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21-7
Cisco MDS 9000 Family Fabric Manager Configuration Guide
OL-17256-03, Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 4.x
Chapter 21 Configuring N Port Virtualization
Configuring NPV
NPV Traffic Management Guidelines
When deploying NPV traffic management, follow these guidelines:
• Use NPV traffic management only when the automatic traffic engineering by the NPV device is not
sufficient for the network requirements.
• Do not configure traffic maps for all the servers. For non-configured servers, NPV will use
automatic traffic engineering.
• Configure the Persisten FC ID on the core switch. Traffic engineering directs the associated server
interface to external interfaces that lead to the same core switch. The server will be assigned the
same FC ID for every log in. This guideline is not applicable if a 91x4 switch is used as the core
switch.
• Server interfaces configured to a set of external interfaces cannot use any other available external
interfaces, even if the configured interfaces are not available.
• Do not configure disruptive load balancing because this involves moving a device from one external
interface to another interface. Moving the device between external interfaces requires NPV relogin
to the core switch through F port leading to traffic disruption.
• Link a set of servers to a core switch by configuring the server to a set of external interfaces that are
linked to the core switch.
Configuring NPV
When you enable NPV, the system configuration is erased and the system reboots with the NPV mode
enabled.
Note We recommend that you save the current configuration either on bootflash or a TFTP server before NPV
(if the configuration is required for later use). Use the following commands to save either your non-NPV
or NPV configuration:
switch# copy running bootflash:filename
The configuration can be reapplied later using the following command:
switch# copy bootflash:filename running-config
SUMMARY STEPS
1. Enable NPIV on the NPV core switch. Enable NPV on the NPV device.
2. Configure the interfaces connected to the NPV core switch as NP ports. Configure the port VSAN
for the NP ports.
3. Configure NPV link as an F port on the NPV core switch. Configure the port VSAN for the F ports.
4. Configure server link on the NPV device.
Note • On the 91x4 platform, before you upgrade to 3.2(2c) or downgrade from 3.2(2c), shut the F ports
connected to NPIV-capable hosts, and then disable the NPIV feature. After the upgrade or
downgrade is complete, enable the NPIV feature and then bringup the F ports.