UCS -> Nexus5000 -> FC Storage

[Lukas Mazur]

hi all,

is it possible for Nexus5k to  operate as the only SAN switch (FC) between a UCS and a FC EMC Storage  with no other MDS switches used?

to better clarifly my question

                           Storage

                              | |

           --------------------  -------------------                    FC

           |                                        |

      N15K                                    N15K                                   N15K in switch mode

           |                                        |                    FC

           |                                        |

      Fabric-Interconnect A          F-In B

                    UCS Blades

i know that this seems like an nexus related question but i need the clarification on UCS.

thanks lukas

[stechamb]

No.

The NX5K is not a replacement for the MDS.  One reason is that the 61xx expects the northbound SAN switch to be an NPV and fabric switch, whereas the NX5K can only do one or the other, not both.

You could link from 61xx to NX5K to MDS to SAN.

[vijaykrish]

Lukas,

Your question is valid and N5K is capable if speaking to HP, Dell, IBM and even with C-Series UCS but not with B-Series.

Based on my discussion with Cisco, understood that this feature is on roadmap but not sure about the dates....!

Steve, I'm trying to understand your comment "You could link from 61xx to NX5K to MDS to SAN". Can you please elaborate a bit more???

Cheers,

VJ

[stechamb]

Looks like the UCS -> NX5K for FC isn't officially supported yet.  Whoops! :-)

[kar-wai.chin]

what about UCS -> Nexus 5k -> FCoE ready SAN?

I think should be ok on this.

What you guys think?

[v_rajure]

The FCoE ready SAN (Native FCoE support) seems to be again the future road map.

For the question Lucas asked , as per our discussions with various teams working on UCS we understood that the N5K can also act as a SAN switch if it is kept in NPIV mode. We tested it before we understood this fact with NPV on N5K, it detected the storage box but the N5K was expecting an upstream switch to be NPIV enabled, it was actually referring to the 61xx. We didn’t tested N5K in NPIV mode but as per our discussions it should work as a SAN switch on the NPIV mode.

Regards,

Vinay

[Jeremy Waldrop]

Is connecting UCS --> N5K --> MDS still not supported? Is the supported/recommended option is to connect UCS --> MDS?

[v_rajure]

Hi VJ,

You mentioned N5K can talk to C-Series servers.

Is it like

C-Series --FC--> N5K --FC-->Storage

OR

C-Series --FCoE--> 61xx -fc-> N5K --fc--> Storage

Regards,

Vinay

[kschroed]

C-Series --FCoE--> N5K--fc--> Storage should be supported configuration.