HP Fabric OS v7.0.1, Administrator'S Manual

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36 Fabric OS Administrator’s Guide
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PIDs and PID binding overview
3
Core PID addressing mode
Core PID is the default PID format for Brocade platforms. It uses the entire 24-bit address space of
the domain, area ID, and AL_PA to determine an object’s address within the fabric.
The Core PID is a 24-bit address built from the following three 8-bit fields:
•
Domain ID, written in hex and the numeric range is from 01–ee (1–239)
•
Area ID, written in hex and the numeric range is from 01–ff (1–255)
•
AL_PA
For example, if a device is assigned an address of 0f1e00, the following would apply:
•
0f is the domain ID.
•
1e is the area ID.
•
00 is the assigned AL_PA.
From this information, you can determine which switch the device resides on from the domain ID,
which port the device is attached to from the area ID, and if this device is part of a loop from the
AL_PA number.
For more information on reading and converting hexadecimal, refer to Appendix D, “Hexadecimal
Conversion” .
Fixed addressing mode
Fixed addressing mode is the default addressing mode used in all platforms that do not have
Virtual Fabrics enabled. When Virtual Fabrics is enabled on the Brocade Backbone, fixed
addressing mode is used only on the default logical switch. With fixed addressing mode enabled,
each port has a fixed address assigned by the system based on the port number. This address
does not change unless you choose to swap the address using the portSwap command.
10-bit addressing mode
The 10-bit addressing mode is the default mode for all the logical switches created in the Brocade
Backbones. This addressing scheme is flexible to support a large number of F_Ports. In the regular
10-bit addressing mode, the portAddress
--
auto command supports addresses from 0x00 to 0x8F.
NOTE
The default switch in the Brocade Backbones uses the fixed addressing mode.
The 10-bit addressing mode utilizes the 8-bit area ID and the borrowed upper two bits from the
AL_PA portion of the PID. Areas 0x00 through 0x8F use only 8 bits for the port address and support
up to 256 NPIV devices. A logical switch can support up to 144 ports that can each support 256
devices. Areas 0x90 through 0xFF use an additional two bits from the AL_PA for the port address.
Therefore, these ports support only 64 NPIV devices per port.
10-bit addressing mode provides the following features:
•
A PID is dynamically allocated only when the port is first moved to a logical switch and
thereafter it is persistently maintained.
•
PIDs are assigned in each logical switch starting with 0xFFC0, and can go to 0x8000 in the
case of 64-port blades.