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SAN Migration Guide: Migrating from Cisco to Brocade

Guidelines and strategies for the migration of legacy Cisco MDS to the industry-leading Brocade DCX and DCX 8510 SAN Fabric solutions that deliver the highest performance and operational simplicity from any network vendor today.

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Cisco to Brocade SAN Migration Guide 2 of 40

CONTENTS

Introduction..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................4 Audience and Scope.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................4 Migration Process..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................5 Migration Qualification.....................................................................................................................................................................................................................6 Define Migration Goals....................................................................................................................................................................................................................6

Fabric Consolidation ....................................................................................................................................................... 6 Building a Private Storage Cloud ................................................................................................................................... 7

Migration Assessment.....................................................................................................................................................................................................................8 Assessing the Existing Fabric Topology......................................................................................................................................................................................8

Assessing the New Fabric............................................................................................................................................... 9 Logistic Planning of Hardware Installation.................................................................................................................. 10 Topology and Zone Planning ........................................................................................................................................ 10 Preliminary Migration Planning .................................................................................................................................... 10

Gather Infrastructure Information.............................................................................................................................................................................................11 Choose the Migration Strategy ..................................................................................................................................................................................................11

Fabric Strategy .............................................................................................................................................................. 11 Online Redundant Fabric Migration............................................................................................................................. 12 Offline Fabric Migration ................................................................................................................................................ 15 Migration Methods........................................................................................................................................................ 15

Develop the Migration Plan.........................................................................................................................................................................................................16 Prepare to Migrate..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................16 Perform the Migration and Validation.....................................................................................................................................................................................17

Offline Migration............................................................................................................................................................ 17 Redundant Fabric Online Migration............................................................................................................................. 17 Complete the Migration ................................................................................................................................................ 18

Appendix A: Migration Use Case Examples...........................................................................................................................................................................19 Migrating from a Cisco VSAN to Brocade Virtual Fabrics ........................................................................................... 19

Migration Overview..................................................................................................................................................... 19 Tools Required............................................................................................................................................................ 19 Procedure for Use Case #1........................................................................................................................................ 19 Migration Procedure................................................................................................................................................... 21 Capture and Migrate the Zone Database ................................................................................................................. 21 Survey the MDS Fabric and Prepare for the Migration ............................................................................................ 21 Enable and Configure Brocade Virtual Fabrics......................................................................................................... 25 Create the logical switch ............................................................................................................................................ 27 Import Brocade SAN Health Zone Configuration to Your Logical Switch ................................................................ 32

Appendix B: Migration Planning Checklists...........................................................................................................................................................................35 Current Fabric Assessment .......................................................................................................................................... 35 Individual Fabric Details ............................................................................................................................................... 35 Device Details................................................................................................................................................................ 35 Consolidated SAN Snapshot ........................................................................................................................................ 36 Device Mapping Details ................................................................................................................................................ 37

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Application-Specific Details .......................................................................................................................................... 37 Appendix C: Terminology .............................................................................................................................................................................................................38 Appendix D: Reference Material ...............................................................................................................................................................................................39

Software and Hardware Product Documentation....................................................................................................... 39 Technical Briefs............................................................................................................................................................. 39 Brocade Compatibility Matrix ....................................................................................................................................... 39 Brocade Scalability Guidelines..................................................................................................................................... 39 Brocade SAN Health Support Matrix............................................................................................................................ 39 Brocade FOS Features.................................................................................................................................................. 39 Brocade Network Advisor ............................................................................................................................................. 39 Brocade Bookshelf........................................................................................................................................................ 39 Other .............................................................................................................................................................................. 39

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INTRODUCTION This document provides guidelines and strategies to enable customers to migrate from the Cisco MDS-based fabric to the high-performance 16-Gbps Brocade® DCX® 8510 Backbone Family and 8-Gbps Brocade DCX Backbone Director. Migrating from an existing operational SAN (Storage Area Network) requires careful consideration to ensure a seamless migration with minimum or no impact to ongoing SAN operations. It is crucial to obtain a clear understanding of the existing SAN and application environment. This information is required to develop a successful migration strategy. With proper planning, an existing fabric can be replaced or incrementally upgraded to the latest high-performance Brocade 16-Gbps or 8-Gbps DCX-based platforms.

This document provides sample strategies for the migration process, as well as a use case example that provides specific migration details for a single VSAN (Virtual SAN) migration to a non-VSAN environment. Additional use case examples will be provided in future revisions of this document.

Note: The procedures outlined within this document are guidelines only and are not intended to cover all use cases. The goal is to help guide through the decisions that make for a successful SAN migration. Consult your Brocade Account Team representative or documents referenced in Appendix D: Reference Material for details about the hardware and software products and professional services.

AUDIENCE AND SCOPE This guide has been written for technical lT architects, systems administrators, and technicians involved in migrating from a Cisco MDS SAN to Brocade 16-Gbps or 8-Gbps DCX-based solutions. The migration procedures in this document assume that the best practices as described in the Brocade SAN Design Best Practices Guide are followed, and the infrastructure has been validated to be functional prior to migration. It is also assumed that those working on the migration activity are familiar with Brocade hardware and software technologies.

Note: This document does not cover VSAN to Brocade Virtual Fabrics and single fabric migration. Refer to the Brocade Fabric OS® Administrator’s Guide, Appendix D: Reference Material for Brocade Virtual Fabrics setup.

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MIGRATION PROCESS The fabric migration process is outlined in “Figure 1. Migration Process.” This document outlines the process and procedures to help you assess, plan, prepare, and proceed with the migration.

Figure 1. Migration Process

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MIGRATION QUALIFICATION Prior to conducting a full-scale migration assessment, you should consider the high-level technical, business, and political impact to determine the feasibility of the migration:

• Technical: This is the easiest of the three considerations to address. From a design and migration perspective, you should consider the following:

• Cisco VSANs/Brocade Virtual Fabrics: While there are benefits to creating VSANs for physical separation and management isolation, overuse of VSANs can create management complexity. If there are more than seven VSANs per switch, consult the Brocade scalability guidelines for migrations from VSANs to Brocade Virtual Fabrics.

