Seed Switch Failover - Brocade Communications Systems Brocade BladeSystem 4/24 User Manual

Seed switch failover

The Management application collects fabric-wide data (such as, fabric membership, connectivity,
name server information, zoning, and so on) using the seed switch. Therefore when a seed switch
becomes unreachable or there is no valid seed switch, the fabric becomes unmanageable.
When the seed switch cannot be reached for three consecutive fabric refresh cycles, the
Management application looks for another valid seed switch in the fabric, verifies that it can be
reached, and has valid credentials. If the seed switch meets this criteria, the Management
application automatically fails over to the recommended seed switch.
Note that it is possible that auto-failover may occur to a seed switch not running the latest firmware
version. In this instance, any functionality which has a direct dependency on the firmware version
of the seed switch is affected and restricted by the failover seed switch capabilities.
Seed switch failover to a M-EOS switch is supported in a Mixed fabric with following restrictions:
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DCFM Professional Plus User Manual
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140-Port Director
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256-Port Director
The following M-EOS devices are seed switch-capable; however, they do not obtain fabric
member information:
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16-Port, 1 Gbps and 2 Gbps Switch
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32-Port, 1 Gbps and 2 Gbps Switch
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24-Port, 2 Gbps Switch
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64-Port Director
In Interop Mode 2 Fabrics, Defined Zone information is lost and the Management application
cannot push the defined zone configuration to the switch because the M-EOS device is a seed
switch.
Dynamic updates do not occur when an end device is connected or removed from Fabric OS
switch. Updates only occur during the asset polling cycle. The asset polling cycle defaults are
baed on SAN size (Small – 2 minutes, Medium – 15 minutes, Large – 30 minutes).
If the firmware version is M-EOS 9.9.2 or later, discovery obtains all fabric member information
for all fabric members. Fabric member information includes Domain ID, WWN, IP address (IPv4
and IPv6), Firmware Version, Model, and Vendor Name. The following M-EOS devices are both
seed switch-capable and allow fabric member information collection:
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32-Port, 4 Gbps Switch
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16-Port, 4 Gbps Switch
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140-Port Director
•
256-Port Director
The following M-EOS devices are seed switch-capable; however, they do not obtain fabric
member information:
•
16-Port, 1 Gbps and 2 Gbps Switch
•
32-Port, 1 Gbps and 2 Gbps Switch
•
24-Port, 2 Gbps Switch
•
64-Port Director
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