Student Guide FC 120 FC Basics L

FC-120 FC Basics
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The primary external interface in the early days of external storage was the Small Computer
System Interface (SCSI), is a shared bus architecture with dedicated parallel cabling
between servers and storage devices. It is an open standard that has been enhanced over
the years to support increases in device speed and functionality.
By providing a dedicated physical channel, high levels of reliability could be ensured during
data transfers between servers and storage. Server to storage connections must have high
levels of reliability – if there are any errors in a server-storage transfer, valuable data is
compromised permanently. For this reason, server-storage connections traditionally
avoided networks as providing insufficient levels of reliability.
It should be noted that a SCSI bus is a shared bus architecture which means when one
device on the bus has a problem, the other devices on the bus are also effected. This also
leads to issues with termination in SCSI devices which is where the SCSI bus requires
correct electrical termination at both ends to work properly. Proper termination ensures that
the signal travelling down the SCSI bus will not reflect backwards which can cause data
errors. This is one reason for the development of Fibre Channel protocol.
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We can now see that several factors contributed to the rise of Storage Area Networks:
For a variety of reasons (business mergers, introducing new technologies, explosive data
growth), the number of servers and storage devices that intercommunicate has risen rapidly.
The flexibility required for server-storage access has reached network-like levels – but with
a need for channel-like reliability and performance.
The various SCSI committees tried to keep up with the exploding storage market, and had
success in maintaining a rich set of device commands. The SCSI driver is usually
implemented to be more efficient in interacting with an operating system than the IP stack,
and makes it more suited to handling block data transfers.
Serial-based technologies such as Ethernet have seen more rapid improvements in
performance than SCSI-style parallel buses.
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Footnote 1: A Fabric is a collection of Fibre Channel switches, Directors, and connected

devices, such as server hosts and storage. More on Fabrics later in this module. The above
is a brief overview of the Fibre Channel protocol with more detail to follow in the next slides.
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Why give storage its own network (Fabric)? Answer: A good LAN does not make a good
SAN!
• LANs use different protocols, different tools
• LANs are physically insecure at the desktop and potentially vulnerable at the server
• LANs are not built with the same availability
• LANs are tuned to favor short, “bursty” data transmissions versus large, continuous
data transfers used in a SAN.
While Local Area Networks (LANs) may do a good job of supporting user access to servers,
they are less than ideal for providing servers with access to storage systems. One reason is
that user workstations and storage systems use different network protocols. LAN hardware
and operating systems are designed to support user traffic and provide for fast user
response to messaging requests. By definition, user networks have to go to where the users
are and often this means that the servers may also be located all over the enterprise. With a
SAN, the storage units can be secured separately from the servers and totally apart from
the user network.
Most enterprises struggle to maintain adequate LAN performance because of the rapid
increase in user utilization rates and managing storage devices would add impact LAN
performance. For example, it should be noted that user networks frequently employ
broadcasts to coordinate access activities. If storage devices are attached to the main
network, these devices would be needlessly included in such broadcasts. The intermittent
flurries of user broadcasts can be disruptive to bulk data transfers such as from a tape
storage device.
WAN = Wide Area Network, high latency network
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Footnote 1: Refer to the Brocade SAN Scalability Guidelines for currently supported
number of domain IDs in a fabric. At the time of this class release the maximum number of
domains within a fabric is 56 assigned a domain ID within the range of 1-239.
Footnote 2: Fibre Channel node addressing is discussed in more detail later in the module.
To facilitate Fabric communication address management, a partitioning scheme was
developed to reduce the size of routing tables by enabling routing decisions to first be made
based on the domain ID and then the other two partitions.
The 24-bit address is partitioned into three 8-bit fields which are used to route frames based
on this order:
• Domain ID: The upper 8-bits are the Domain ID.
• Area ID: The middle 8-bits are used to identify a port number.
• Node ID: The lower 8-bits are the N_Port address.
The domain is used to identify a Fibre Channel Switch. When a frame is received, it is
routed to the correct domain (Switch). Once the frame reaches the correct domain, it is
routed to the correct area and finally, the frame is routed to the correct port. By using the
Domain ID, up to 239 domains can be supported in the Fabric.
Fibre Channel has the concept of a “Principal Switch.” The function of the Principal Switch is
to simplify the problem of determining precedence between Fibre Channel Switches without
adding a separate external Fabric management software component. The Principal Switch
facilitates the initialization of the Fabric, acts as controller of domains (ensures each Switch
coming into a Fabric has a unique domain) and handles time services via a timer server to
help provide consistent time within the Fabric.
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• NVMe stands for NVM Express - NVM Express is a standardized high performance
software interface for PCI- Express SSDs, removing SCSI from the IO stack
• FC-0 and FC-1 levels specify physical and data link functions needed to physically
send data from one port to another.
• FC-0 level specifications include information about feeds and speeds.
• FC-1 level contains specifications for 2, 4, 8 Gbps 8b/10b encoding, ordered set and
link control communication functions. 10, 16 and 32 Gbps communication uses
64b/66b encoding.
• FC-2 level specifies content and structure of information along with how to control and
manage information delivery. This layer contains basic rules needed for sending data
across the network. This includes:
• How to divide the data into frames
• How much data should be sent at one time before sending more (flow control)
• Where the frame should go
• It also includes Classes of Services, which define different implementations that can
be selected depending on the application.
• FC-3 level defines advanced features such as striping (to transmit one data unit
across multiple links), multicast (to transmit a single transmission to multiple
destinations), and hunt group (mapping multiple ports to a single node). While the FC-
2 level concerns itself with the definition of functions with a single port, the FC-3 level
deals with functions that span multiple ports.
• FC-4 level provides mapping of Fibre Channel capabilities to pre-existing protocols,
such as IP, SCSI, or FICON.
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• Different types of information have different delivery requirements. In order to