• Management tools: There is no impact to migrating any Storage Management Initiative Specification (SMI-S)-based management tools from Cisco to Brocade, but you will need to rewrite custom tools. Brocade Network Advisor reduces the number of management tools needed by providing a single user interface that can manage both SAN and Ethernet networks as well as adapters, embedded blade server switches, and convergence technologies.

• Business: Most organizations require a 24/7 operating environment. As a result, seeking a downtime window during which to migrate may be difficult or impossible for some applications.

• Application outage: Applications with multi-pathing are easier to migrate, which allows for minimal business interruption. Migrating Tier 2 and Tier 3 applications first instills confidence in the organization, resulting in a smoother migration of Tier 1 applications.

• Political: Even though separate SAN and LAN environments continue to exist, there are challenges when selecting a best-of-breed solution.

• Organizational acceptance: If the devices and switches in the Cisco fabric are from multiple vendors and are used by multiple organizations within the company, gaining acceptance from all the key players is critical to a successful assessment and migration.

• Training and support: Organizations may have invested money and time for training personnel, thus switching vendors may seem difficult.

Note: Brocade offers extensive education and certification training for SANs.

Once business and political challenges are addressed, assessing the migration requirements, developing a plan, and implementing the migration are simply a matter of careful execution.

DEFINE MIGRATION GOALS It is important to clearly define the end goal(s) for the new Brocade SAN. These goals fall into two categories:

• Fabric(s) Consolidation: Higher density and higher performing switches

• No virtual fabrics: If this is a single VSAN migration, then there is no need to create a single virtual fabric on the Brocade DCX 8510 platform to replicate the VSAN. A simple port-port mapping between the two fabrics eases the migration process. (Refer to Device Mapping Details in Appendix B: Migration Planning Checklists.)

• Multiple virtual fabrics: If there are multiple VSANs that address logical separation between different business groups or applications, and there is a requirement to keep a similar mapping using virtual fabrics, then you should refer to the Device Mapping Details table from Appendix B: Migration Planning Checklists and add the VSAN to virtual fabric mapping.

• Special Purpose SAN Architectures

• There may be business requirements—or customer architectural preferences—that dictate the use of special-purpose SANs. These SANs may be standalone, physically or logically, and may include distance extension for storage replication, independent backup SANs, or enterprise FICON (fiber connectivity) SANs.

Fabric Consolidation When consolidating single or multiple fabrics as part of a migration, consider the following:

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• Do you need the same number of ports?

• If VSANs are deployed in the Cisco SAN architecture, is there a benefit to keeping the same number of VSANs?

• Which SAN design—core-edge, edge-core-edge, or mesh—addresses current and future growth?

The following 1000-port example shows the benefit of consolidating five Cisco MDS chassis into a Brocade DCX 8510 chassis solution using two chassis that can expand in the future as a core-edge or a mesh solution.

With 64-Gbps Inter-Chassis Links (ICLs) and high-density 8-Gbps port blades, multiple racks of MDS switches can be consolidated into a single rack using Brocade DCX. This solution offers lower oversubscription, power usage, and cooling, as shown in “Figure 2. Fabric Consolidation for a 1000-port SAN.”

Figure 2. Fabric Consolidation for a 1000-port SAN

If the existing Cisco MDS SAN is based on a single VSAN (that is, if at a minimum there is at least one VSAN for each MDS fabric), there is no need to create a single virtual fabric on the new Brocade SAN; device ports can be migrated over, according to the device connectivity mapping.

If there is more than one VSAN, and you would like to keep a similar logical separation, Brocade fabrics can be carved up into logical fabrics. Refer to the Brocade Fabric OS Administrator’s Guide (see Appendix D: Reference Material) for details.

Building a Private Storage Cloud As organizations move to provide a secure and controlled infrastructure for a highly virtualized server farm, it is important to deploy a scalable fabric that can support a shared storage SAN for all virtualized applications, such as for private storage cloud services. Key characteristics of a private storage cloud are:

• Hyperscale fabrics in terms of ports and performance • Secure data transfer between data centers • Built-in infrastructure diagnostics and management tools

“Figure 3. Large-Scale Cloud Storage Architecture” provides an example of a 3000-port SAN infrastructure that collapses 13 Cisco MDS 9513 chassis into six Brocade DCX 8510 platforms in a core-edge configuration for building large-scale private storage cloud architectures.

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Figure 3. Large-Scale Cloud Storage Architecture

When designing for a cloud storage SAN, consider designing by using ICLs to free up front-end ports for device connectivity. With an ICL-based design, you can create a scalable SAN that leverages up to a nine-chassis core-edge or mesh design for any-any connectivity that supports more than 4500 ports per SAN.

MIGRATION ASSESSMENT It is important to understand the current application environment and the new SAN requirements before attempting a migration. There is more than one way to proceed with the migration process, depending on the current SAN architecture, fabric topology, size, and number of active devices attached. A SAN fabric migration can be done both offline or online, depending on the application or project requirements. An offline migration is the simpler of the two approaches, though careful planning is required. However, in many environments where planned downtime is not possible, then the migration must be performed online. An online migration in a single or redundant fabric requires careful evaluation of the application availability and currently deployed topology, in order to plan for a methodical migration path.

There are several factors to consider, regardless of the migration approach:

• Assessing the existing fabric topology • Assessing the new fabric topology • Logistic planning for hardware installation • Topology and zone planning • Preliminary migration planning

ASSESSING THE EXISTING FABRIC TOPOLOGY Determine if the current environment is a single fabric or a redundant fabric. “ ” outlines single, single resilient, and redundant fabric topologies. If the current environment uses a redundant fabric, a rolling migration could be an option, where one fabric is active and the other fabric is migrated offline. Similarly, device paths in a single resilient fabric can be failed over as devices are moved to the new fabric. Both methods can minimize fabric downtime and I/O interruptions, if multi-pathing software is in use. Migrating a single non-resilient fabric is certainly more complex and requires application interruption—or an outage, if the host has to be rebooted.

