HP Fabric OS 7.1.0, Administrator'S Manual

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Fabric OS Administrator’s Guide 281
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Management model for logical switches
10
Management model for logical switches
You can use one common IP address for the hardware that is shared by all of the logical switches in
the chassis and you can set up individual IPv4 addresses for each Virtual Fabric. For a
management host to manage a logical switch using the Internet Protocol over Fibre Channel (IPFC)
IP address, it must be physically connected to the Virtual Fabric using a host bus adapter (HBA).
All user operations are classified into one of the following:
•
Chassis management operations
These are operations that span logical switch boundaries, such as:
-
Logical switch configuration (creating, deleting, or modifying logical switches)
-
Account management (determining which accounts can access which logical switches)
-
Field-replaceable unit (FRU) management (slot commands, such as slotShow)
-
Firmware management (firmware upgrade, HA failover)
•
Logical switch operations
These are operations that are limited to the logical switch, such as displaying or changing port
states. Logical switch operations include all operations that are not covered in the chassis
management operations.
When a user logs in, the user is assigned an active context, or active logical switch. This context
filters the view that the user gets, and determines which ports the user can see. You can change
the active context. For example, if you are working with logical switch 1, you can change the context
to logical switch 5. When you change the context to logical switch 5, you only see the ports that are
assigned to that logical switch. You do not see any of the other ports in the chassis.
The scope of logical switch operations is defined by the active context. When you are in the context
of a logical switch, you can perform port, switch, and fabric-level operations, subject to Role-Based
Access Control (RBAC) rules.
If you have permission to execute chassis-level commands, you can do so, regardless of which
logical switch context you are in.
Logical fabric overview
A logical fabric is a fabric that contains at least one logical switch. The four fabrics shown in
Figure 21 and Figure 22 are logical fabrics because they each have at least one logical switch.
You can connect logical switches to non-Virtual Fabrics switches and to other logical switches.You
connect logical switches to non-Virtual Fabrics switches using an ISL, as shown in
Figure 21 .
You connect logical switches to other logical switches in two ways:
•
Using ISLs
•
Using base switches and extended ISLs (XISLs)