B Port Interoperability Mode - HP Cisco MDS 9020 - Fabric Switch Configuration Manual

Configuring FCIP
S e n d d o c u m e n t a t i o n c o m m e n t s t o m d s f e e d b a c k - d o c @ c i s c o . c o m

B Port Interoperability Mode

While E ports typically interconnect Fibre Channel switches, some SAN extender devices, such as
Cisco's PA-FC-1G Fibre Channel port adapter and the SN 5428-2 storage router, implement a bridge port
model to connect geographically dispersed fabrics. This model uses B port as described in the T11
Standard FC-BB-2.
Figure 40-11
FC
B ports bridge Fibre Channel traffic from a local E port to a remote E port without participating in
fabric-related activities such as principal switch election, domain ID assignment, and Fibre Channel
fabric shortest path first (FSPF) routing. For example, Class F traffic entering a SAN extender does not
Cisco MDS 9000 Family CLI Configuration Guide
40-22
Figure 40-11
FCIP B Port and Fibre Channel E Port
Switch A
FC
F
FC
F
F
FC
Switch B
FC
E
F
FC
Switch A
FC
F
F
FC bridge
E
FC
FC B
access
Switch B
FC
E
F
FC
shows a typical SAN extension over an IP network.
E port
IP
FCIP link
VE GE
Virtual ISL
B port
FCIP link
B
B access ISL
E FC
ISL
Chapter 40 Configuring FCIP
Switch C
GE
VE
FC bridge
B FC
B
access
Switch C
IP
FC E
ISL
OL-16184-01, Cisco MDS SAN-OS Release 3.x
FC
F
E
FC
FC
F
E
FC