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Figure 4. Fabric Topologies

Some things to consider when assessing the migration activity include:

• Application failover considerations: If multi-pathing software such as Microsoft MPIO, AIX MPIO, Hitachi HiCommand Dynamic Link Manager (HDLM), or EMC PowerPath is in use, collect metrics to determine how long it takes to fail over and fail back in the existing SAN.

• Storage failover considerations: Move all the Logical Unit Numbers (LUNs) to a single controller if not dual-pathed. Verify that the number of LUNs from a single port does not exceed the vendor recommendation.

• Topology change at the time of migration: Migrating to a new fabric is a good opportunity to address any performance bottlenecks, server and storage scalability, and general maintenance of the fabric, such as structured cable management (refer to resources in Appendix D: Reference Material) High-density directors with ICLs offer an opportunity to simplify traditional SAN designs.

• Zone configuration export/modify strategy: If some or all of the devices in the old fabric are being migrated to the new fabric, the existing MDS zone database can be exported and then imported into the Brocade SAN to minimize the migration timeframe.

• Server and storage device placement: While hop count is no longer an issue, keeping the number of hops between server and storage to no more than two can minimize possible congestion issues as the SAN expands. Whatever method is used for device placement, it is important to be consistent across switches and fabrics.

Assessing the New Fabric Some things to consider when assessing the new fabric include:

• Brocade Fabric OS® upgrade requirements: Prior to connecting any devices, verify that the switches are running the recommended Brocade Fabric OS (FOS).

• Capture configuration parameters of the existing switch: Capture Cisco MDS switch configuration and compare with Brocade switch parameters. Even though the configuration formats are different, compare the standards-based fabric parameter for any deltas.

• Zone import: Assess the size of the zone database of the existing fabric and use Brocade SAN Health® to capture the MDS zone database. Clean the zone database by removing any zone members that are no longer part of the fabric.

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• Trunking setup considerations: Compared to the Cisco PortChannel technology, Brocade Inter-Switch Link (ISL) Trunking is a hardware-based stripping mechanism with predictable latencies for traffic flows. In a multi-switch environment, you should have multiple trunks such that, in case of an entire trunk failure, the remaining trunks are not congested.

• Future server or storage expansion: Planning for the future is key to ensuring that the architecture you put in place for the new SAN will meet long-‐term requirements.

Logistic Planning of Hardware Installation When planning a migration, taking the facilities and logistics into consideration is paramount to success. Consider the following:

• Rack space requirements: Cisco MDS uses side-to-side airflow, whereas Brocade uses front-to-back. This allows for a narrower rack and the implementation of hot/cold aisle cooling. With a Brocade DCX 8510 solution, you gain additional data center space.

• Power requirements: Brocade DCX 8510 and DCX use 70 to 80 percent less power than Cisco MDS, so power will not be an issue during the facilities reconfiguration stage of the migration process.

• Cable requirements: Confirm that the cable plant is within the required specifications (for instance, OM-3), and use structured cabling, when possible, to minimize device placement errors during the migration. (Note: MDS is cabled side to side and the Brocade DCX is cabled from bottom to top. This could have an impact on the slack of the cables and must be assessed up front.)

Topology and Zone Planning • You need to do an assessment of ports per fabric with the legacy MDS topology, including VSAN and zone

configurations. You should also dialogue with the end user to identify the presence of host types that will be impacted by the changes. You also need to convert legacy MDS zoning to Brocade zoning, including consolidating multi-VSAN zone sets to single zoning configuration and determining naming conventions (refer to tables in Appendix B: Migration Planning Checklists for templates).

Preliminary Migration Planning • Develop a preliminary migration plan:

• To complete a successful migration, identify the personnel needed during the key phases of the project: facilities management, network administration, SAN administration/engineering, server administration with knowledge of the dual-pathing and failover software, storage administration with knowledge of redundant paths, and project management.

• Identify and analyze key implemented features, and define equivalent solutions for Brocade SAN infrastructure.

• Identify and analyze advanced features that may need to be considered, such as FCIP, Encryption, or FICON for the new SAN.

• Define move groups based on applications, storage ports, and zoned hosts.

• Identify and resolve any Service Level Agreement (SLA) conflicts within move groups.

• Create port maps for host/storage on the migrated SAN (see the Device Mapping table in Appendix B: Migration Planning Checklists).

• Review the migration plan with the end user or business group and revise as needed.

• Complete the final migration plan.

• Establish post-‐migration verification criteria:

• Total number of devices in the fabric

• Baseline performance metrics for ISL and ICLs

• Baseline latency measurements for server and storage ports

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Appendix B: Migration Planning Checklists provides a set of tables for use during the migration planning. These tables provide a framework that you can follow and enhance to ensure a successful migration.

Note: Follow the best practices guidelines described in the Cable Management Best Practices Guide and SAN Design Best Practices Guide for Brocade Fabric (see Appendix D: Reference Material).

To facilitate the migration planning, a sample migration use case is provided in Appendix A: Migration Use Case Examples. The use case provided makes several technical assumptions:

• Hosts are dual-pathed to the fabric; the use of failover mechanisms minimizes the disruption to production I/O.

• An existing Cisco Fabric Manager server manages the Cisco MDS environment.

• The Brocade DCX or DCX 8510 Backbone basic setup and configuration has been performed in advance.

• All Brocade switch licenses, such as the ICL POD Kit, have been acquired and installed on the Brocade DCX.

• If Brocade Network Advisor is being used, it has already been set up and is able to discover the Brocade fabric.

Regardless of the type of fabric, it is recommended that migration take place during non-peak business hours.

