Port Fencing - HP StorageWorks 8/8 - SAN Switch Release Note

10-Gb interoperability
10G interop between HP StorageWorks SAN Director 6 Port 10Gb FC blade and McDATA blades
is not supported due to a hardware limitation. However, the SAN Director 6 Port 10Gb FC blade is
supported in a chassis running in interopmode 2 or 3 (SAN Director 6 Port 10Gb FC blade to SAN
Director 6 Port 10Gb FC blade connections only). A SAN Director 6 Port 10Gb FC blade will not
synchronize with a McDATA 10Gb blade, but will not negatively impact the system.

Port Fencing

When the Port Fencing feature is enabled for ITW or CRC errors, the first set of errors detected
on an active link that meet the custom high threshold level set by the user (or the default threshold
level) is always ignored to account for expected link transition errors. The port is disabled only
upon detection of a second set of errors; that is, the next time the user-set threshold level (or default
threshold level) is reached. This prevents a port from being disabled due to normal link transition
behaviors.
When using the Port Fencing feature, you must first run the fwalarmsfilterset command.
This command enables the port and allows you to receive Port Fencing messages.
Port Fencing can be inadvertently disabled from Web Tools. This occurs when you first open the
Fabric Watch configuration window and then select the SNMP Trap checkbox in the Above row.
Making this change in Web Tools disables Port Fencing. If this happens, you must re-enable the
Port Fencing bit from the CLI.
Extended Fabrics and R_RDY flow control
Starting with Fabric OS 5.1, the Extended Fabrics feature is supported with R_RDY flow control
(R_RDY flow control mode can be enabled using the portCfgISLMode command). R_RDY flow
control mode that uses IDLE primitives does not support frame-based trunking for devices such as
Time Division Multiplexor (TDM). To overcome this limitation and provide support for frame-based
trunking with Extended Fabrics, Fabric OS 6.2.x has been enhanced to support interoperability
with these distance extension devices.
Fabric OS 6.2.x allows Extended Fabrics E_Ports to operate in VC_RDY mode using either ARB
or IDLE primitives as fill words. This allows frame-based trunking to be supported on Extended
Fabrics E_Ports even when IDLE primitives are configured for these ports when operating in native
VC_RDY mode. Prior to this change, frame-based trunking was supported only when ARB primitives
were used in VC_RDY mode. With Fabric OS 6.2.x, frame-based Trunking is supported on Extended
Fabrics E_Ports even if IDLE or ARB primitives are used when operating in native VC_RDY mode.
Implementation
The portcfglongdistance CLI parameter VC Translation Link Init is now overloaded
to specify whether the long distance link should use IDLE or ARB primitives. By default vc_init is enabled.
When vc_init is enabled, the long distance link uses ARB primitives. When vc_init is disabled, the
link uses IDLE primitives.
The buffer-to-buffer credit recovery feature is not supported on Extended Fabrics E_Port when it is
configured to use IDLE primitives. The user must disable buffer-to-buffer credit recovery feature using
the command portcfgcreditrecovery and specifying the disable option; otherwise, the link will
continuously reset.
The Adaptive Networking SID/DID Traffic Prioritization QoS feature is not supported on Extended
Fabrics E_Ports when IDLE primitives are configured on these ports. In this mode only data virtual
channels are available when QoS related virtual channels are not available.
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