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Physical Connectivity from Fabric Interconnect to MDS and Failover please suggest

JO BO
Level 1
Level 1

Dear Team

We have 2 FI and 2 MDS 1 SAN

Currenlty the connectivity is

2 direct physical connections from FI-A to MDS1

2 direct physical Connections from FI-B to MDS2

From MDS 1 connection to SAN Primary controller

From MDS 1 connection to SAN Secondary controller

From MDS 2 connection to SAN primary controller

From MDS 2 connection to SAN Secondary controller

Hope the above connectivty is fine?

we had looked at

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/ps4159/ps6409/ps5990/white_paper_c11_586100.html (as team always preferred to go via cisco standards)

In FI we have to cluster the FI and Primary and Subordinate,likewise here for MDS to we need to? or will it be done via FIs ?

If not these 2 MDs they work independent but sharing the configs that happens among them?

Now what ever changes (Zone Creation)we make on MDS1 hope that will get relpicated to MDS2 via FIs?

If MDS1 Fails will all the configuration be available on MDS2 and still the infra will be smooth running ? and vice versa?

Any additional steps to be done to achieve it?

Which is the best way to achieve it please suggest

Thanks and Regards

Jose

3 Accepted Solutions

Accepted Solutions

Gregory Scarlett
Cisco Employee
Cisco Employee

Hi Jose.

Physically your connectivity is good.

On the UCS side, the 'Primary' and 'Subordinate' role refer only to the Management of the system and which device is actually running UCS Manager.

Each MDS device will have separate configuration (zoning).  It's different between the 2 devices.

The blade itself will have a connection out each side, or 'SAN Fabric'.

e.g.

           +----+

       +---+    +-----+

       |   |    |     |

       |   |    |     |

       |   |SAN |     |

       | +->----<--+  |

       | |         |  |

       | |         |  |

   +---+-+-+    +--+--+--+

   |       |    |        |

   |MDS-A  |    |MDS-B   |

   +--^-^--+    +---^-^--+

      | |           | |

   +--+-+--+    +---+-+--+

   |       |    |        |

   |UCS-A  |    | UCS-B  |

   +--+----+    +-----+--+

      |               |

      |               |

VSAN100    +-----+    | VSAN200

      |    |     |    |

      +---->     <----+

           |Blade|

           +-----+

The blade will have a HBA on FabricA (VSAN100) and FabricB (VSAN200)

Each HBA will have a different WWPN, and on the SAN array, each controller will have a WWPN

So on MDS-A, the zoning will be:

Blade WWPN A

Storage WWPN Primary A

Storage WWPN Secondary A

MDS-B, the zoning will be:

Blade WWPN B

Storage WWPN Primary B

Storage WWPN Secondary B

So the configuration is *not* synced between the two MDS devices, but they each have visibility to the blades vHBA device.  At the blade level, the Multipathing software on the Operating System will handle any failover.

On the UCS, we would generally use a Port Channel up to the MDS.

View solution in original post

Hi Jose,

Very close

Typically the SAN has the two controllers - but each port will have a different WWPN.

So Controller A, port 1 will have a WWPN and then Controller A, port 2, will have a different WWPN

Here is an example from my lab:

MDS-A

zone name grscarle-ESXi vsan 1000

    member pwwn 20:00:00:25:b5:b5:03:3f  << UCS Blade vHBA-A

    member pwwn 50:06:01:62:44:60:44:fa  << EMC SP-A1

    member pwwn 50:06:01:6a:44:60:44:fa  << EMC SP-B1

MDS-B

zone name grscarle-ESXi vsan 2000

    member pwwn 20:00:00:25:b5:b5:03:2f << UCS Blade vHBA-Fabric-B

    member pwwn 50:06:01:68:44:60:44:fa << EMC SP-B0

    member pwwn 50:06:01:60:44:60:44:fa << EMC SP-A0

In this example, each MDS only has a *single* VSAN.

View solution in original post

That's it.

Once you connect the interfaces on the SAN controller and configure the fc port, you should see it FLOGI in to the MDS.  So you can verify the WWPN via 'show flogi database'

View solution in original post

8 Replies 8

Gregory Scarlett
Cisco Employee
Cisco Employee

Hi Jose.

Physically your connectivity is good.

On the UCS side, the 'Primary' and 'Subordinate' role refer only to the Management of the system and which device is actually running UCS Manager.

Each MDS device will have separate configuration (zoning).  It's different between the 2 devices.

The blade itself will have a connection out each side, or 'SAN Fabric'.

e.g.

           +----+

       +---+    +-----+

       |   |    |     |

       |   |    |     |

       |   |SAN |     |

       | +->----<--+  |

       | |         |  |

       | |         |  |

   +---+-+-+    +--+--+--+

   |       |    |        |

   |MDS-A  |    |MDS-B   |

   +--^-^--+    +---^-^--+

      | |           | |

   +--+-+--+    +---+-+--+

   |       |    |        |

   |UCS-A  |    | UCS-B  |

   +--+----+    +-----+--+

      |               |

      |               |

VSAN100    +-----+    | VSAN200

      |    |     |    |

      +---->     <----+

           |Blade|

           +-----+

The blade will have a HBA on FabricA (VSAN100) and FabricB (VSAN200)

Each HBA will have a different WWPN, and on the SAN array, each controller will have a WWPN

So on MDS-A, the zoning will be:

Blade WWPN A

Storage WWPN Primary A

Storage WWPN Secondary A

MDS-B, the zoning will be:

Blade WWPN B

Storage WWPN Primary B

Storage WWPN Secondary B

So the configuration is *not* synced between the two MDS devices, but they each have visibility to the blades vHBA device.  At the blade level, the Multipathing software on the Operating System will handle any failover.