GATHER INFRASTRUCTURE INFORMATION At a minimum, complete the following tables listed in Appendix B: Migration Planning Checklists:

• Individual Fabric Details • Device Details • Device Mapping Details • Application-Specific Details

Proper planning simplifies and minimizes the time required for migration.

CHOOSE THE MIGRATION STRATEGY

Fabric Strategy You can simplify the migration process by preparing a migration plan in advance. Besides cabling, rack space, and power requirements, other factors such as scheduling downtime, personnel security, and application change windows—as well as host and storage failover—may significantly affect the SAN operations. The current configuration and operational requirements of a target SAN may impose additional constraints. The key to a successful migration is to minimize fabric interruption or to completely eliminate downtime, whenever possible, by identifying issues in advance.

Effective planning provides the preliminary groundwork for the evaluation phase and sets the foundation for the migration process. After reviewing the requirements that apply to your unique situation, the migration process will fall into one of the following categories:

• Online Redundant Fabric Migration • Offline Fabric Migration

The flowchart provided in “Figure 5. SAN Migration Strategy” assists you in determining which of these is the best migration strategy for your environment. As you see from the flowchart, there may be more than one strategy that you need to plan for.

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Figure 5. SAN Migration Strategy

Online Redundant Fabric Migration A redundant fabric provides the flexibility to upgrade one fabric by bringing it offline while redirecting active I/O to the other fabric. Current I/O operations are not impacted as a result of the migration activity. With this strategy, the hosts are operating in a degraded mode with no data path protection. Any failure on an active path completely ceases I/O. With proper planning, any downtime or outage is minimized. Once the fabric upgrade has been completed and verified, you can bring it back online by restoring the I/O paths. The migration process is repeated for the second fabric after all I/O paths are successfully restored on the first fabric.

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The flowchart in “Figure 6. Online Redundant Fabric Migration” provides a general flow as to how to approach this type of migration.

Figure 6. Online Redundant Fabric Migration

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Though the flowchart above outlines the general migration decision process, an online migration is possible only if the answer to all of the questions shown in “Table 1. Redundant Fabric Online Migration Guidelines” is Yes.

Table 1. Redundant Fabric Online Migration Guidelines

Task Status Notes

Is there a redundant fabric topology? Yes

Are redundant paths for each device configured via the fabric or, if the device is single-pathed, downtime for that device is acceptable?

Yes

Is multi-pathing software installed, active, and verified as operational on each fabric’s devices that require it?

Yes

Are redundant paths open to devices that require multi-pathing?

Yes

Is performance degradation acceptable during the upgrade? This performance degradation results from one path to the fabric being temporarily unavailable and where the host and storage implement active/active pathing.

Yes

Is “no protection mode” acceptable for migration duration?

Yes

Is host reboot not required for LUN discovery?

Yes

Note: It is possible that some devices may be singly attached onto a redundant fabric. If it is permissible for these devices to go offline, it is not necessary to have multi-pathing software and redundant paths for all devices. Also, if there are any old servers with old operating systems that rely on PID binding, when changing the ports or domain ID the PID will change. Old AIX and old HPUX will not automatically restore their paths. You must manually restore the paths (cfgmgr or vgreduce/vgextend) or reboot.

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Offline Fabric Migration An offline fabric migration assumes that a fabric can be brought offline to perform the migration and that I/O has been completely ceased for the duration of downtime. This is the safest and most convenient method for migration. Use the table below, “Table 1. Offline Fabric Migration Guidelines,” as a guide for offline migration.

Table 1. Offline Fabric Migration Guidelines

Task Status Notes

Follow the steps in the “Develop the Migration Plan” section.

Follow the steps in the “Prepare to Migrate” section.

Identify an ideal time to migrate (a low number of users or performance).

Migrate Tier 2 and 3 storage and applications.

Verify migration by running the application(s).

Migrate Tier 1 storage and applications.

Verify migration by running the application(s).

Migration Methods Infrastructure resiliency or redundancy of the fabric determines the primary migration strategy. As you prepare for the development of a migration plan, identify which strategy to use and plan accordingly. The migration options are as follows:

• Port-to-Port migration: This is a straightforward port-port migration from one fabric to another. This method requires all logically grouped initiator/target pairs to be moved during a single migration activity. This strategy is generally called migrating by “move groups.” For example, when a storage port is moved, all associated Host Bus Adapters (HBAs) that are accessing LUNs through this port must also be moved.

• Application migration: This is possible if the physical infrastructure is not shared across application tiers. If the application happens to run on a new server and storage infrastructure, you should validate that all the required data has been migrated prior to the cutover. SANs tend to be logically identified as database, web services, backup, and so on.

• Device migration: This is a logical approach to offline migration, since customers physically isolate servers and storage devices in racks or sections of the data center. Migrating devices using this method provides a clear high-level accounting, especially for the racks that are relocated as part of the migration.

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DEVELOP THE MIGRATION PLAN It goes without saying that having a plan is the foundation for a successful project—or, in this case, a SAN migration. The best practices for such a plan can be derived from any number of formal methodologies and, as such, fall outside the scope of this document. However, any good plan should include at least the following steps:

• Project scope and success criteria • Phases, tasks, and subtasks • Resource definitions • Timelines • Task dependencies • Tracking criteria • Checkpoints • Deliverables for procedures, designs, and configurations • Fallback plans • Signoff criteria • Prepare to migrate

PREPARE TO MIGRATE Performing the following steps ahead of time helps you to minimize the time required for migration. Use “Table 2. Prepare to Migrate Guidelines” as a checklist, as well as the additional tables in Appendix B: Migration Planning Checklists to keep track of switch configurations, zone information, and port mappings. Migration preparation falls into the following categories:

• Build the new SAN infrastructure • Configure the SAN • Validate the new SAN

Table 2. Prepare to Migrate Guidelines

Prepare to Migrate Status Notes

Rack, cable, and power on the destination fabric.

