How to merge two Brocade fabrics

How to merge two Brocade fabrics


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Author: NetworkAdminKB.com
Created: 2009-04-02
Modified: 2009-06-02
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Information:

Basic fabric merges aren’t very difficult from a technical stand point. However, many network administrators fail to do the proper research up front and therefore run into issues that can easily be avoided. To make sure the merge is successful administrators should focus on keeping things simple and avoid doing to much during the merge process. Then after the merge is successful go back and add any additional configuration needed to handle load and fault tolerance.



Below are the basic steps and research you need to do in order to perform a basic merge of two Brocade fabrics. A basic fabric merge consists of the following assumptions

* No long distance ISLs are involved.
* Only one ISL between each switch will be implemented (no Trunking).
* No advance configuration of the switches.
* All Switches are from the same vendor (Brocade in this case).

Research and Preliminary Steps

1) Verify root and admin level userids and password for all switches.

2) Verify support agreements are in place should you need help with an issue.

3) Check that the Brocade Fabric License is installed on all Switches

a. This is also called the Full Fabric License

b. Order and install license if not already installed.

4) Upgrade the Fabric OS (aka: Switch Firmware, or FOS) as needed on every switch to meet all the following requirements:

a. Compatibility with all Storage Arrays

i. Check with your vendor

b. Compatibility with all HBA drivers, BIOS, firmware, etc.

i. Check with your vendor

c. Compatibility with other Fabric OS’s

i. Check with your switch vendor (Brocade or your reseller)

ii. In general try to get the same Fabric OS installed on all switches. If not exactly the same they need to be within the same major version level and possibly the minor one as well.

1. Version 5.3.0c = major.minor.revision

5) Check Domain IDs of all Switches

a. In a Fabric no two switches can have the same Domain ID. Find and correct any issues now, or plan to correct the Domain ID issue during the merge.

6) Check Zone and Alias Names

a. Zone and Alias Names cannot be duplicated between the two fabrics. Find and correct any duplicate zone or alieas names. A simple solution to this issue is to prefix all names with a fabric label (fabA_, fabB_, etc.)

7) Check for duplicate IP addresses assigned to the switches.

a. Most director class FC switches have multiple IPs so check them all.

8) Check for incompatible Fabric Parameters on the switches to be merged.

a. Use the configshow command and compare values of all fabric.xxxx parameters

b. Verify that all RA_TOV and ED_TOV values are the same on every switch. Per the FC-SW2 standard, these values must be the same on each switch within the fabric.

c. This issue and other advance settings issues are very rare. Basically if you have implemented advanced settings on your switches you should know and understand those settings. If you are using the default settings of the switch you can generally assume the settings are compatible.



Planning Phase

1) Plan your Principal Switch for the fabric

a. You should not allow the fabric to determine the Principal Switch because all fabric changes (Zone Changes) should occur at the Principal Switch. This switch should be the most highly available switch in the fabric.

2) Plan your fabric type

a. The type of fabric being created (Full Mesh or Core-Edge) really doesn’t matter for the merge, but you need to know this to properly plan for your ISLs.

3) Plan your ISLs

a. Plan which ports will be ISLs

4) Plan any server or storage moves as needed.

a. Minimize these and/or perform them a few days after a successful merge.

5) Determine zone merge method

a. The easiest Zone Merge is to determine which Fabric (Zone Config) will be used as the foundation to the new Fabric, and disable Zoning on the switches in the other fabric.

i. This is advantageous if you have single switch fabrics.

ii. When you Disable Zoning all existing Zone configurations will be merged, but disabled.

iii. This choice of which Zone Config to keep should match with the Principal Switch choice made earlier.

b. The other (more difficult) method is to manually export all Zone Configuration information from each Fabric and import it into the other. Then you will need to name the Zone Config’s in both Fabrics to the same name and verify that all the zone configuration information matches.

6) Order Port Licenses and Fiber cables as needed to perform your merge.



Implementation Phase for Disable Zoning Merge Method

1) Shutdown all servers on the fabric that is to be merged.

2) Disable Zoning on the Principal Switch of the fabric that is to be merged.

a. This should be enough to disable zoning on the whole fabric, if not then Disable Zoning on every switch in the fabric that is to be merged.


3) Connect ONE ISL from one merged fabric switch to the target fabric.

a. Use the Brocade Web Interface on the target fabric switch to monitor to the merge.

b. If switches become segmented review the Switch Events for errors and attempt again.

4) Once the merge is successful you can continue with the configuration.

5) View the current Zone Configuration

a. You should see zones from the merge appear as available, but not active.

6) Update your Active Zone Configuration Set as needed to complete the Merge

a. Save and Activate the new Zone Configuration.

7) Add additional ISL links as needed to make a fault tolerant fabric.

8) Configure the Principal Switch for the new merged fabric.

9) Turn on the servers previously shutdown.



Implementation Phase for Cross Import/Export Merge Method

This type of merge goes beyond the basic fabric merge and attempts to join two fabrics while both are running. While this can be done, only experienced administrators that have performed this task in a lab as well as in the real world should attempt this type of merge. While the reward is no down time, the side effects of a poor merge happening could be disastrous for your business. This type of merge is left to the experts and is beyond the scope of this how to article.
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