HP Fabric OS v7.0.1, Administrator'S Manual

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Fabric OS Administrator’s Guide 441
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EX_Port trunking
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The FC router front domain has a higher node WWN—derived from the FC router—than that of the
edge fabric. Therefore, the FC router front domain initiates the trunking protocol on the EX_Port.
After initiation, the first port from the trunk group that comes online is designated as the master
port. The other ports that come online on the trunk group are considered the slave ports. Adding or
removing a slave port does not cause frame drop; however, removing a slave port causes the loss
of frames in transit.
The restrictions for EX_Port frame trunking are the same as for E_Ports—all the ports must be
adjacent to each other using the clearly marked groups on the front of the product.
ATTENTION
This feature should be enabled only if the entire configuration is running Fabric OS v5.2.0 or later.
If router port cost is used with EX_Port trunking, the master port and slave ports share the router
port cost of the master port.
See Chapter 24, “Using FC-FC Routing to Connect Fabrics,” for more information about EX_Ports
and the FC router.
Masterless EX_Port trunking
EX_Port trunking is masterless except for EX_Ports on Backbones.
For the Backbones, Virtual Fabrics must be enabled for masterless EX_Port trunking to take effect.
For the fixed-port switches, Virtual Fabrics can be enabled or disabled.
If masterless EX_Port trunking is not in effect and the master port goes offline, the entire
EX_Port-based trunk re-forms and is taken offline for a short period of time. If there are no other
links to the edge fabric from the backbone, the master port going offline may cause a traffic
disruption in the backbone.
Supported configurations and platforms for EX_Port trunking
EX_Port trunking is an FCR software feature and requires that you have a Trunking license installed
on the FC router and on the edge fabric connected to the other side of the trunked EX_Ports.
EX_Port trunking is supported only with Brocade edge fabrics. You can use EX_Port frame trunking
in the following configurations and cases:
•
For ports with speeds of 2 Gbps up to a maximum speed of 16 Gbps and trunking over long
distance.
•
In the edge fabric, when the FC router is connected to a switch that supports eight ports from
the trunkable group.
•
When the FC router is connected to an edge fabric using a mix of trunked and non-trunked
EX_Ports. All will share the same front domain.
•
In edge-to-edge, backbone-to-edge, and dual backbone configurations.
Masterless EX_Port trunking has additional configuration requirements. See “Masterless EX_Port
trunking” for these additional requirements.
NOTE
QoS and EX_Port trunking can co-exist; however, if some ports in the trunk group have QoS enabled
and some have QoS disabled, then two trunk groups will form: one with QoS enabled and one with
QoS disabled.