Install Brocade Network Advisor.

Install Brocade SAN Health and discover both Brocade and Cisco fabrics.

Use the SAN assessment and zone import tool.

Set up Ethernet and serial console for the Brocade switches.

Refer to individual fabric details.

Install recommended Brocade FOS.

Create the baseline configuration for all switches in the fabric.

Import zoning sets from Cisco MDS SAN. • Use Brocade SAN Health (“

Appendix A: Migration Use Case Examples”).

Install any fabric licenses.

Purge any zonesets that are no longer in use.

Create zones for new devices. Dynamic Fabric Provisioning is an option for Brocade HBAs.

Validate the ISLs. Spinfab and D-Port (16-Gbps platform).

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Note: You should complete the tables defined in Appendix B: Migration Planning Checklists. Even though the fabric build mechanism assigns Domain IDs (DIDs) to each switch in the fabric, it is a good practice to predefine a DID for each switch. In the case of migration, it might make sense to use the same DID as the VSAN. If not all of the servers are in place, and you plan on using Brocade HBAs, use Dynamic Fabric Provisioning (DFP) to create the zones. Refer to the Brocade Fabric OS 7.0.x Administrator’s Guide; see Appendix D: Reference Material for details. All the servers should be running with appropriate OS patch levels and applications installed and tested for functionality. On the storage arrays, LUNs should be created and provisioned according to a storage allocation plan.

PERFORM THE MIGRATION AND VALIDATION

• Execute the migration plan. • Validate migration per phase. • Validate application operations per phase. • Sign off on the SAN migration phase.

When the migration assessment, qualification, and preparation are complete, the SAN can be migrated. Based on the criteria listed in the previous sections, select the primary migration strategy:

• Offline migration

• Redundant fabric online migration

• Single fabric online migration

Offline Migration While this requires the fabric to be offline, it is also the safest option for migration. Migrate based on the options provided in the section on “Migration Methods.” Follow the checklist below to minimize the downtime during the migration.

Table 3. Offline Migration Guidelines

Task Status Notes

Application outage is acceptable.

Completed tasks are defined in the “Prepare to Migrate” section.

Determine the migration strategy.

Validate device-switch and switch-switch connection.

Do VSAN to Brocade Virtual Fabric mapping.

See Appendix B: Migration Planning Checklists.

Validate each application.

Redundant Fabric Online Migration This strategy involves migrating devices by keeping the applications online. This is challenging to facilitate and requires a great deal of planning. However, if planned properly, and if the key applications that need to remain online are architected to support high availability and redundancy, then this can be a very effective approach. Migrate based on the options provided in the section on “Migration Methods.” Follow the checklist provided below in “Table 4. Redundant Fabric Online Migration Guidelines” to guide your decisions about which applications—all, some, or none—are to be migrated online, as desired. The key to this approach is setting the right expectations in advance.

Table 4. Redundant Fabric Online Migration Guidelines

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Task Status Notes

Review Redundant Fabric Online Migration (“Figure 6. Online Redundant Fabric Migration”).

Complete the tasks defined in the “Prepare to Migrate” section.

Determine the migration strategy.

Validate device-switch and switch-switch connection.

Verify that each fabric is configured to provide an alternate path to all fabric-attached devices.

Verify that all paths are open to each device that must remain online during the migration.

Select one of the two fabrics for migration.

Redirect I/O by performing a failover to an alternate fabric path.

Close all active paths on the selected fabric, and prepare single-attached devices for downtime.

Verify that the selected devices (servers and storage) are free from I/O activity.

Restore I/O operations on the new fabric.

Validate that each application and all the paths are active.

Repeat for all devices or applications.

Complete the Migration Once the migration activity is complete, it is critical to execute a post-migration plan. There are several steps to ensuring that all the work you just completed is protected and validated. Some of the post-migration activities include:

• Run Brocade SAN Health.

• Validate new SAN configurations.

• Validate application operations.

• Back up new SAN configurations.

• Sign off on SAN migration.

• Retire the Cisco SAN infrastructure.

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APPENDIX A: MIGRATION USE CASE EXAMPLES

Migrating from a Cisco VSAN to Brocade Virtual Fabrics

Migration Overview The following procedure describes how to migrate a Cisco VSAN to a Brocade Virtual Fabric (VF). This procedure is provided to demonstrate the basic setup and configuration of Brocade VF. In this example, all devices from an existing Cisco VSAN are migrated to a Brocade environment. This is a simple configuration, in which all devices are assumed to be in the same VSAN fabric and moved to the same Brocade Logical Fabric. There is no device communication between logical switches.

Tools Required • Brocade SAN Health, which can be downloaded from www.brocade.com/sanhealth.

• Brocade Network Advisor, which can be downloaded from the following location: http://my.brocade.com. On the MyBrocade site, login using your MyBrocade account, navigate to “Downloads,” then “Product Downloads,” and choose “Brocade Network Advisor” from the pick list. Brocade Network Advisor is the industry's first unified network management solution for data, storage, application delivery, wireless, and converged networks. It supports Fibre Channel SANs, Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE), IP switching and routing (including Ethernet fabrics), and Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) networks—providing end-to-end visibility across different network types through a seamless and unified user experience.

• Console connection(s) to the serial ports on the Brocade DCX.

Procedure for Use Case #1 1. To minimize host I/O disruption, migrate one host path at a time. Migrate one of the host and storage paths first

(refer to the device mapping table in Appendix B: Migration Planning Checklists.

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2. Once the first host and storage paths have been migrated to the Brocade logical switch, verify that the host path is coming up properly by using a multi-path I/O application.

After the first host path has been verified in the Brocade logical switch, start moving the first path for all other host servers by repeating Steps 1 and 2.

3. After the first paths have been verified for all hosts, start moving the second path.

During the first host and storage path migration to the Brocade logical switch, other hosts still residing in the Cisco VSAN fabric see a lost path to storage. However, the host path will fail over properly, and all LUNs will still be available during the migration.

