Best Practices for Installing the HBA
fatal error, and then notifies the HBA driver of the error. The driver then notifies the
OneCommand Manager utility (via the
elxhbamgrd
daemon process) to start the firmware
dump. This firmware dump starts automatically, and the dump file is stored in the default
dump location, based on your operating system.
Best Practices For Switches and Zoning
Follow these best practices for switches and zoning in your environment:
■
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.
Chapter 2 • Hardware Installation and Removal
19
