configuring brocade switches

Configuring Brocade Switches and Directors

Configure Brocade Switches and DirectorsV0.90

Noel Milton VegaRensselaer Technology Group, LTD.

January 2008

Noel Milton Vega of Rensselaer Technology Group, LTD.


Diagrams of the switches or directors that will be configured

These diagrams are intended to orient you to the hardware before you arrive at the site. Change these diagrams as necessary. Note that the syntax of some Fabric O/S commands in the pages that follow can change depending on the version of Fabric O/S installed *and* also depending on whether you are configuring a switch or director (i.e. Director’s will usually have more command options/switches to specify which blade number, controller number, etc. to operate on). For this reason, it is recommended to have the “Fabric OS – Command Reference (PDF) Manual” handy so that you can look up syntax variations or substitutes for the commands presented in the pages that follow.

Brocade 4900 Switch



PART I: SETTING UP THE SWITCH/DIRECTOR

Step 0: Using the appropriate serial cable (RJ-45 / RS-232 / USB-to-Serial, and end converter adapters if necessary); connect a laptop to the switch via their respective serial interfaces. Next, using a vt100 ASCII capable terminal program (like SecureCRT or the Unix tip(1) command), connect to the switch and configure initial parameters as follows:

Bits per second: 9600Databits: 8Parity: NoneStop bits: 1Flow control: None

• In a UNIX environment, enter the following command at the prompt:Root# tip -9600 /dev/term/b (tip -9600 /dev/ttyb)

Step 1: Log into the switch.login: adminpassword: ****** (The default password is “password”)

Step 2: Set the management IP network parameters of the switch (and, optionally, the FCIP/iFCP network parameters too).

mySwitch01:admin> ipaddrsetEthernet IP Address [192.168.74.102]: 192.168.0.100Ethernet Subnetmask [255.255.255.0]: 255.255.255.0Fibre Channel IP Address [0.0.0.0]: <CR> or IP if using FCIPFibre Channel Subnetmask [0.0.0.0]: <CR> of netmask if using FCIPGateway IP Address [0.0.0.0]: 192.168.0.1DHCP [Off]: off

mySwitch01:admin> ipAddrShow[ ... output omitted ... ]

To continue the configuration process over an IP connection, at this point you can connect a laptop to the switch management Ethernet port using a back-to-back crossover Ethernet cable, as shown in the diagram below. Laptop-to-switch IP connectivity will be needed to update the switch firmware(s) over either of FTP/SSH/NFS protocols. In keeping with the example IP address used in “Step 2” (above) we will assume that the laptop IP address is temporarily set to: “192.168.0.101/24”. We’ll also assume that the FTP/SSH user profile setup for firmware upgrade (firmwareDownload(1M)) and configuration backup/restore (configDownload/configUpload(1M)) purposes is as follows:

FTP/SSH user.............: brocade User Password............: brocade User Home directory......: C:\temp\brocade\



Crossover Ethernet cable

FTP/SSHServer ;

Web Browser

Laptop (192.168.0.101/24)

FC Switch or Director (192.168.0.100/24)

Step 3: Check the version of the switch’s “kernel”, “Fabric O/S”, “BootPROM”, etc. If necessary, update these components using the following procedure. Note: Since it uses a Linux kernel, the kernel version is actually a Linux kernel version.

mySwitch01:admin> versionKernel: 2.4.19Fabric OS: v5.2.0v5.2.0_pit_060911_0600Made on: Mon Sep 11 18:55:09 2006Flash: Mon Sep 11 19:26:15 2006BootProm: 4.5.3



Step 3.1: Upgrade the various firmware versions on the switch.IMPORTANT: RUN THE FOLLOWING COMMANDS FROM THE SERIAL TERMINAL PROMPT (NOT FROM AN IP BASED CONNECTION).Syntax: firmwareDownload [ -s [ -b | -n ] ] [ -p ftp | scp ] [ -c ] host, user, pfile, passwd(See “Fabric O/S Command Reference” for option description).

mySwitch01:admin> firmwareDownload -s -n -p ftp 192.168.0.101,brocade,release.plist,brocade

mySwitch01:admin> reboot –or- fastboot

Note: Instead or ‘reboot’, you can use ‘fastboot’ which is similar to ‘reboot’ except that POST bypassed. However ‘fastboot’ is not recommended after a firmware upgrade, since you’ll want to look for console errors while the switch is booting. Use ‘fastboot’ only if devices connected to the switch being rebooted do not have alternate paths to the resources provided through that switch. Also note that if the “diagDisablePost” was run sometime previously, then ‘fastboot’ and ‘reboot’ are equivalent.