accommodate the different delivery requirements, Fibre Channel associates a set of
delivery characteristics into what is called a Class of Service. The characteristics relate
to the type of connection between the ports, confirmation of delivery, flow control
mechanisms and how errors are handled.
• Class-1 is a connection-oriented circuit that dedicates 100% of the bandwidth between
the sending and receiving ports. It also provides for a confirmation of delivery (ACK).
• Class-2 is a connectionless class with an acknowledgement (confirmation of delivery).
No bandwidth is allocated or guaranteed. IP uses this class. Uses both Buffer-to-
Buffer (BB) credits and End-to-End (EE) credits for flow control.
• Class-3 is a connectionless class without an acknowledgement (confirmation of
delivery). No bandwidth is allocated or guaranteed. FCP uses this class. Uses Buffer-
to-Buffer (BB) credits for flow control, does not use End-to-End (EE) credits.
• Class-4 is a connection-oriented class that uses virtual circuits and confirmation of
delivery. Unlike Class-1 that reserves the entire bandwidth, Class-4 can allocate a
requested amount of bandwidth.
• Class-6 is a variation of Class-1 that provides a one-to-many multicast service with a
confirmation of delivery.
• Class-F is a connectionless class with acknowledgements (confirmation of delivery)
between two switches.
• Note: Brocade supports Class-2, Class-3, and Class-F only.
• Connection-oriented requires an established session connection before data is sent;
connectionless does not require an established session before data is sent.
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• Type: Identifies the protocol of the frame content for data frames (i.e. FC_CT, FCP,
IPFC).
• Frame Control (F_CTL): Contains miscellaneous control information regarding the
frame such as who owns initiative, first frame of the exchange, and last frame of the
exchange.
• Sequence ID (SEQ_ID): Identifies and tracks all of the frames within a sequence
between a source and destination port pair.
• Data Field Control (DF_CTL): Indicates if any optional headers are present at the
beginning of the data field of the frame. Optional headers are used for information that
may be required by some applications or protocol mappings.
• Sequence Count (SEQ_CNT): Indicates the sequential order of frame transmission
within a sequence or multiple consecutive sequences within the same exchange. This
is a counter that increments as sequence of frames is transmitted.
• Originator_ID (OX_ID): Exchange ID assigned by the originator port.
• Responder_ID (RX_ID): Exchange ID assigned by the responder to the exchange.
• Data Field/Payload: The maximum size is 2112 bytes.
FC-120 FC Basics
Footnote 1: The Condor3 and Condor4 ASIC has the ability to automatically detect the fill
word being used on the link and will automatically match (or negotiate to) the appropriate
fill word combination.
• Some 8G devices are not capable of properly establishing links with Brocade 8G Fibre
Channel switches when ARB/ARB or IDLE/ARB primitives are used. These 8G devices
require the legacy IDLE/IDLE sequence to achieve successful link initialization. Any of
the three possible combinations (IDLE/IDLE, ARB/ARB, or IDLE/ARB) are used for link
initialization and fill words.
• ARB is short for Arbitrate and has several meanings depending on which parameter is
specified. In the case above, the hex parameter 94FFFF would be used and would
mean the ARB is used as a fill word between frames. IDLE only has one hex
parameter, 95B5B5, and is only used as a fill word between frames.
FC-120 FC Basics
Footnote 1: OUI is the Organization Unique Identifier.

