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VSAN question

Andrew Cormier
Level 1
Level 1

                   This is probably pretty simple question (I think it is too simple... that is why I cant find the answer in a cisco doc lol)

So we already have a san with a fibre switch and multiple host.

We are using mcdata and brocade switches and we are upgradin them to 9124s

In the current infrastructure we creat a zone for each servers fibre card

The members are that servers card and the card on the storage device

We create a second zone with the other card and the other storage devices card (we do this on the other fibre switch.. we always have two)

Each server is the same way.

So is what i am calling a zone the same thing as a VSAN?

On a switch do I create one VSAN per server with the members being one of the FCs from the server and one FC from the storage device?

The cisco docs talk about security and scalability and the joys of VSANing but I am trying to understand using my existing knowledge.

Thanks

Drew

1 Accepted Solution

Accepted Solutions

Drew

No they are not the same. Zones on McData & Brocade are just the same on Cisco.

VSAN's are a level up from that.  They allow you to partition whole chunks of your environment into seperate virtual fabrics.

It sounds like you don't need that, so i'd say you'd be fine with creating one vsan on each switch and using that.  By default all ports are in vsan 1, it is best practice to NOT use this and pick one of your own.

Steven

View solution in original post

15 Replies 15

Drew

No they are not the same. Zones on McData & Brocade are just the same on Cisco.

VSAN's are a level up from that.  They allow you to partition whole chunks of your environment into seperate virtual fabrics.

It sounds like you don't need that, so i'd say you'd be fine with creating one vsan on each switch and using that.  By default all ports are in vsan 1, it is best practice to NOT use this and pick one of your own.

Steven

Thanks Steve... when I look at the quick zone config in the cisco guide (compared to Brocade for example) it look waay too easy.. I am sure I am missing something but we will see when I get them powered up.

Cheers

Drew

Ah well, quick zoning is a new feature - and it does look good.  I've not had the opportunity to try it yet though, so your feedback would be welcome.

Steven

Yep.. but it is a max of 12 zones with two ports per zone. We have a few more devices than that so we will see how it plays out and I will update the thread

Ok.. have two of the switches racked . Some questions and observations.

Fabric manager and Device manager are wonky to install on Windows 7 64bit.

You can trick it tho. I also find it displays funny but doable. I will try it on an XP machine and see what happens.

I am still fuzzy on the VSAN thing. If I have one SAN (netapp), and two 9124 switches (not stacked) and an esx server with two fibre cards:  Do I create one VSAN per switch (using VSAN 1 is not recommended)? Do I need to configure an IP for that VSAN (I dont think so since I am managing the zoning via the management IP).

Not sure since this is stuff I never dealt with with Brocade/McData (it may have been supported but we never used it)

I didnt have any problems installing device manager on Win7 64bit, Didn't try Fabric manager as we have that on a server already.

Yep, one VSAN per switch.

You have an IP address on the switch itself for management, not for each VSAN

One more thing you'll prob want to do is pick a domain ID on each switch for that new VSAN and make it static.

Once you have the VSAN's done the zoning is just the same as Brocade - but more commands to achieve the same end result

Steven

think of VSAN as VLANs, logical separation of physical resources.

@dynamoxxx

Thanks! .. goind through the QCG...  so I create one VSAN per switch..

In Brocade you have zone configs that contain all the zones and aliases. If you were add a server you would select the active config.. modify it.. and then apply it. You could also copy it.. modify the copy and activate the copy. If things go titsup you could apply the previous config.

Are zone sets the same idea? Do I need to create a zone set? Do I need to create it just once and then always just update it? I will try it but dont want to screw things up too much.

Hi Andrew

Yes zonesets are exactly the same as zone configs.

As with Brocade, you do need one.  As for adding too or copy then add - it's entirely up to you. 

FWIW, I only tend to copy and modfy the new one if I have alot of changes.

One last thing... Instead of using aliases (which is prefectly fine) you may want to look at using device aliases.  In your smaller environment theres not much in it, but device aliases can be better in bigger/multi VSAN environs.   If you do decide to use them, make sure you use enhanced.

Steven

Thanks steve.

You are probably right about copying zone sets. Since this is something I do maybe 3 times a year (and always am rusty) I like to have a fallback plan

Not sure what you mean about the aliases. what I have been doing so far is below.

Also, for the aliases I dont understand the difference between fwwn and pwwn. I google it and it always wants to show me nwwn (which isnt an option)

Create VSAN (only one...called vsan2)

Create zoneset (for now called fabric_2012092101)

Create an alias for, for example, a server with one hba

     fcalias name server1_hba0 vsan 2 -->

     member fwwn 00:00:etc

Create the zone

     zone name server1_zone vsan 2

     member fcalias server1_hba0

Add the zone to the zoneset

     zoneset name fab_201209etc.. vsan 2

     member server1_zone

Activate the zoneset.

Ok.. last VSAN question.. I promise.

If I have switch 1 with VSAN 2. The vsan does not have an IP. The switch has an ip of 192.168.1.11

I also have switch 2. It also has a VSAN2 (again doesnt have an ip) The switch has an ip of 172.16.1.12

I have san with two hba's, one into each switch. My server also has two hba's(again, one for each switch).

Does it matter that the two VSANs have the same number? I want them completely independant.

Thanks


Drew

Drew

VSAN's don't have IP addresses.

As long as the switches are not connected via fibre channel, then no it does not matter.

Steven

VSANs can have IP addresses, if you want to be able to get to your switches in-band using overlay VSANs. I have never met anyone who does it but we did set it up in my MDS class.

@dynamoxxx

You are, of course, quite right.

I didn't mention that because it wasn't really pertinent to the issue in hand, and I didn't want to add an extra variable into the mix.

But you've gone and said it now!

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