Best Practices For HBA Installation
■
FC-SW configurations: check with the switch manufacturer for optimal configuration
recommendations, including zoning.
■
Note that FC-AL is not supported at 16Gb/s or faster. Use FC-P2P instead.
■
Use single initiator hard zoning to do the following:
■
Avoid Registered State Change Notification (RSCN) storms.
■
Shield devices from indiscriminate SCSI inquiries.
■
Provide security by avoiding inappropriate access.
■
Use meaningful names for zones, and document the entire configuration.
■
Use only FCP-2 (also called FC-TAPE or FCP Error Recovery) with tape and/or sequential
devices. While FCP-2 might not cause problems for hard disk drives (HDDs), FCP-2 is a
sequence-level error recovery mechanism that is irrelevant to HDDs.
■
If using FC tape backups, place tape ports and backup servers on the same FC switch to
avoid tying up inter-switch links (ISLs).
■
SAN switches can be a major source of disruption if you do not take extreme care with
respect to configuration. Do not perform updates to switch OSes and/or firmware, or enable
new features on SAN switches, until you have first tried the updated switches in a test
configuration. The HBA might not support newer switch features, and switch OS and/or
firmware updates might require changes to, and/or restoration of, switch configuration
settings.
Best Practices For Booting From SAN (BFS)
Configurations
If you plan to install a Boot From SAN (BFS) HBA, follow these best practices:
■
Some devices and operating systems do not yet support UEFI-based BIOS and can boot
only from the Legacy BIOS boot mode. However, many servers with UEFI firmware allow
you to enable a legacy BIOS compatibility mode.
■
Legacy BIOS issues - many tweaks and patches have been added over the years to resolve
various issues, and not all were done with the larger ecosystem (many different types of
servers, HBAs, OSes, and so on) in mind.
■
Secure Boot (a UEFI-specific feature) can help you control the boot process, preventing
unauthorized code from running.
■
Larger devices (>2TB) require the use of a GUID Partition Table (GPT) instead of a Master
Boot Record (MBR). GPT is the standard for EFI; it can be implemented in legacy BIOSes,
but it is more difficult to set up. So, while you might be able to boot from a >2TB device
in the legacy BIOS, it might not be seamless. If you are dual-booting with an OS that is
already installed in one mode or the other, however, it is good practice to boot in the same
boot mode as the one that is already in use.
Chapter 2 • HBA Installation, Configuration, and Removal
19
Summary of Contents for 7101690
Page 2: ......