On the UCS, we would generally use a Port Channel up to the MDS.

Thank You Gregory...

Got your point

So on a service profile will create 2 vHBAs ,1 pointing  to FI A in VSAN 100 with a WWPN (eg:12) and other to FI B in VSAN 200 with a WWPN (eg:34)

Since we have 2 Controllers for SAN ,Controller1 with a WWPN (eg:56),Controller2 with a WWPN(eg:78)

So on

MDS-A

vHBA1 from FI A (12) Zoned with SAN Controller1(56) and Controller2 (78)

MDS-B

vHBA2 from FI B (34) Zoned with SAN Controller1 (56) and Controller2 (78)

So on both MDS we create 2 VSANs-->VSAN 100 and VSAN 200

So controller1(56) and controller2 (78) will be part of VSAN 100 and VSAN 200 on MDS A and B ?

Please correct if worng

Thanks and Regards

Jose

Hi Jose,

Very close

Typically the SAN has the two controllers - but each port will have a different WWPN.

So Controller A, port 1 will have a WWPN and then Controller A, port 2, will have a different WWPN

Here is an example from my lab:

MDS-A

zone name grscarle-ESXi vsan 1000

    member pwwn 20:00:00:25:b5:b5:03:3f  << UCS Blade vHBA-A

    member pwwn 50:06:01:62:44:60:44:fa  << EMC SP-A1

    member pwwn 50:06:01:6a:44:60:44:fa  << EMC SP-B1

MDS-B

zone name grscarle-ESXi vsan 2000

    member pwwn 20:00:00:25:b5:b5:03:2f << UCS Blade vHBA-Fabric-B

    member pwwn 50:06:01:68:44:60:44:fa << EMC SP-B0

    member pwwn 50:06:01:60:44:60:44:fa << EMC SP-A0

In this example, each MDS only has a *single* VSAN.

Thank you....

So is this fine..

Since we have 2 Controllers for SAN ,Controller1 with a WWPN (eg:A56,A78),Controller2 with a WWPN(eg:B65,B87)

So on

MDS-A

vHBA1 from FI A (12) Zoned with SAN Controller1 (A56,B65)---> VSAN 100

MDS-B

vHBA2 from FI B (34) Zoned with SAN  Controller2 (A78,B87)--->VSAN 200

Thanks and Regards

Jose

******************************************************************************

Update to the final conclusion..as above was  the assumption that we had before doing it practically.. now on ground..

So on a service profile will create 2 vHBAs ,1 pointing  to FI A in VSAN 100 with a WWPN (eg:12) and other to FI B in VSAN 200 with a WWPN (eg:34)

12,34  -->WWPN of port of FIA and FIB

A56,B78-->WWPN of port 0A and 0B of controller1

A65,B87-->WWPN of port 1A and 1B of controller2

Since we have 2 Controllers for SAN ,Controller1 with a WWPN (eg:A56,B78),Controller2 with a WWPN(eg:A65,B87)

So on

MDS-A

vHBA1 from FI A (12) Zoned with SAN Controller1 (A56,B78)---> VSAN 100

MDS-B

vHBA2 from FI B (34) Zoned with SAN  Controller2 (A65,B87)--->VSAN 200

Thanks and Regards

Jose

******************************************************************************

That's it.

Once you connect the interfaces on the SAN controller and configure the fc port, you should see it FLOGI in to the MDS.  So you can verify the WWPN via 'show flogi database'

Got it thank you...

edondurguti
Level 4
Level 4

Hi, I'm pretty new to all this and I do have an idea about san and fibre channel.

So, unfortunately we have only one MDS and it's connected to UCS with port channels.

I need to add two new servers that have been added to UCS and vHBAs have been assigned to them.

I have to do the zoning and I think I know how to, I just have a question. Do I need to do something in the UCS interconnect or just in the MDS?

We are using basic zoning and when I do show fcns all I see is N ports, NO ISL.

I'm just worried that if I activate a new zone from Full config in MDS that it will overwrite zoning in UCS if there is such thing.

Again my apologies, this is all new to me.

I think UCS should not have the config as I don't see any ISL link from MDS (E ports)

Thanks.

Hi,

UCS also provides an option to do Zoning.. But Since you have MDS it good that you do in MDS ,Zoing can be done in MDS either command line after ssh to MDS or may use the Cisco Fabric Manager.

We did nothing on the UCS-FI,In Our Case it UCS the port that was connected to MDS was shown as NProxy Mode and on the MDS it was in F mode

Just checked in MDS whether the WWPN numbers of the HBAs added are showing up-command 'show flogi database"( MDS should be in NPIV mode) btw our MDS is MDS 9124

Thanks and Regards

Jose

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