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MDS9124 Configuration

JRJSmith_WKL
Level 1
Level 1

Please assist with information about configuring an MDS 9124 FC Switch.

We have a HP MSA1000 SAN device, which was connected to a QLogic HBA on our Windows Server. We need to add connectivity to the MSA1000 from another HP server running VMware ESX Server so we acquired a Cisco MDS 9124 Switch.

However, the QLogic HBA reports the PWWN of the MSA1000 as offline after all three devices are connected through the MDS 9124.

From the MDS 9124, I can FCPING the PWWN of the QLogic HBA successfully and I can FCPING the PWWN of the MSA1000 HBA successfully. I've tried this with everything in the default VSAN 1 and I've tried creating a separate VSAN 2 and joining the FC ports.

It has to be something that I'm missing.

Can anyone point me to a good reference for configuring the MDS 9124, please? I'm using the PDFs from the Cisco site but I guess that I don't comprehend Fibre Channel architecture sufficiently.

Any guidance will be much appreciated.

Regards

Joe.

8 Replies 8

reberhar
Cisco Employee
Cisco Employee

Just a shot in the dark, but some HBAs have problems with FCID allocation when the target is in the same area as the HBA itself.

Have a look at the "FCID allocation for HBA" section in the following URL. You may have to add the OUI for the HBA to the database...

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps5989/products_configuration_guide_chapter09186a0080664cd1.html#wp1269334

You may have to do a "purge fcdomain fcid vsan " afterwards for the switch to pick up the change.

Hope it helps,

Ralf

Hi Ralf,

Many thanks; this did help in that the QLogic's HBA Customer-ID was in the FCID database but that for the HP HBA (in the MSA1000) was not. I added the Customer-ID for the HP HBA (from its Type 5 WWN). It didn't resolve the issue with the QLogic HBA seeing the MSA1000 as offline but it's probably avoided a problem appearing later.

dmcloon
Level 1
Level 1

Make sure the Qlogic HBA is getting a different area id than the storage. Check the fcns database. For example,

Bad (same area)

----------------

qlogic = x640000

storage= x640001

If like this you can use persistent fcid to assign fcid to HBA.

Good (unique areas)

-------------------

qlogic = x640000

storage= x640100

Many thanks for this response. The QLogic = 0x950000 and the HP = 0x950100, so I guess this is alright and not the cause of the problem.

Using the QLogic SANSurfer on the Windows Server presents the WWN for the MSA1000 but shows it as offline.

I've tried doing a discover scsi-target but; when it completes, there is no disk or LUN information available. Does this mean that the MDS9120 IOS is not communicating with the MSA1000 OS? As mentioned earlier; when the QLogic is directly connected to the MSA1000, it can see the LUNs.

Any assistance is appreciated,

Joe.

Hi Joe,

for proper communication between the MSA1000 and ESX Server, the Host Mode needs to be set to Linux for each connection to the MSA1000. To set the Host Mode, first determine the World Wide Port Name (WWPN) for each host bus adapter (HBA) port that will have a connection to the MSA1000.

hope it helps,

Andreas.

Hi Andreas,

Thanks for the information. I'll need that when I come to set up the connection for the ESX Server.

Currently, I am concentrating on getting the Windows connection re-established, making it through the Cisco MDS 9120 switch rather than directly. Once I've solved that, I'll progress to the ESX Server connection.

Thanks again.

user_4444
Level 1
Level 1

I know that the MSA's are Active/Passive (Controllers) on firmware lower than version 7. What I have had to do before is get the active controller seeing the LUN's and then pull the fibre cable from the active controller to get the passive one to see the LUN's.

Hi,

Thanks for this suggestion. This MSA1000 currently has only one controller.

Once we've got this working in the manner that we want; I'll be looking at building in some resilience, which will require another controller and another Fabric switch.

I'm trying to keep it simple until I get my head around the SAN concepts.

Thanks again

Joe.

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