Can two FIs in a single UCS system running in different FC mode?

[lane.lu@hometrack.com.au]

Hi there,

Don't know if anyone has asked this question before?

Can two FI in a single UCS system run in two different FC mode? i.e FI-A in EHM mode and FI-B in FC Switching mode?

The reason for asking this is:

We are planning to merge our SAN to FIs and decommission our dying brocade FC switches. Apart from the UCS blades and Storage arrays, we also have few rack servers which we want FI to be the SAN Switch for all of them. ( Replace the role of the Brocade SAN Switch)

For the sake of non-interrupt migration. I'm thinking to firstly convert one FI to FC Switching mode (the current mode is EHM), then merge one of the SAN paths to FI, then migrate the other one if the first one comes up correctly. But I'm not sure if the two FI can operate in different mode in the cluster at the same time.

Did anyone has any experiences like this and would like to share?

Thanks.

Lane

[Sergiu.Daniluk]

Hi lane.lu@hometrack.com.au 

As far as I am aware, a cluster of FIs cannot run in different FC switching mode. In fact, in older versions of UCS Manager (3.1.x), once you change the mode, either both of the FIs would reload simultaneously, or sequentially. In newer releases (3.2, 4.x), the subordinate FI reboots first and the primary FI reboots only after you acknowledge it in Pending Activities.

Cheers,

Sergiu

[Sergiu.Daniluk · Accepted solution]

Hello,

I found the reference of what I mentioned above in the config guide:

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/ucs-manager/GUI-User-Guides/Storage-Mgmt/4-1/b_UCSM_GUI_Storage_Management_Guide_4_1/b_UCSM_GUI_Storage_Management_Guide_4_1_chapter_01110.html#task_B6E0C2A15FE84D498503ADC19CDB160B 

Cheers,

Sergiu

[lane.lu@hometrack.com.au]

Thanks very much Sergiu.