The node and Port WWNs (PWWNs) are used to uniquely identify a device and its ports but
are not used for addressing.
Based on the IEEE Standard format, a Brocade node WWN is: 10:00:xx:xx:xx:yy:yy:yy
where:
• 10:00 is always the first two bytes.
• xx:xx:xx is the vendor-specific OUI. Brocade has the following OUI codes registered
(not a complete list):
• 00:00:88
• 00:01:0F
• 00:05:1E
• 00:05:33
• 00:14:c9
• 00:60:69
• 00:60:DF
• 08:00:88
• C4:F5:7C
• yy:yy:yy is the Brocade main board serial number.
• The three-byte OUI found in the 64-bit IEEE Standard format WWN can be searched
at: http://standards.ieee.org/regauth/oui/oui.txt
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• Footnote 1: Port World Wide Name (PWWN) example:

• 2p:pp:00:05:1e:xx:xx:xx
• The three nibbles (p:pp) are used by Brocade to show the switch port number.
• The “0:09” in the example above indicates this is port 9 on the switch.
• Footnote 2: Host bus adapter (HBA), converged network adapter (CNA), and fabric
adapter (FA).
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• On the HBA, the nWWN begins with a 20:00 and the pWWN begins with a 10:00.
• On a storage device the node WWN (nWWN) is like an umbrella that the port WWNs
(pWWN) sit under like spokes. Different vendors do different things with the WWNs.
• The first two bytes are assigned by a vendor.
Example: Seagate uses Node and Port WWNs in a different manner than Brocade.
Seagate uses a format 2 (2x:) for both the Node and Port WWNs. In the PWWN, the port is
identified in the second nibble of the first byte. The zoning module will show how the
NWWN and PWWN are used.
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For a switch port that goes through port initialization, it arrives at an ending status of F_Port,
FL_Port or E_Port.
Footnote 1: Loop ports are only supported on Condor2 and Golden Eye2 ASICs. Gen5 and
Gen6 products do not support FL_Port type.
Footnote 2: EX and VEX_Ports allow communication between devices in independent

fabrics without having to merge the fabrics. This is done through the use of FC-FC Routing.
To learn more about FC-FC routing and fabric extension solutions, please refer to the Fabric
OS Administrators Guide for your version of Fabric OS or the CFP300: Advanced Gen 5
SAN Management course.
FC-120 FC Basics
For a switch port that goes through port initialization, it arrives at an ending status of F_Port,
FL_Port or E_Port.
Footnote 1: Loop ports are only supported on Condor2, Golden Eye2 and older ASICs.
Gen5 and Gen6 products do not support FL_Port type.
Footnote 2: EX and VEX_Ports allow communication between devices in independent

fabrics without having to merge the fabrics. This is done through the use of FC-FC Routing.
To learn more about FC-FC routing and fabric extension solutions, please refer to the Fabric
OS Administrators Guide for your version of Fabric OS or the BPSA 300: Brocade
Professional SAN Administration course.
FC-120 FC Basics
Footnote 1: The flow chart outlines the Fabric Initialization process supported by
Fabric OS on Gen5 and Gen6 switches. Note – Arbitrated loop is not supported on
Brocade Gen5 and Gen6 fixed switches and chassis.
• U_Port - Is something connected (sending a light/electrical signal) to the port? If yes,
continue to G_Port.
• G_Port - A device can be a switch, target (usually storage), or an initiator (usually a
host).
• If the attached device is a target or initiator it changes its port state from G_Port to
an F_Port.
• If the attached device is a switch then it changes its port state from a G_Port to an
E_Port.
• F_Ports and E_Ports continue to log in to the fabric, which is explained later in this
module.
FC-120 FC Basics
U_Port will attempt the OLD_PORT initialization (Link Initialization Protocol for point to point)
by taking the link down and then transmitting NOS Primitive Sequence if LIP timeout or any
of the loop initialization phases timeout or only one non-zero AL_PA is claimed in Loop
Initialization Sequences (LOOP_EMPTY=false) or no non-zero AL_PAs are claimed
(LOOP_EMPTY=true).
If the ACTIVE state is reached, the port will operate in the G_Port mode. (State 3)
The normal E_Port or F_Port mode detection procedure follows. (Transition 3)

