Device mapping considerations – Dell POWEREDGE M1000E User Manual

Page 43

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Access Gateway Administrator’s Guide

23

53-1001760-01

Access Gateway mapping

2

1. Static device mapping to N_Port (if defined)

2. Device mapping to N_Port group (if defined)

For more information, refer to

“Port Grouping policy”

on page 33.

3. Automatic WWN load balancing within a port group (if enabled)

For more information, refer to

“Port Grouping policy”

on page 33.

NOTE

Only NPIV devices can use device mapping and the automatic WWN Load Balancing policy.

NOTE

In Fabric OS v6.4.0, the device load balancing policy is enabled per module rather than per
port group.

4. Port mapping to an N_Port

5. Port mapping to an N_Port in a port group (if defined)

For more information, refer to

“Port Grouping policy”

on page 33.

Device mapping considerations

Consider the following points when using device mapping:

If the N_Port is disabled, all devices that are mapped to it will be disabled. Depending on the
effective failover policy, the devices will be enabled on other N_Ports.

Similar to Port-based mappings, device-based mappings are affected by changes to underlying
F_Ports. In other words, if an F_Port needs to be taken offline, both the physical device and all
virtual nodes behind it will momentarily go offline.

Once devices are mapped to an N_Port rather than an N_Port group, they cannot be
automatically rebalanced to another N_Port if an additional N_Port comes online.

There can be cases where two NPIV devices logging through the same F_Port are mapped to
two different N_Ports that are connected to two different fabrics. In this case, both NPIV
devices may be allocated the same PID by their respective fabric. Once Access Gateway
detects this condition, it will disable that F_Port, and the event will be logged.

NOTE

Access Gateway algorithms reduce the chances of PID collisions, but they cannot be totally
eliminated. In some cases, you may be able to configure your virtual or physical fabrics to
further reduce this condition.

Device mapping is not supported when firmware is downgraded to Fabric OS 6.3.x or lower. You
must delete device mappings before downgrading or disable Device Load Balancing.

Static and dynamic device mapping are only supported on the edge module in a cascaded
Access Gateway configuration.

When mapping devices to a port group, make sure that all ports in the group have the same
NPIV login limit. If some ports have a lower login limit than the other ports, and there are many
logins to the group, some devices will repeatedly attempt to connect to the device with the
lower limit (because it has the fewest logins) and fail to connect.

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