Interconnecting CIsco MDS 9222i to the HP C-Blade enclosute VC-FC Virtual connect module

[gerald]

Hi,

Anyone had the experience of interconnecting the CIsco MDS 9222i to an HP Blade system through the VC-FC virtual connect module?

When i connect my MDS switch to the module, the VC-FC ports dont log in to the MDS. Could i be missing out on something? I have configured the MDS to use the default VSAN 1 and tried configuring the ports as F-ports but nothing worked, even with the port mode put on auto they still take on the F-port role and still the VC-FC module doesnt log in.

Your help and support will be appreciated

jerrysimila

[hershal06 · Accepted solution]

HP Virtual Connect uses NPIV (not be confused with NPV). Is NPIV enabled

on your 9222i? NPIV became available somewhere the 3.X code I believe, I don't recall the exact version though.

[gerald]

Thanks hershall, jst noticed that i had not enabled the npvi feature..after i did that

everything picked up like a breeze. It is my first time wiht the MDS but so far so good, good learning experience for me. Have you ever done DR replication using FCIP? Any hints on how to achieve it?

[hershal06]

Good to hear. VC has worked well for us, really reduced our port usage and cabling. We did run into HBAs having older boot bios and wouldn't get the HP-defined WWNs. Took a little bit to figure that one out.

I am familar with using FCIP for DR replication, we are currently using it here. I think the some of the highlevel steps of configuring this would be:

1. Get the IP networking setup (GbE connections along with routing to the other switch).

2. Setup IVR with a Transit VSAN in place. This might need a seperate license but they also might allow you to do it with FCIP license. Not 100% sure.

3. Setup FCIP interfaces

Do you tend to use fabric manager, device manager or CLI to make your changes?

[gerald]

i wanna use the CLI though i also have the fabric manager at my disposal. would you kindly

share a sanitised version of ur running config for the mds that does the FCIP replication to the DR i see if i can make head out of it then i

f i face any challenge will holla at u. you can email me similamg@gmail.com

My set up is as follows, ive got 2 MDS 9222i at the primary site in active-standby mode, one connects to the active VC while the other connects to the standby VC of the blade system. Then i have a similar set up for the DR. Good thing is that am first setting everything up here in my Data Centre, then test before sending the configured equipment to the DR. So i have much freedom to get dirty with the equipment, and its not a live environment yet.

Kindly let me know the step-by-step procedure of having the FCIP set up.