• If ELP succeeds, the U_Port operates in the E_Port mode. (State 4)
• If a valid FLOGI is received, the U_Port becomes an F_Port. (State 5)
• If self loopback detected after ELP exchanges and LOOP_EMPTY = false, port exits
G_Port and reinitializes as FL_Port. (State 2)
Note: The firmware will automatically attempt to reinitialize a faulty port every two seconds.
Fibre Channel uses a number of ordered sets (4 bytes) to perform control and signaling
functions:
Frame delimiters identify the start and end of frames (SOF, EOF).
Primitive signals indicate events or actions:
• Replenishing used flow control buffer credits (R_RDY, VC_RDY).
• Fill words between frames when nothing else needs to be sent (IDLE, ARB).
Primitive sequences are used for link initialization, recovering a link from a detected error
and signaling a port offline ( LIP, NOS, OLS, LR, LRR, etc.) All primitive sequences require a
minimum of three consecutive occurrences of the same ordered set before the primitive
sequence is recognized as valid and action is taken.
FC-120 FC Basics
• N_Ports and NL_Ports are node devices connected to a fabric F_Port or FL_Port.
NL_Port-to-FL_Port connections are referred to as loop ports or loop connections. In a
looped connection multiple physical devices may be connected to the same port, they are
differentiated by using the Node Address field of the 24-bit port ID. N_Port-to-F_Port
connections are sometimes referred to as point-to-point.
• Communication between two switches in a fabric is handled by E_Ports. Although it is

not shown in the diagram E_Port connections can be carried over FCIP and are referred to
as VE_Ports when this is done. E_Ports and VE_Ports cause the connected switches to
merge and become part of the same fabric. In order to connect switches without merging
fabrics EX_Ports and VEX_Ports must be used along with the FC-FC Routing service. FC-
FC Routing is beyond the scope of this class and will not be covered. For more information,
please see the BPSA 300: Brocade Professional SAN Administration course.
FC-120 FC Basics
Footnote 1: When a node attaches to the fabric, it must receive a unique 24-bit address.
The network address is a three-byte address based upon the Domain ID, the Area ID and
the node address. This address is the source address and is used for routing data through
the fabric from one device to another.
Footnote 2:
XX will be 00 for Fabric OS switches on ports that do not use shared area addressing or
NPIV.
Fabric-attached devices use an address format of “DD AA 00”. This is the address of any
Fabric-attached device that has logged into the fabric as point-to-point.
NPIV attached devices use an address format of “DD AA PP”. The “DD AA” bytes of the
address come from the fabric login process and the “PP” byte is assigned during login
process. More information on NPIV at the end of this module.
Footnote 3: Brocade 16G Gen5 and 32G Gen6 hardware do not support arbitrated loop /
public loop devices.
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Shared Area IDs will use the node address to allow 512 ports to be addressed in a single
domain, e.g. DCX 8510-8 with eight FC16-64 blades (8 slots x 64 ports per slot = 512 user
ports)
Footnote 1: The FC16-48 and FC32-48 blades do not use shared areas when installed in a
supported 4-slot director since the total port count in the domain would not exceed 256.
However, the FC16-64 uses shared areas in all DCX 8510 family chassis.
FC-120 FC Basics
The ability to address more then 256 ports in a single switch required a change to the
standard 24-bit addressing scheme. The second byte of a PID is referred to as the Area ID;
with 8 bits, the Area ID can address ports 0–255. Brocade now uses the third byte of the
PID to address ports 256-512. The third byte of a PID is referred to as the node address and
was used to identify the loop address (ALPA) for a loop device. Since Gen 5 and Gen 6
products do not support loop devices, the node address can be used to identify ports in the
256-512 range. This requires the Area ID to be shared (used twice).
The grey boxes represent Port Indexes 0-127. The Area ID for these indexes are not
shared. The blue boxes represent the Port Indexes on Condor ASIC 0 of each FC32-48 &
FC16-48 port card that are shared (ports 16-23 share the same Area ID with ports 40-47,
respectively).
The yellow boxes represent the Port Indexes on Condor ASIC 1 of each FC32-48 & FC16-
48 port card that are shared (ports 24-31 share the same Area ID with ports 32-39,
respectively). With shared Area IDs, the lower port number on the card has a node address
of 0x00 while the higher port number on the card has a node address of 0x80.
FC-120 FC Basics
Shared Area Numbers – switchshow output