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4. Use a multi-path I/O application on each host to verify that all paths are operating normally (EMC PowerPath is

shown here as an example).

Migration Procedure In the use case below, you will see how to migrate from a redundant online Cisco fabric with VSANs to a Brocade SAN with Brocade Virtual Fabrics. Though neither single-fabric online or offline migrations are covered in this example, the steps below describe how to install and capture the Cisco zone database using Brocade SAN Health, and how to create Brocade Virtual Fabrics if needed to reduce the time for migration.

The following steps show how to capture the zone database of a Cisco environment and migrate it to a Brocade environment.

Capture and Migrate the Zone Database 1. You will need Brocade SAN Health; the latest version is 3.2.2, which can be downloaded from the following

location: www.brocade.com/sanhealth

Survey the MDS Fabric and Prepare for the Migration 2. From a server with Cisco Fabric Manager installed, launch Fabric Manager and open the fabric to manage.

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3. Select the fabric to be managed and click Open.

4. To survey the VSAN configuration on a particular MDS switch, using the Device Manager application, choose VSANs from the FC .

5. Note: The Cisco MDS Device Manager is similar to Brocade Web Tools, in that it is accessed from the switch. Depending on the version of code running on the MDS switch, you can install Device Manager simply by pointing your web browser to the IP address of the MDS switch to install the application. You need the login and password for the MDS switch in question. Brocade Network Advisor provides comprehensive management of data center fabrics.From the VSAN window, click the Membership tab to view the list of ports belonging to each VSAN configuration.

DATA CENTER


6. After verifying the VSAN fabric information, view VSAN device zoning. Record the zoning of all devices in the VSAN so that you can accurately replicate them after the migration. From the main menu, choose Zone > Edit Local Full Zone Database.

7. Select a different VSAN from the Select VSAN drop-down menu.

8. The device zoning information is displayed in the Cisco Fabric Manager.

DATA CENTER MIGRATION GUIDE


9. Verify VSAN host connectivity. Before the migration, it is strongly recommended that the host have dual LUN paths for redundancy. Use a failover application (for example, EMC PowerPath) to verify each LUN path.

10. Run Brocade SAN Health 3.2.2 or later on the Cisco MDS Fabric. Once all the basic information is gathered from the VSAN environment, go to the Brocade web site to download the Brocade SAN Health tool (http://www.brocade.com/services-support/drivers-downloads/san-health-diagnostics/index.page), and run an audit on the VSAN fabric. This report is very useful in generating new Brocade device zoning information, especially in a large environment.

11. Define and upload the zone database.

Get zoning sets from Brocade SAN Health, shown in the Brocade SAN Health zoning report.

Submit the Brocade SAN Health auditing data to the Brocade SAN Health team to generate a zoning script for the Brocade DCX platform.

The MDS VSAN configuration and device information gathered are used to create zoning in the Brocade DCX environment, with the help of Brocade SAN Health. The device information and zoning script syntax generated from Brocade SAN Health are compared to the original VSAN environment. The zoning script generated from Brocade SAN Health is ready to use without modification. The modification step in this section is optional, and it is added to make the zoning name a little cleaner.



Enable and Configure Brocade Virtual Fabrics 1. Install and launch Brocade Network Advisor 11.x, which can be downloaded from the following location:

http://my.brocade.com. On the MyBrocade site, login using your MyBrocade account, navigate to “Downloads,” then “Product Downloads,” and choose “Brocade Network Advisor” from the pick list.

2. Verify that Brocade Virtual Fabrics (VF) is enabled. If VF is not enabled, you can enable this feature via either the fosconfig cli command or through Brocade Network Advisor, which is used in this example.

3. Note: This reboots the switch, so you should pre-enable VF.

4. Have console connection(s) to the serial ports on the Brocade DCX.

Note: if Brocade FOS 7.0.x or 16-GB based Brocade DCX is involved with your MDS migration, you will need Brocade Network Advisor, as Brocade Data Center Fabric Manager (DCFM®) does not support either of these.

5. Launch Brocade Network Advisor.

6. After bringing up Brocade Network Advisor, you need to discover the Brocade DCX. From there, if Brocade Virtual Fabrics is not enabled by default, right-click the Brocade DCX icon and choose Enable Virtual Fabric from the right-click menu.

7. If your Brocade DCX does not have VF enabled, you will see the following pop-up window from Brocade Network Advisor 11.x:



If this is a “greenfield” installation, and there are no EX ports, then click OK at this time. As you can see, all ports are placed into the default logical switch. For this reason, as part of best practice, you should run the fosconfig –show command beforehand or enable VF, with no devices attached at this point.

8. When the Brocade DCX reboots, VF is enabled. If you logged into this DCX, you see that the default FID of 128 is part of the switch name. From Brocade Network Advisor, you see that above the DCX there is a “V,” as shown below.



Create the logical switch For the migration, you can certainly use the Brocade VF Default Switch, but this you should have decided this as part of the planning process for the VF configuration. Here is the process of creating a logical switch on a Brocade DCX.

1. Right-click on the logical switch within Brocade Network Advisor, and then select Configuration -> logical switches. You are presented with the following window.

2. In the logical switches dialog box, select Undiscovered Logical Switches and click New Switches.

3. In the New logical switch dialog box, uncheck the Base Fabric for Transport checkbox, enter 127 in the Logical Fabric ID text box, and make sure that Brocade Native is chosen from the Interoperability Mode drop-down menu at the bottom left. Here, with Brocade FOS v7, it is grayed out.



4. To assign ports to the newly created logical switch, from the left panel, select the ports and click the right arrow to assign them.

5. After the ports have been assigned to this logical switch, as shown below, click OK.

6. In the confirmation dialog box, check Re-Enable ports after moving them and QoS disable the ports while moving them (these are the defaults). Click Start.