(Next, after reboot is complete)

mySwitch01:admin> firmwareCommitValidating primary partition...Doing firmwarecommit now.Please wait ...Replicating kernel image...............FirmwareCommit completes successfully.

Note: See firmwareRestore is something goes wrong and it is necessary to revert to the previous firmware levels.

It is possible to run the firmwareDownload command with options to automatically initiate the reboot and firmwareCommit commands on the switch or director controller on which it is run. However, since we do not know the High Availability characteristics/configuration of the switch/director being upgraded, we choose firmwareDownload options that allow us to manually control the reboot and firmwareCommit phases. Finally, note that running the firmwareDownload command with no options, starts a dialogue with interactive prompt for parameters.

Except for commands that may require a reboot of the switch, or which may initiate a reboot automatically, the remaining steps can be performed from an IP based login.

Step 4: Set the switch new password.switch:admin> switch:admin> passwd adminChanging password for adminEnter new password: *******Re-type new password: *******Password changed.Saving password to stable storage.Password saved to stable storage successfully.



Step 5: Set the switch name (Note: This causes an address format RSCN – just FYI).switch:admin> switchName mySwitch01mySwitch01:admin> switchNamemySwitch01

Step 6: Set the Unique domain ID of the switch.Modify the domain ID if required. The default domain ID is 1. If the switch is not powered on until AFTER it is connected to the fabric AND the default domain ID is already in use within the fabric, the domain ID for the new switch is automatically reset to a unique value.

If the switch is connected to the fabric after is has been powered on, and the default domain ID is already in use, the fabric segments. A domain ID can be any number from 1 to 239 inclusive.

To find the domain IDs that are currently in use, run the fabricShow command on another switch already participating in the fabric (column 1 of the output indicates the domain ID). Example:mySwitch01:admin> fabricShowSwitchID WorldwideName Enet_IPAddr FC_IP Addr Name-------------------------------------------------------------------------64: fffc40 10:00:00:60:69:00:06:56 192.168.64.59 192.168.65.59 "sw5"65: fffc41 10:00:00:60:69:00:02:0b 192.168.64.180 192.168.65.180 "sw180"66: fffc42 10:00:00:60:69:00:05:91 192.168.64.60 192.168.65.60 "sw60"67: fffc43 10:00:00:60:69:10:60:1f 192.168.64.187 0.0.0.0 "sw187"The Fabric has 4 switches

mySwitch01:admin> switchDisable

mySwitch01:admin> configure The command prompts display sequentially. Enter a new value or press Enter <CR> to accept each default value.

(a) Enter y after the “Fabric parameters” prompt: Fabric parameters (yes, y, no, n): [no] y

(c) Enter a unique domain ID: Domain: (1..239) [1] 3

(d) Complete the remaining prompts, or press Ctrl-D to accept the remaining settings without completing all the prompts.

mySwitch01:admin> configShowmySwitch01:admin> switchEnable

For a complete set of configurable options available via the configure command, see appendix A.



Step 7: Turn off the In-Order-Delivery (IOD) option (on is highly discouraged).Use the iodReset command to turn off the IOD option. The IOD option is turned off by default. However, if the IOD option was turned on using iodSet, this command can be used to turn it off again. Disabling IOD allows fast re-routing after a fabric topology change. This command may cause out-of-order delivery of frames during fabric topology changes.

mySwitch01:admin> iodResetmySwitch01:admin> iodShowIOD is not set

Use this command to enforce in-order delivery of frames during a fabric topology change. In a stable fabric, frames are always delivered in order, even when the traffic between switches is shared among multiple paths. However, when topology changes occur in the fabric (for instance, a link goes down), traffic is rerouted around the failure and some frames might be delivered out of order. This command ensures that frames are not delivered out-of-order, even during fabric topology changes. The default behavior is for the IOD option to be off. This command should be used with caution, because it can cause a delay in the establishment of a new path when a topology change occurs. Only if there are devices connected to the fabric that do not tolerate occasional out-of-order delivery of frames, should this command be used.

switch:admin> iodSet (Highly discouraged).switch:admin> iodShowIOD is set

Step 8: Set date/time of the switch manually or by NTP server, and its timezone.mySwitch01:admin> date “mmddHHMMyy”mySwitch01:admin> date "0227123007"Thu Feb 27 12:30:00 UTC 2007mySwitch01:admin> dateThu Feb 27 12:30:02 UTC 2007

mySwitch01:admin> tstimezone hourOffsetFromUTCmySwitch01:admin> tstimezone -5 (#Set’s the timezone to EST)-or-

mySwitch01:admin> tsclockserver <ipAddress-of-reachable-NTPserver>

Step 9: Set the IDLE login session timeout.mySwitch01:admin> timeoutIDLE Timeout is set to 10 minutes.

mySwitch01:admin> timeout 15IDLE Timeout Changed to 15 minutesThe modified IDLE Timeout will be in effect after NEXT login

(Note: Specifying a value of “0” disables timeouts).



