About The Fcip Tunneling Service - Brocade Communications Systems A7990A - StorageWorks SAN Director 4/16 Blade Switch Administrator's Manual

Using the FCIP Tunneling Service
This chapter describes the Fibre Channel over IP (FCIP) Tunneling Service. It contains the following
sections:
•

"About the FCIP Tunneling Service"

•
"Configuring an FCIP Interswitch/Interfabric Link"
•
"Managing the FCIP Tunneling Service"
About the FCIP Tunneling Service
The FCIP Tunneling Service is an optional feature that enables you to use Fibre Channel "tunnels" to
connect SANs over IP-based networks. An FCIP tunnel transports data between a pair of Fibre Channel
switches, and can have more than one TCP connection between the pair of IP nodes. However, from the
Fibre Channel fabric point of view, the FCIP tunnel is just a connection between switches, and all the IP
network and protocols remain invisible.
Fabric OS supports FCIP interswitch links (ISLs) between the SilkWorm 7500 or SilkWorm 48000
(with an FR4-18i blade) or AP7420 with a VE_Port on each end. Fabric OS also supports FCIP
interfabric links (IFLs) between two SilkWorm switches (SilkWorm 7500 or SilkWorm 48000 with an
FR4-18i blade) or routers with a VE_Port on one end and a VEX_Port on the other to support a routed
fiber channel storage area network, also known as a MetaSAN topology.
The GbE ports on the FC4-16IP do not support FCIP tunneling.
Note
You must have an FCIP license installed on the switch to use the FCIP Tunneling Service.
GbE ports configured for FCIP are called "virtual E_Ports" (VE_Ports) or "virtual EX_Ports"
(VEX_Ports). An FCIP tunnel between two VE_Ports is considered an FCIP ISL and will merge the
two fabrics. An FCIP tunnel between a VE_Port and a VEX_Port is considered an FCIP IFL and will
not merge the fabrics. FCIP tunnels between two VEX_Ports are not supported.
Fabric OS supports up to eight virtual FCIP tunnels and up to eight logical VE_Ports or eight logical
VEX_Ports on a single physical GbE port. The first physical GbE port, ge0, contains logical ports 16–
23; and the second physical GbE port, ge1, contains logical ports 24–31.
The FCIP tunnels on each GbE port are numbered 0 through 7, and each tunnel is logically mapped to a
physical GbE port. For example, tunnel 0 on GbE port 0 corresponds to logical FC port 16; tunnel 1 on
GbE port 1 corresponds to logical FC port 25.
At either end of the tunnel is a VE_Port or VEX_Port. After you configure a VE_Port on one end and a
VEX_Port on the other, an FCIP IFL connection is established between them.
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