Note: In the “Progress” box, you see a message saying “In Progress.”

7. Logical switch 127 has been created successfully, as shown below.

Click Close.

8. The newly created logical switch is discovered by Brocade Network Advisor (Discover > Fabrics> Add button).



Enter the appropriate information to discover the newly configured logical switch, as shown below.

Click OK and then click Close, and you will see logical switch 127 from the Discover Setup and main Brocade Network Advisor windows.



Note: If Brocade Virtual Fabrics is not enabled by default for the Brocade DCX, it can be done from Brocade Network Advisor or the Brocade FOS 7.x command line. As the warning message indicates, this is disruptive—the Brocade DCX is rebooted and all ports are persistently disabled. Once Brocade Virtual Fabrics is enabled, the default logical switch can be created with FID = 128 and all ports in the chassis initially assigned to it. Other logical switches can be created from Brocade Network Advisor, and ports can be moved from the default logical switch to other logical switches.

As part of an MDS–DCX migration, it is suggested that you assign the logical switch FID with the same number as the MDS VSAN that is being migrated.

9. As part of a migration best practice, it is good to save the existing configuration on your newly created logical switch 127. From Brocade Network Advisor, right-click on the logical switch, and choose Configuration > Save to get the following window.

Highlight the logical switch and click OK.



Import Brocade SAN Health Zone Configuration to Your Logical Switch 1. To import Brocade SAN Health zoning information, open a telnet session to a Brocade DCX, and verify the

information for logical switches using the lsCfg command.

2. From the default logical switch 128, execute the following commands to change to logical switch 127 and verify the zoning configuration.

3. From logical switch 127, copy and paste the SAN Health zoning script in the Brocade DCX CLI (Command-Line Interface).

Create the zone aliases.

sw1:FID127:root> alicreate "DMX4_16CB", "50:06:04:8a:d5:f0:c5:af"

sw1:FID127:root> alicreate "DMX4_1CB", "50:06:04:8a:d5:f0:c5:a0"

sw1:FID127:root> alicreate "Host2_A", "10:00:00:05:1e:7e:9e:ab"

sw1:FID127:root> alicreate "Host2_B", "10:00:00:05:1e:7e:9e:ac"

sw1:FID127:root> alicreate "Host3_A", "10:00:00:00:c9:69:c2:ba"

sw1:FID127:root> alicreate "Host3_B", "10:00:00:00:c9:69:c2:bb"

fCreate and populate the zones with the devices that will be migrated.

sw1:FID127:root> zoneCreate "Zone1", "DMX4_16CB; Host2_B"

sw1:FID127:root> zoneCreate "Zone2", "DMX4_1CB; Host2_A"

sw1:FID127:root> zoneCreate "Zone3", "DMX4_16CB; Host3_B"

sw1:FID127:root> zoneCreate "Zone4", "DMX4_1CB; Host3_A"

Create and populate the zoneset.sw1:FID127:root> cfgCreate "Zoneset1", "Zone1; Zone2; Zone3; Zone4"



Enable the zoneset on your logical switch.

sw1:FID127:root> cfgEnable "Zoneset1"

You are about to enable a new zoning configuration.

This action will replace the old zoning configuration with the current configuration selected. If the update includes changes to one or more traffic isolation zones, the update may result in localized disruption to traffic on ports associated with the traffic isolation zone changes.

Do you want to enable 'Zoneset1' configuration (yes, y, no, n): [no] y zone config "Zoneset1" is in effect

Updating flash ... sw1:FID127:root>

Note: Zones, WWNs (World Wide Names), and aliases are for reference only and will be different for your environment.

After the zoning script has been run, verify that the Brocade DCX zoning configuration has been enabled with the cfgShow command.

You can also verify the zoning configuration through Brocade Network Advisor. Right-click Logical Switch 127 in the topology view, and choose Zoning from the right-click menu.

In the Zoning window, choose LS127 from the Zoning Scope drop-down menu to display zoning information.



Note: Brocade SAN Health can audit a Cisco MDS environment to generate a report. With that report, a zoning script is generated, which can then be copied and pasted in the Brocade DCX CLI. This is extremely useful if a large zoning database needs to be imported. Zoning information can then be verified using either the CLI or Brocade Network Advisor.



APPENDIX B: MIGRATION PLANNING CHECKLISTS This section provides example checklists and tables you can use to identify dominant factors, including facilities that have an impact on the SAN migration.

Current Fabric Assessment

SAN/Fabric # of

Switches Type of

Switches Total Ports Domains

# of Servers

# of Storage Devices Location Notes

Fabric 1

Fabric 2

Fabric n

Individual Fabric Details

SAN/Fabric Domain Number

Serial Number Model Speed WWN

IP Address

Brocade FOS

Version Notes

Switch 1

Switch 2

Switch 3

Switch n

Device Details

Servers & Storage Vendor Model WWN Alias Zone

OS Version Application

Fabric/

Switch

Notes

Server 1

Server 2

Server n

Storage 1

Storage 2

Storage n



Consolidated SAN Snapshot

SAN Requirements Data (Complete for Each SAN)

Fabric Information

Target # of user ports per fabric

Target # of total ports per fabric

Target # of switches per fabric (# switches/switch type, total switches)

# of fabrics

# of sites in environment

Topology (core/edge, ring, mesh, other)

Maximum hop count

Expected growth rate (port count)

Fabric licenses

SAN Device Information

#/types of hosts and OS platforms

#/types of storage devices

#/types of tapes

#/types of HBAs

Other devices (VTL/eduplication appliance)

Total # of SAN devices per fabric

Customer requirements for failover/redundancy, reliability of SAN (multi-pathing software utilized)

Application Details

SAN Application (storage consolidation, backup and restore, business continuance)

Fabric management application(s)

Performance

Maximum latency (ms)

Targeted ISL oversubscription ratio (3:1, 7:1, 15:1, other)



Device Mapping Details Application Cisco Brocade

Device Domain Port Zone Host Domain Port Zone

Host

Storage Array Application Name Backup

(Tape/VTL)

Comments:

Application-Specific Details

Backup/Restore infrastructure

Servers

System OS Version, Patch Level HBA Driver Version

Server 1/HBA

Server 2/HBA

Server 3/HBA

Backup Software

Vendor Version Patch

FC Switch

Vendor Model Firmware

Brocade

Storage


Array 1

Array 2

Tape Library


Library

Note: It is helpful to keep a similar table for each application.