Example:
Ports 24-31 on the blade in Slot 3 share the same Area ID with ports 32-39 on the same
blade, respectively. Ports 24-31 will have a node address of 0x00 and ports 32-39 will have
a node address of 0x80. This makes their 24-bit addresses unique.
<truncated output>
Index Slot Port Address Media Speed State
=========================================================
168 5 24 01a800 -- N32 No_Module
169 5 25 01a900 -- N32 No_Module
170 5 26 01aa00 -- N32 No_Module
171 5 27 01ab00 -- N32 No_Module Slot 3, Ports 24-31
172 5 28 01ac00 -- N32 No_Module share Area ID with
173 5 29 01ad00 -- N32 No_Module Slot 3, Ports 32-39,
174 5 30 01ae00 -- N32 No_Module respectively
175 5 31 01af00 -- N32 No_Module
<truncated output>
288 5 32 01a880 -- N32 No_Module

289 5 33 01a980 -- N32 No_Module
290 5 34 01aa80 -- N32 No_Module
291 5 35 01ab80 -- N32 No_Module What makes them
292 5 36 01ac80 -- N32 No_Module unique is the 80 at the
293 5 37 01ad80 -- N32 No_Module end of the address
294 5 38 01ae80 -- N32 No_Module
295 5 39 01af80 -- N32 No_Module
FC-120 FC Basics
In addition to specifying node port and topology behavior, Fibre Channel defines several
services that are used to manage a Fibre Channel network.
The specific address assigned to each Fabric Service is of the format 0xFFFFFx.
The next slide identifies the services provided and the Well-Known Address for each.
FC-120 FC Basics
Every switch has reserved 24-bit called a Well-Known Address. The services residing at
these addresses provide a service to either nodes or management applications in the fabric.
Below are other servers not listed in the table:
• FFFFF6 Clock Synchronization Server: Clock synchronization over Fibre Channel is

attained through a Clock Synchronization Server that contains a reference clock. The
server synchronizes client’s clocks to the reference clock on a periodic basis, using
either primitive signals or ELS frames.
• FFFFF7 Security Server: The security-key distribution service offers a mechanism for
the secure distribution of secret encryption keys.
• FFFFF8 Alias Server: The Alias Server manages the registration and deregistration of
alias IDs for both hunt groups and multicast groups. The Alias Server is not involved in
the routing of frames for any group.
• FFFFFB Time Server: The Time Server sends to the member switches in the fabric
the time on either the principal switch or the primary FCS switch.
• FFFFFD Fabric Controller: The fabric controller provides state change notifications to
registered nodes when a change in the fabric topology occurs.
• FFFFFF Broadcast Server: When a frame is transmitted to this address, the frame is
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broadcast to all operational N and NL_Ports.
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Footnote 1: A device can be an initiator or a target.

