Adaptive Networking
QoS feature was enabled by default in earlier Fabric OS releases:
Splitting of a single trunk group into multiple trunk groups upon port toggle, since the toggled
ports come online with QoS enabled, while the remaining ports in the trunk group have QoS
disabled.
Fewer buffer credits being made available to normal E_Ports after a port toggle, even when
QoS is not being utilized.
An unexpected change to a fill-word configuration on an Extended Fabrics E_Port after a port
toggle. If an Extended Fabrics E_Port is using IDLE primitives as fill words, and if that port
toggles, the fill-word configuration is changed to use ARB primitives.
NOTE:
After upgrading to this firmware release, if users want to enable the Adaptive Networking QoS feature
on 4-Gb platforms and on the Extended Fabrics E_Ports on both 4-Gb and 8-Gb platforms, they must
do so explicitly through the available user interfaces.
FC Routing
All FCR switches must be running Fabric OS 6.2.1x or later in order to support M-EOS 239 Domain
Mode on the Mi10K.
FCR backbone fabric ID changes
With 8-Gb director blades, the switch must be disabled to change the backbone fabric ID.
With routing and dual backbone fabrics, the backbone fabric ID must be changed to keep the
IDs unique.
HP StorageWorks Fabric OS 6.2.2a Release Notes 23