Step 10: Add and/or display feature enabling license keys.

After you enter a license, the licensed product is available immediately and the system does not need to be rebooted. An exception to this general handling is that the switch must be rebooted if a fabric license is added to a switch that lacks a fabric license. In this case, the switch must be rebooted to allow the software to recognize the license and initialize itself correctly. Also, there is special handling required when a trunking license is added to the switch. For a trunking license to become effective, the trunk ports need to be refreshed using the commands portDisable and portEnable or the switch must be refreshed using the commands switchDisable and switchEnable.

mySwitch01:admin> licenseAdd "aBcDeFGh12345"adding license key "aBcDeFGh12345"

mySwitch01:admin> licenseShow bQebzbRdScRfc0iK: Web license Zoning license aBcDeFGh12345678: Fabric license

Step 11: Set and/or show the policies for handling switch status changes.mySwitch01:admin> switchStatusPolicySet Follow the prompts. See Appendix A for details on this command.

mySwitch01:admin> switchStatusPolicyShow

Step 12: Plug in SFP’s, end devices, and inspect output of the following commands.mySwitch01:admin> nsAllShow

mySwitch01:admin> fabricShow

mySwitch01:admin> configShow

mySwitch01:admin> portShow

mySwitch01:admin> switchShow



PART II: CONFIGURING ALIAS/MEMBERS, ZONES, ZONESETS (by example)

In this section we provide an example for configuring aliases/members, zones, and zoneSets (in that order) on a Brocade switch. Pay attention to the shell prompt (mySwitch01 or mySwitch02) as it will tell you which switch the command to its right were executed on. For your site, simply make the appropriate substitutions for Alias names, WWPN’s, Zone names, ZoneSet (i.e. configuration container) names.

######################################################## Create Brocade Fabric O/S Zone Member Aliases. ########################################################

Create member aliases for mySwitch01############################### Server HBA's (brocade-sw1) ###############################mySwitch01:admin> aliCreate "PROD_DB3_PCIslot2", "21:00:00:e0:8b:06:22:ed"mySwitch01:admin> aliCreate "PROD_DB4_PCIslot2", "21:00:00:e0:8b:03:3c:6c"mySwitch01:admin> aliCreate "PROD_ERP3_PCIslot2", "21:00:00:e0:8b:01:77:86"mySwitch01:admin> aliCreate "PROD_ERP4_PCIslot2", "TBD"

############################### Storage Ports (brocade-sw1 ###############################mySwitch01:admin> aliCreate "FC4700_SPA_Port0", "50:06:01:60:fb:00:00:00"mySwitch01:admin> aliCreate "FC4700_SPB_Port0", "50:06:01:68:fb:00:00:00"

Create member aliases for mySwitch02############################### Server HBA's (brocade-sw2) ###############################mySwitch02:admin> aliCreate "PROD_DB3_PCIslot4", "21:00:00:e0:8b:03:28:e1"mySwitch02:admin> aliCreate "PROD_DB4_PCIslot4", "21:00:00:e0:8b:01:72:86"mySwitch02:admin> aliCreate "PROD_ERP3_PCIslot4", "TBD"mySwitch02:admin> aliCreate "PROD_ERP4_PCIslot4", "TBD"

############################### Storage Ports (brocade-sw2 ###############################mySwitch02:admin> aliCreate "FC4700_SPA_Port1", "50:06:01:61:fb:00:00:00"mySwitch02:admin> aliCreate "FC4700_SPB_Port1", "50:06:01:69:fb:00:00:00"



######################################################## Create Brocade Fabric O/S Zones. ########################################################

############################### Zones for brocade-sw1 ###############################mySwitch01:admin> zoneCreate "PROD_DB3_PCIslot2_FC4700_SPA_Port0", "PROD_DB3_PCIslot2; FC4700_SPA_Port0"mySwitch01:admin> zoneCreate "PROD_DB3_PCIslot2_FC4700_SPB_Port0", "PROD_DB3_PCIslot2; FC4700_SPB_Port0"mySwitch01:admin> zoneCreate "PROD_DB4_PCIslot2_FC4700_SPA_Port0", "PROD_DB4_PCIslot2; FC4700_SPA_Port0"mySwitch01:admin> zoneCreate "PROD_DB4_PCIslot2_FC4700_SPB_Port0", "PROD_DB4_PCIslot2; FC4700_SPB_Port0"

mySwitch01:admin> zoneCreate "PROD_ERP3_PCIslot2_FC4700_SPA_Port0", "PROD_ERP3_PCIslot2; FC4700_SPA_Port0"mySwitch01:admin> zoneCreate "PROD_ERP3_PCIslot2_FC4700_SPB_Port0", "PROD_ERP3_PCIslot2; FC4700_SPB_Port0"