A device does a Fabric Login (FLOGI) to determine if a fabric is present and, if so, exchange
service parameters with the fabric. A successful Fabric Login sends back the 24-bit address
for the device in the fabric. The device must do a FLOGI before communicating with other
devices in the fabric.
Note: Since the device does not know its 24-bit address until after it performs the Fabric
Login, the Source ID (SID) in the frame header making the FLOGI request is zeros
(0x000000).
Buffer-to-buffer credits for the device and switch ports are exchanged in the FLOGI ACC
(accept) frame. This is discussed in more detail later in this module.
FC-120 FC Basics
Each Brocade switch contains a Name Server that maintains local information. The Name
Server provides the local devices with access to the Name Service. The Name Server runs
a low-level task that communicates with each switch. The local information from each switch
is shared with one another, and kept in the Name Server cache. When a new device gets
added to a switch, that information is immediately propagated out to all switches in the
Fabric. This behind-the-scenes communication is transparent to the local device.
Name Server characteristics:
• No single point of failure
• Transparent distribution
• Server-to-server protocol (based on FC-CT)
The Name Server, specified in the Fibre Channel Standard, is responsible for directory
information about Fabric-connected devices.
The Name Server maintains name and address information about Fabric-connected devices
in a complex, diverse environment supported by interconnected Brocade switches. Brocade
adds value to the Name Service in two ways:
• By distributing the Name Server throughout the Fabric.
• By providing automatic registration of essential device information on behalf of the
devices, as well as deregistration.
The Name Server functions like a telephone directory.
The Name Server has no responsibility for the process of routing data among devices.
During initialization, the Fabric Login allows the fabric to discover devices.
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The Symbolic Port Name and Symbolic Node Name are free-form variables and are not
restricted by the Name Service. If no value is registered by the Nx_Port, then the Symbolic
Port Name and Symbolic Node name default to a null value.
• Port Identifier - The 24-bit address assigned by the switch Fabric
• FC-4 Types - Most common are Fibre Channel protocol (FCP) and IP
• Port Type - N or NL
• Symbolic Port/Node Name - A 256-character field that is used by the vendor of the
device.
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There is no single command to display the detailed Name Server information for all devices
in a multiple switch fabric. Use the nsshow command to display information about the
devices connected to the switch where this command is issued. Use nscamshow to display
information about devices connected to the remaining switches in the fabric.
Use nsallshow to get a list of all the online node ports in the fabric.
Note: Each switch uses a cache to store the information about the devices connected to the
remaining switches in the fabric. It does not have to retrieve this information from the other
switches when the command is issued. The nscam stands for Name Server Content
Addressable Memory.
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Displays:
• Type: U for unknown, N for N_Port, NL for NL_Port
• PID: 24-bit Fibre Channel address
• COS: List of classes of service supported by device
• PortName: Device port World Wide Name (WWN)
• NodeName: Device node WWN
• Permanent Port Name: Physical N_Port or NL_Port WWN, used for NPIV. The first
device to issue a FLOGI becomes the Permanent Port Name, subsequent FLOGIs
from the same port are given an NPIV address and associated with the Permanent
Port Name.
• SCR (State Change Registration): Notice this device has registered for SCR; see the
next page for a full list of possible values.
There might be additional lines if the device has registered any of the following information
(the switch automatically registers SCSI inquiry data for FCP target devices):
• FC4s supported (FCP is SCSI encapsulated in a Fibre Channel frame; if it says IP then
it is Inband Management)
• IP address
• Port and node symbolic names (specified by the vendor)
• Fabric Port Name: The WWN of the port on the switch to which the device is physically
connected.
• Hard address and/or port IP address
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-r This value indicates what type of RSCN a device registers to receive.

• 0x00000000 = Reserved
• 0x00000001 = Fabric detected registration. Register to receive all RSCN requests
issued by the fabric controller for events detected by the fabric
• 0x00000002 = NX_Port detected registration. Register to receive all RSCN requests
issued for events detected by the affected NX_Port
• 0x00000003 = Register to receive all RSCN requests issued. The RSCN request
returns all effected N_Port_ID pages
The following SCR values use the 4th byte of the SCR value and can coexist with the SCR
values of 0x00000000, 0x00000001, 0x00000002, and 0x00000003.
• 0x01000000 = Principal switch RSCN registration. Register to receive proprietary
RSCN (principal switch change)
• 0x02000000 = AG_QOS RSCN registration
• -t Displays the device type. The first part indicates the origination of the device.
• Physical — Device connected to the Nx_Port, using FLOGI to login to the switch.
• Virtual — Device contrived by the switch.
• NPV — Device connected to the Nx_Port, using FDISC to login to the switch.
• iSCSI — Device connected to the iSCSI port.
Redirect: Frame redirection would be done by an application on the FA blade running some
SA/SAS. (e.g. encryption).
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Use this command to display the local Name Server information about the devices
discovered in the fabric by the Name Server.
The message ‘No Entry found!’ is displayed if the Name Server has not discovered
new switches and any new devices in the fabric.
For each remote switch found, the output of this command shows the same information as
the nsshow command.
Note: The –r option is not available with the nscamshow command.
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Displays global Name Server information

