replacing 6120 with 6296

[russ.givens]

I will be replacing a 6120 with a 6296 in the near future.  I have the Upgrading Cisco UCS B-Series Hardware pdf which gives an overview of the process for replacing a 6120 with a 6248.  The 6120 we have has the 6 port 8Gb fiber channel expansion module.  I was wondering if anybody has had experience doing this replacement and if there are any gotchas or advice that you can offer in this replacement.      

[Robert Burns]

One recommendation I'd make is to design/plan your Unified Ports properly.  Each time you need to reconfigure unified ports as Ethernet or FC, it requires a reboot of the FI or Expansion module.  It's good practice to start with your FC ports on the far right side (starting with your expandion modules) and working left.  This way if you do need to add more FC ports, you're only resettting the module and not the whole FI.  Unlike the 6100s, all ports on the 6200 can be Eth or FC.  So take the time to plan your deployment before you swap it in.

Regards,

Robert

[russ.givens]

I'm looking at the materials that were purchased for this project and I don't see and E16UP expansion modules on it.  The thought I believe was to use the 48 ports that come with it first and then expand into the expansion modules if we grew to that point.  So what you are saying is to populate the expansion modules with E16UP's and use those for the fiber channel connectivity (starting from the right and working left).  Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be able to get the expansion modules at this time because we purchased a bundle that did not come with them.  Like you said all the ports can be used for ethernet or fiber channel.  So I'd start on the left and work right for ethernet and the right and work left for fiber channel.  You are saying that if I ever need to change a port from ethernet to fiber channel or vice versa the fabric interconnect will need to be bounced?  What about when I migrate from the 6120 to 6296?  The migration should move all the existing ports over to the 6296, but I'll want to add some additional fiber channel ports.  I presume when I configure the additional ports as fiber channel I'll need to bounce the fabric interconnect then?

[Robert Burns]

Yes.  Each time you reconfigure a port between Ethernet & FC on the main Interconnect chassis (non Expanion module) it will require a reboot.  Thats why its good to get it right early on if you can plan your future expansion accordingly.  You can still always change it down the road.

Robert

[russ.givens]

Is there any additional documentation on how to swap out a 6120 with a 6296 other than the Upgrading Cisco UCS B-Series Hardware pdf.  The document doesn't appear to be overly detailed.

[russ.givens]

So when I swap out the 6120 for the 6296 my fiber channel uplink ports are going to disappear correct? They are on the fiber channel expansion module in the 6120 presently and there is no direct mapping between those and the ports on the 6296.

So all I need to do is identify the ports I would like to use for Fibre channel connectivity, configure the unified ports by using the wizard / slider, set the port type to Fibre Channel, and configure the ports as Fibre Channel uplink ports correct? This would be after I've swapped out the 6120 for teh 6296 and it's come up?

[dfilenko]

And one more thing to look for is SAN port-channel with MDS/N5K switches. New fabric interconnects come with new OUIs and older NXOS code in MDS or N5Ks might not have them in the approved list. Therefor proprietary features like SAN port-channel would not work. NXOS code upgrade to latest version is required for SAN port-channels to work correctly.

[russ.givens]

Our uplink ethernet ports go into 5Ks, but our SAN connectivity from the expansion modules go straight into our Brocade SAN switches.  So I'm assuming this wouldn't be an issue then?