Prerequisites for using advanced data and control path failover:
• With LTO-5 and LTO-6 drives with an 8G connection, set the fill word set to arb(ff). With 4G
connections, set the fill word to idle.
• The switch is running a supported version of software. For a list of supported software, see the
compatibility matrix on the Barkup, Recovery and Archive website:
• For advanced data path failover, the host must have a physical path to both the first port and
secondary port on the Fibre Channel drive. For full failover capabilities, the two drive ports should be
connected to different switches and the host Fibre Channel ports should also be connected to the
same two switches.
• All drive ports must be zoned in the respective switches.
Hardware-specific requirements for basic failover
Brocade switches
Most recent firmware versions have NPIV enabled by default but it is configured per port and could have
been disabled. Verify that NPIV is enabled.
For best reliability use firmware revisions v6.2.2f, v6.3.2d, v6.4.3e, v7.1.1c or newer, depending on the
switch family. See the Design Guide for Backup and Archive for current supported revisions on the
Backup, Recovery and Archive website:
http://www.hpe.com/storage/daprcompatibility
To enable NPIV on a Brocade switch, navigate to port administration and execute an advance view.
Cisco switches
Some Cisco switches that support NPIV do not have NPIV enabled by default. The Cisco MDS 9148 may
disable NPIV when power cycled.
To enable NPIV on a Cisco switch use
Cisco_Device_Manager
>
Admin
>
Feature_Control
or use the
Cisco CLI commands show NPIV status and NPIV enable.
Hardware-specific requirements for advanced path failover
The NPIV settings are not needed for advanced path failover. For supported switch firmware versions,
see the Design Guide for Backup and Archive on the Backup, Archive and Recovery website at:
www.hpe.com/storage/daprcompatibility
B-Series switches
For best reliability use revision v7.1.1c, or newer. LTO-5 and LTO-6 drives work best with 8G connections
configured with arb(ff) type 3, which is done by using the portcfgfillword command to set the ports to use
fill word type 3. The fill word for 4G connections should be set to idle.
C-Series switches
For best reliability use minimum revision 5.2(8)
H-Series switches
For best reliability use minimum revision v7.4.0.21.0.
Hardware-specific requirements for basic failover
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