Use this command to display the 24-bit Fibre Channel addresses for all devices in the fabric.
If the operand type is supplied, only devices of specified FC-PH type are displayed. If type is
omitted, all devices are displayed.
Below is the same command, only with the type ‘8’ (SCSI):
switch:admin> nsallshow 8
{
010100 010200 020500 020600 020700 020800
6 FCP Ports }
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An SCR is used by initiators to request notification from the fabric when a state change
occurs. Only devices that do an SCR can receive a Registered State Change Notification
(RSCN).
The Fabric Controller, with its Well-Known Address at FFFFFD, handles this process.
switch:admin> nsshow -r
{
Type Pid COS PortName NodeName SCR
N 010500; 3;20:02:00:11:0d:f0:c3:00;20:02:00:11:0d:f0:c3:00; 0x01000003
FC4s: FCP
PortSymb: [8] "SANBlaze"
Fabric Port Name: 20:05:00:05:33:69:ba:95
Permanent Port Name: 20:02:00:11:0d:f0:c3:00
Port Index: 5
Share Area: No
Device Shared in Other AD: No
Redirect: No
Partial: No
The Local Name Server has 1 entry }
Notice this device has registered for SCR 3 = Full Registration.

• 1 = Fabric RSCNs only
• 2 = Nx_Port RSCNs only
• 3 = Full (1 and 2) RSCNs
FC-120 FC Basics
When a state change occurs that the device should know about, the fabric sends back an
RSCN. Only devices that send an SCR to the fabric controller can receive an RSCN. When
a device receives an RSCN, it queries the Name Server to determine what devices it
currently has access to.
FC-120 FC Basics
The RSCN tells the device to go view the Name Server for changes.
Hosts usually register for RSCNs because they initiate traffic. Storage devices usually do
not register for RSCNs but they will if they do site-to-site communication, such as disk copy.
FC-120 FC Basics
FC-120 FC Basics
Footnote 1: This fabric topology view exposes the internal configuration of a fabric for
management purposes; it contains interconnect information about switches and devices
connected to the fabric. Under normal circumstances, a device (typically an FCP initiator)
queries the Name Server for storage devices within its member zones. Because this limited
view is not always sufficient, the management server provides the application with a list of
the entire Name Server database.
The management application uses the management server to determine the fabric
configuration (i.e. fabric names) and accesses the Name Server database without zoning
restrictions.
FC-120 FC Basics
The above is an example of the frame communication between a host device and the switch
(fabric).
Note: The HBA, among other things, is responsibility for framing packets, physical
addressing and link level error checking.
• FLOGI: Fabric Login command: Used to establish a 24-bit address for the device
logging in. Also establishes buffer-to-buffer credits and class of service supported. All
devices FLOGI into the fabric.
• PLOGI: Port Login command: Devices (host and storage) must login into the Directory
(Name) Server to Register its information as well as query for devices this device is
zoned with. If the device is another switch, the switch begins exchanging ELS.
• SCR: State Change Registration: Device needs to register for State Change
Notification so if there is a change in the fabric, such as a zoning change or a change
in the state of a device that this device has access to, the device will receive an RSCN.
• Registration: A device will exchange registration information with the Directory (Name)
Server.
• Query: Devices can query the Directory (Name) Server for information about the
device it has access to.
• ACCEPT is also displayed as ACC.
FC-120 FC Basics
• PLOGI: (Port Login) Initiator must now log in to the target.

