Dell POWEREDGE M1000E - Manual (Page 24)

4 Access Gateway Administrator’s Guide
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Access Gateway port types
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Access Gateway port types
Access Gateway differs from a typical fabric switch because it is not a switch; instead, it is a mode
that you enable on a switch using the ag command. After a switch is set in ag mode, it can connect
to the fabric using node ports (N_Ports). Typically fabric switches connect to the Enterprise fabric
using ISL (InterSwitch Link) ports, such as E_Ports.
Following are the Fibre Channel (FC) ports that AG uses:
• F_Port - fabric port that connects a host, HBA, or storage device to a switch in AG mode.
• N_Port - node port that connects a switch in AG mode to the F_Port of the fabric switch.
Comparison of Access Gateway ports to standard switch ports
Access Gateway multiplexes host connections to the fabric. It presents an F_Port to the host and an
N_Port to an Edge fabric switch. Using N_Port ID Virtualization (NPIV), AG allows multiple FC
initiators to access the SAN on the same physical port. This reduces the hardware requirements
and management overhead of hosts to the SAN connections.
A fabric switch presents F_Ports (or FL_Ports) and storage devices to the host and presents
E_Ports, VE_Ports, or EX_Ports to other switches in the fabric. A fabric switch consumes SAN
resources, such as domain IDs, and participates in fabric management and zoning distribution. A
fabric switch requires more physical ports than AG to connect the same number of hosts.
Figure 3 on page 5 shows a comparison of the types of ports a switch in AG mode uses to the type
of ports that a switch uses in standard mode.
Speed Negotiation Yes
Syslog Daemon Yes
Trunking Yes**
ValueLineOptions (Static POD, DPOD) Yes
Web Tools Yes
Zoning NA
1. When a switch is behaving as an AG, RBAC features in Fabric OS are available, but there
are some limitations. For more information on the limitations, refer to “Access Gateway hardware
considerations” on page 5.
2. In embedded switches, time should be updated by the server management utility.
TABLE 1 Fabric OS components supported on Access Gateway (Continued)
Feature Support