Configuring a device-switch connection, Swapping port area ids – Dell POWEREDGE M1000E User Manual

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Fabric OS Administrator’s Guide

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Ports

3

Configuring a device-switch connection

To configure an 8G (and 8G only) connection between a device and a switch, use the
portCfgFillWord command. This command provides the following configuration options:

Mode Link Init/Fill Word

Mode 0 IDLE/IDLE

Mode 1 ARBF/ARBF

Mode 2 IDLE/ARBF

Mode 3 If ARBF/ARBF fails use IDLE/ARBF

ATTENTION

Although this setting only affects devices logged in at 8G, changing the mode is disruptive regardless
of the speed at which the port is operating.

The setting is retained and applied any time an 8G device logs in. Upgrades from prior releases
which supported only modes 0 and 1 will not change the existing setting, but switches reset to
factory defaults with Fabric OS v6.3.1 or later will be configured to Mode 0 by default. The default
setting on new units may vary by vendor.

Modes 2 and 3 are compliant with FC-FS-3 specifications (standards specify the IDLE/ARBF
behavior of Mode 2, which is used by Mode 3 if ARBF/ARBF fails after 3 attempts). For most
environments, Brocade recommends using Mode 3, as it provides more flexibility and compatibility
with a wide range of devices. In the event that the default setting or Mode 3 does not work with a
particular device, contact your switch vendor for further assistance.

For more information on using this command, refer to the Fabric OS Command Reference.

Swapping port area IDs

If a device that uses port binding is connected to a port that fails, you can use port swapping to
make another physical port use the same PID as the failed port. The device can then be plugged
into the new port without the need to reboot the device.

If two ports are changed using the portSwap command, their respective areas and “P” values are
exchanged.

For ports that are numbered above 255, the “P” value is actually a logical index. The first 256 ports
continue to have an index value equal to the area ID assigned to the port. If a switch is using Core
PID format, and no port swapping has been done, the port index value for all ports is the same as
the physical port numbers. Using portSwap on a pair of ports will exchange those ports’ area ID
and index values.

NOTE

The portSwap command is not supported for ports above 256.

Use the following procedure to swap the port area IDs of two physical switch ports. In order to swap
port area IDs, the port swap feature must be enabled, and both switch ports must be disabled. The
swapped area IDs for the two ports remain persistent across reboots, power cycles, and failovers.

ATTENTION

Brocade DCX and DCX 8510 Backbone families only: You can swap only ports 0 through 15 on the
FC8-48 port blades. You cannot swap ports 16 through 47.

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