Important Emc Brocade San Switch Interview Question
Uploaded by
Shatrughan SinghImportant Emc Brocade San Switch Interview Question
Uploaded by
Shatrughan SinghImportant emc brocade san switch interview question .
1. What is FCIP?
Fibre Channel over IP (FCIP) is also known as Fibre Channel tunneling
or storage tunneling. It is a method to allow the transmission of Fibre
Channel information to be tunneled through the IP network. FCIP encapsulates
Fibre Channel block data and subsequently transports it over a TCP socket.
TCP/IP services are utilized to establish connectivity between remote SANs.
Any congestion control and management, as well as data error and data loss
recovery, is handled by TCP/IP services and does not affect FC fabric services.
The major point with FCIP is that does not replace FC with IP, it simply
allows deployments of FC fabrics using IP tunnelling
[Link] is FICON?
FICON is a protocol that uses Fibre Channel as its physical medium.
FICON channels are capable of data rates up to 200 MBps full duplex, they
extend the channel distance (up to 100 km), increase the number of control
unit images per link, increase the number of device addresses per control unit
link, and retain the topology and switch management characteristics of
ESCON.
3. What is the FICON address?
FICON generates the 24-bit FC port address field in yet another way.
When communication is required from the FICON channel port to the FICON
CU port, the FICON channel (using FC-SB-2 and FC-FS protocol information)
will provide both the address of its port, the source port address identifier
(S_ID), and the address of the CU port, the destination port address identifier
(D_ID) when the communication is from the channel N_Port to the CU N_Port.
4. What are the services provided by Fabric to all the nodes?
Fabric Login.
SNS.
Fabric Address Notification.
Registered state change notification.
Broadcast Servers.
5WHAT ARE THE TYPES OF PORTS IN FC?
N_port is a port on the node
F_port is a port on the switch that connects to a node point-to-poin
F_port is a port on the switch that connects to a node point-to-poin
NL_port is a port on the node used with an FC-AL topology. Also known as Node Loop
port
FL_port is a port on the switch that connects to a FC-AL loop (to NL_ports). Also known
as fabric loop port.
GL_Port:
A “Generic Loop” Port can operate as an E_Port, F_Port or FL_Port. A G_Port can
determine operating mode at switch port initialization, FL_Port when an NL_Port
attachment is determined, F_Port when an N_Port attachment is determined, E_Port
when an E_Port attachment is determined.
WHAT IS AN ISL?
E_port is the connection between two fibre channel switches. Also known as
an Expansion port. When E_ports between two switches form a link, that link is
referred to as an inter-switch link (ISL)
WHAT ARE THE FABRIC LOGIN PROCESSES?
Fabric Login (FLOGI)
Port Login (PLOGI)
Process Login (PRLI)
WHAT IS EXCHANGE IN FC?
Exchange is to establish a relationship between 2 N_PORTs and then these two ports
transfer data via one or more sequence within this relationship.
Example: Exchange exist to transfer the command, data and the status of one SCSI task
WHAT ARE THE FABRIC LOGIN PROCESSES?
Fabric Login (FLOGI)
Port Login (PLOGI)
Process Login (PRLI)
EXPLAIN FABRIC LOGIN PROCESS IN DETAIL.
FLOGI: When you connect your server or storage, it will send a Fabric login
(FLOGI) request. This FLOGI request serves two purposes:
· Fibre Channel ID (the domain ID & the port ID)
· Exchange buffer credits with the switch
To better understand the first function, it is exactly the same if I rewrite it as, “request
an IP address for a MAC address from the DHCP server”.
PLOGI: once the Fabric login is done, then we need to login to the particular port.
Here the device gets registered in destination device’s name server. The name server
will expose this newly connected device & all the registered requests it receives this way
can communicate with each other.
PRLI: As the two devices can now communicate with each other using the FC network
SCSI, communication now takes place between the two devices. The SCSI has two main
operations which are SCSI read or SCSI write
WHAT IS SNS?
Simple name server. A service provided by a Fiber Channel switch that simplifies
discovery of devices attached to the fabric.
WHAT ARE SOME OF THE BROCADE NAME SERVER COMMANDS?
# nsshow – displays information of the name server
# nsallshow – displays the 24 bit address of all the devices in the fabric
# nscamshow – displays detailed information of all the name servers (devices)
connected to all the switches in the fabric, including the remote devices.
PS: It is recommended to use the command # nscamshow for troubleshooting purpose.