############################### Zones for brocade-sw2 ###############################mySwitch02:admin> zoneCreate "PROD_DB3_PCIslot4_FC4700_SPA_Port1", "PROD_DB3_PCIslot4; FC4700_SPA_Port1"mySwitch02:admin> zoneCreate "PROD_DB3_PCIslot4_FC4700_SPB_Port1", "PROD_DB3_PCIslot4; FC4700_SPB_Port1"mySwitch02:admin> zoneCreate "PROD_DB4_PCIslot4_FC4700_SPA_Port1", "PROD_DB4_PCIslot4; FC4700_SPA_Port1"mySwitch02:admin> zoneCreate "PROD_DB4_PCIslot4_FC4700_SPB_Port1", "PROD_DB4_PCIslot4; FC4700_SPB_Port1"

################################################################################ Create Brocade Fabric O/S Zones Sets (a.k.a Zone Configurations Container). ################################################################################----------------------------------------------------------------------Note: It is possible to include more semicolon (;) seperated Zones within the cfgCreate / cfgAdd commands below, but eventually the lines become too long for the Brocade Fabric O/S shell to handle. So we play it safe and create the ZoneSet with one Zone (via cfgCreate), and then add one Zone at a time (via cfgAdd).----------------------------------------------------------------------

############################## Zone Sets for brocade-sw1 ##############################mySwitch01:admin> cfgCreate "PROD_ZONE1_SW1", "PROD_DB3_PCIslot2_FC4700_SPA_Port0"mySwitch01:admin> cfgAdd "PROD_ZONE1_SW1", "PROD_DB3_PCIslot2_FC4700_SPB_Port0"mySwitch01:admin> cfgAdd "PROD_ZONE1_SW1", "PROD_DB4_PCIslot2_FC4700_SPA_Port0"mySwitch01:admin> cfgAdd "PROD_ZONE1_SW1", "PROD_DB4_PCIslot2_FC4700_SPB_Port0"mySwitch01:admin> cfgAdd "PROD_ZONE1_SW1", "PROD_ERP3_PCIslot2_FC4700_SPA_Port0"mySwitch01:admin> cfgAdd "PROD_ZONE1_SW1", "PROD_ERP3_PCIslot2_FC4700_SPB_Port0"

mySwitch01:admin> cfgSavemySwitch01:admin> cfgShowmySwitch01:admin> cfgEnable "PROD_ZONE1_SW1"

############################## Zone Sets for brocade-sw2 ##############################mySwitch02:admin> cfgCreate "PROD_ZONE1_SW2", "PROD_DB3_PCIslot4_FC4700_SPA_Port1"mySwitch02:admin> cfgAdd "PROD_ZONE1_SW2", "PROD_DB3_PCIslot4_FC4700_SPB_Port1"mySwitch02:admin> cfgAdd "PROD_ZONE1_SW2", "PROD_DB4_PCIslot4_FC4700_SPA_Port1"mySwitch02:admin> cfgAdd "PROD_ZONE1_SW2", "PROD_DB4_PCIslot4_FC4700_SPB_Port1"

mySwitch02:admin> cfgSavemySwitch02:admin> cfgShowmySwitch02:admin> cfgEnable "PROD_ZONE1_SW2"



APPENDIX A: SELECT COMMAND MANUAL PAGES.

Cheat Sheet of Brocade CLI commands:

help - prints available commandsswitchdisabled - disable the switchswitchenable - enable the switchlicensehelp - license commandsdiaghelp - diagnostic commandsconfigure - change switch parameters (BB credits, etc)diagshow - POST results since last bootroutehelp - routing commandsswitchshow - display switch show (normally first command to run to obtain switchconfiguration)

supportshow - full detailed switch infoportshow # - display port infonsshow - namesever contentsnsallshow - NS for full fabricfabricshow - Fabric informationversion - firmware code revisionreboot - full reboot with POSTfastboot - reboot without POST

zonecreate (zone) - create a zonezoneshow - shows defined and effective zones and configurationszoneadd - adds a member to a zonezoneremove - removes a member from a zonezonedelete - delete a zonecfgcreate (zoneset) - create a zoneset configurationcfgadd - adds a zone to a zone configurationcfgshow - display the zoning informationcfgenable - enable a zone setcfgsave - saves defined config to all switches in fabric across rebootscfgremove - removes a zone from a zone configurationcfgdelete - deletes a zone from a zone configuration


configuring brocade switches

Documents