APPENDIX C: TERMINOLOGY

Term Brief Description

48K Brocade 48000 Director, 8-slot modular chassis

Base Switch Base switch of an enabled Brocade Virtual Fabrics mode switch

DCX Brocade DCX Backbone, 8-slot modular chassis

DCX-4S Brocade DCX-4S Backbone, 4-slot modular chassis

Default switch Default switch of an enabled Brocade Virtual Fabrics mode switch

E_Port A standard Fibre Channel mechanism that enables switches to network with each other

Edge-Hold-Time Enables the switch to time out frames for F_Ports sooner than for E_Ports

EX_Port A type of E_Port that connects a Fibre Channel router to an edge fabric

F_Port A fabric port to which an N_Port is attached

FC-IP Fibre Channel over IP, which enables Fibre Channel traffic to flow over an IP link

FCR Fibre Channel Routing, which enables multiple fabrics to share devices without having to merge the fabrics

ICL Inter-Chassis Link, used for connecting modular switches without using front-end device ports

IFL Inter-Fabric Link, a link between fabrics in a routed topology

ISL Inter-Switch Link, used for connecting fixed port and modular switches

LS Logical switch of an enabled Brocade Virtual Fabrics mode switch

Oversubscription A condition in which more devices might need to access a resource than that resource can fully support

Port group A set of sequential ports defined (for example, ports 0–3)

QoS Quality of Service traffic shaping feature that allows the prioritization of data traffic based on the SID/DID of each frame

Redundant Duplication of components, including an entire fabric, to avoid a single point of failure in the network (Fabrics A & B are identical)

Resilient Ability of a fabric to recover from failure, could be in a degraded state but functional (for example, ISL failure in a trunk group)

TI Zone Traffic Isolation Zone, which controls the flow of interswitch traffic by creating a dedicated path for traffic flowing from a specific set of source ports

Trunk Trunking, allowing a group of ISLs to merge into a single logical link enabling traffic to be distributed dynamically at the frame level

VC Virtual Channel, which creates multiple logical data paths across a single physical link or connection

VF Brocade Virtual Fabrics, a suite of related features that enable customers to create a logical switch, a Logical Fabric, or share devices in a Brocade Fibre Channel SAN



APPENDIX D: REFERENCE MATERIAL

Software and Hardware Product Documentation • Brocade Fabric OS v7.0.1 Release Notes • Brocade Fabric OS Administrator’s Guide, supporting Brocade FOS v7.0.1 • Brocade Fabric OS Command Reference Manual, supporting Brocade FOS v7.0.1 • Brocade Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide, supporting Brocade FOS v7.0.x • Brocade Access Gateway Administrator’s Guide, supporting Brocade FOS v7.0.1 • Brocade Fabric OS Troubleshooting and Diagnostics Guide, supporting Brocade FOS v7.0.0 • Hardware Reference Guides and QuickStart Guides for backbone, director, switch, and blade platforms

Technical Briefs • www.brocade.com/sites/dotcom/data-center-best-practices/resource-center/index.page • www.brocade.com/forms/getFile?p=documents/best_practice_guides/san-design-best-practices.pdf • www.brocade.com/products/all/san-backbones/product-details/dcx8510-backbone/specifications.page • www.brocade.com/downloads/documents/technical_briefs/HighDensityCabling_BestPractices_GA-BP-253-

02.pdf • www.brocade.com/solutions-technology/technology/platforms/fabric-os/virtual_fabrics.page

Brocade Compatibility Matrix • www.brocade.com/forms/getFile?p=documents/matrices/Brocade_Compatibility_Matrix.pdf

Brocade Scalability Guidelines • www.brocade.com/forms/getFile?p=documents/matrices/Brocade_Scalability_Guidelines_100208.p

df

Brocade SAN Health Support Matrix • www.brocade.com/forms/getFile?p=documents/matrices/SANHealthSupportMatrix.xls

Brocade FOS Features • www.brocade.com/featurenavigator

Brocade Network Advisor • http://www.brocade.com/products/all/management-‐software/product-‐details/network-‐

advisor/index.page

Brocade Bookshelf • Principles of SAN Design (updated in 2007) by Josh Judd • Strategies for Data Protection by Tom Clark • Securing Fibre Channel Fabrics by Roger Bouchard • The New Data Center by Tom Clark

Other • www.brocade.com/solutions-technology/enterprise/migration/index.page? • www.snia.org/education/dictionary • www.vmware.com/pdf/vi3_san_design_deploy.pdf • www.vmware.com/files/pdf/vcb_best_practices.pdf



© 2012 Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 04/12 GA-TB-408-01

Brocade, Brocade Assurance, the B-wing symbol, DCX, Fabric OS, MLX, SAN Health, VCS, and VDX are registered trademarks, and AnyIO, Brocade One, CloudPlex, Effortless Networking, ICX, NET Health, OpenScript, and The Effortless Network are trademarks of Brocade Communications Systems, Inc., in the United States and/or in other countries. Other brands, products, or service names mentioned may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Notice: This document is for informational purposes only and does not set forth any warranty, expressed or implied, concerning any equipment, equipment feature, or service offered or to be offered by Brocade. Brocade reserves the right to make changes to this document at any time, without notice, and assumes no responsibility for its use. This informational document describes features that may not be currently available. Contact a Brocade sales office for information on feature and product availability. Export of technical data contained in this document may require an export license from the United States government.

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