• PRLI: (Process Login) This establishes the operating (SCSI is the most common)
environment between the two N_Ports.
• Inquiry: This example uses an INQ command, it could be something different such as
a report LUNs command for example. Which command is used is determined by the
driver on the initiator. The command’s purpose is to get a list of LUNs the initiator has
access to.
FC-120 FC Basics
In this example, switch E is being added to the fabric. Switch E begins sending primitives to
negotiate link and fabric parameters. Each primitive must be accepted by the receiving
fabric (using the ACC primitive) or Switch E will not be allowed to join.
For more information on this process, see the FC-SW4 Spec at www.t11.org
Footnote 1: Must be set to the same value on each switch in the fabric.
FC-120 FC Basics
In this example, switch E is being added to the fabric. Switch E begins sending primitives to
negotiate link and fabric parameters. Each primitive must be accepted by the receiving
fabric (using the ACC primitive) or Switch E will not be allowed to join.
For more information on this process, see the FC-SW4 Spec at www.t11.org
FC-120 FC Basics
FC-120 FC Basics
NPIV devices connected to the same switch port must have a unique 24-bit address as well
as a unique device PWWN.
FC-120 FC Basics
Footnote 1: Default value in Fabric OS is 126. To support more devices, the value must be changed
using the portcfgnpivport –-setloginlimit command. When 48 port and 64 port director
blades are used (FC16-48, FC16-64, FC32-48, the default is 64 NPIV logins and a maximum of 128
per port.
switch:admin> nsshow
{
Type Pid COS PortName NodeName TTL(sec)
N 010200; 3;10:00:00:05:1e:0b:ef:d1;20:00:00:05:1e:0b:ef:d1; na
FC4s: FCP
PortSymb: [28] "Brocade-825 | 1.1.1 | | | "
Fabric Port Name: 20:02:00:05:1e:0a:83:6d
Permanent Port Name: 10:00:00:05:1e:0b:ef:d1
Port Index: 2
Share Area: No
Redirect: No
N 010201; 3;25:c6:00:0c:29:00:0c:76;25:c6:00:0c:29:00:0b:76; na
FC4s: FCP
Port Index: 2
Share Area: No
Redirect: No
N 010202; 3;25:c6:00:0c:29:00:0e:76;25:c6:00:0c:29:00:0d:76; na
FC4s: FCP
Port Index: 2
Share Area: No
Redirect: No
FC-120 FC Basics
The Local Name Server has 3 entries }
FC-120 FC Basics
Footnote 1: The port ID for the physical HBA port and each NPIV device logged in behind
the HBA port will be displayed in the nsshow output. Notice the Permanent Port Name Field
for the NPIV devices shows the WWN of the physical HBA.
FC-120 FC Basics
Footnote 1:
switch:admin> portcfgnpivport 0 0
switch:admin> portcfgshow
Ports of Slot 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
---------------------+---+---+---+---+-----+---+---+---+-----+---+---+---+-----+---+---+---
Octet Speed Combo 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Speed AN AN AN AN AN AN AN AN AN AN AN AN AN AN AN AN
AL_PA Offset 13 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
Trunk Port ON ON ON ON ON ON ON ON ON ON ON ON ON ON ON ON
Long Distance .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
VC Link Init .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
Locked L_Port .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
Locked G_Port .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
Disabled E_Port .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
Locked E_Port .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
ISL R_RDY Mode .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
RSCN Suppressed .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
Persistent Disable .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
LOS TOV enable .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
NPIV capability .. ON ON ON ON ON ON ON ON ON ON ON ON ON ON ON
NPIV PP Limit 126 126 126 126 126 126 126 126 126 126 126 126 126 126 126 126
FC-120 FC Basics
FC-120 FC Basics
FC-120 FC Basics
FEC works by calculating and including parity information in the data stream. For every
2080 bytes of data to be sent the ASIC will generate 32 bits of parity data. This parity can be
used by the receiving ASIC to correct bit level errors in the transmission.
FEC is only supported on Gen 5 (Condor 3) platforms and only when the ports are running
in 10 or 16 Gbps mode. Speeds less than 10 Gpbs use a different encoding scheme (8b/10b
vs. 64b/66b) and will do not support FEC.
If you want more information on FEC on Brocade devices, please refer to the Brocade
YouTube channel: http://youtu.be/tU0JiYF-jnk. For more detailed information on how the
FEC algorithm works, you can refer to IEEE 802.3ap-2007.
FC-120 FC Basics
FC-120 FC Basics
FC-120 FC Basics

Student Guide FC 120 FC Basics L

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Footnote 1: A Fabric is a collection of Fibre Channel switches, Directors, and connected

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• Different types of information have different delivery requirements. In order to

Footnote 1: OUI is the Organization Unique Identifier.

• Footnote 1: Port World Wide Name (PWWN) example:

Footnote 2: EX and VEX_Ports allow communication between devices in independent

Footnote 2: EX and VEX_Ports allow communication between devices in independent

The normal E_Port or F_Port mode detection procedure follows. (Transition 3)

• Communication between two switches in a fabric is handled by E_Ports. Although it is

Shared Area Numbers – switchshow output

288 5 32 01a880 -- N32 No_Module

• FFFFF6 Clock Synchronization Server: Clock synchronization over Fibre Channel is

broadcast to all operational N and NL_Ports.

Footnote 1: A device can be an initiator or a target.

-r This value indicates what type of RSCN a device registers to receive.

Note: The –r option is not available with the nscamshow command.

Displays global Name Server information

Notice this device has registered for SCR 3 = Full Registration.

• PLOGI: (Port Login) Initiator must now log in to the target.

The Local Name Server has 3 entries }

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