Does a UPC(Unified Port Controller) of the FI 6200 supports multi protocol port concurrently?

[moyeonlee]

Hello a Good Person,

Does a UPC(Unified Port Controller) of the FI 6200 supports multi protocol ports concurrently?

For example, Second UPC has 1/9-16. can I configure those ports like these? 1/9-10 for Server ports , 1/11-12 for Uplink ports, 1/13-14 for FCoE Uplink ports, 1/15-16 for FC Uplink ports and so on. I know Cisco Documents describe any port can be configured as Server port, FC, FCoE... I' not interesting in those rough comments.

Thanks in advance.

Paul

[smcquerr · Accepted solution]

In UCS the configuration of Unified ports is controlled by a slider bar as shown here.

There is a configuration for the Fixed FI ports and then another for the Expansion Module . FCoE and Ethernet ports are both type Ethernet from  a unified port standpoint, FC requires that you select which ports you  want to be FC ports.

All the ports to the left of the slider bar will be Ethernet, which can also be configured for FCoE, and everything to the right will be FC.  So to answer your specific scenario above yes. BUT with a caveat.

If you moved the slider between port 14 and 15 then everything to the left would be Ethernet and could be configured as a Server Port, Uplink Port, or FCoE port and ports 15 and 16 could be configured as FC ports.  BUT the caveat would be that ports 17-32 would also be FC ports and you could not make them Ethernet ports later.  So the port configuration is contiguous for ports on the Fixed ports, and also on the expansion module.

Best practice is to determine how many FC ports you may need and configure each component accordingly.

The following provides some more detail regarding guidelines for configuring Unified Ports.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/unified_computing/ucs/sw/gui/config/guide/2.0/b_UCSM_GUI_Configuration_Guide_2_0_chapter_0101.html#concept_0249934662D1439AA5E926A503AC8B4B

Hope this helps,

Steve McQuerry

UCS - Technical Marketing

[moyeonlee]

Hello steve,

Thank you so much.

I understand most of your explanation and Cisco Documents. I'd like to clarify the configuration. when I need 6 FC Uplink ports on FI 6248 in anyway, I can configure like this, 1/1-26 for Ethernet Ports(Server, Uplink, FCoE) and 1/27-32 for FC Uplink ports. In this case, the third port group is divided into two parts, one for ethernet, the other part for FC. there is no problem, right? some guy said it's impossible for a port group to support mix port types on 6200. they are wrong, right?

Many thanks

Paul

[smcquerr · Accepted solution]

Paul,

What you want to do will work (see attached image).  The unified port configuration is unique to the port and not the ASIC group of 8 ports.  The only restrictions are those outlined in the docuemtation and imposed by the slider bar in UCSM.

Steve McQuerry

UCS - Technical Marketing

[moyeonlee]

Steve,

I appreciate your reply in detail.

But I still wonder why there is a port configuration requirement that every type of ports(ethernet, FC) shoul be configured in EVEN order if the each port works not by UPC, but by itself.

Thanks

Paul

[smcquerr · Accepted solution]

Paul,

The even order port requirement is imposed by the slider bar.  On a Nexus 5548 (which has the equivalent UPC chipset) it is possible to split the FC and Ethernet across an even and odd port boundary, however it is unusual that a user would actually want/need an odd number of ports.  For ease of usability and based on actual customer use cases it was decided in UCSM to impose the even split using the slider bar.

Steve McQuerry

UCS - Technical Marketing

[moyeonlee]

Smcquerr,

Thank you so much for your great help. There were some opinions that a single UPC could support different types of port. That's why I want to clarify to see if it works or not.

Many thanks

Paul

[smcquerr]

Paul,

Happy to help.

Steve McQuerry

UCS - Technical Marketing