CHAPTER
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45-1
Cisco MDS 9000 Family Fabric Manager Configuration Guide
OL-17256-03, Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 4.x
45
Configuring FC-SP and DHCHAP
Fibre Channel Security Protocol (FC-SP) capabilities provide switch-switch and host-switch
authentication to overcome security challenges for enterprise-wide fabrics. Diffie-Hellman Challenge
Handshake Authentication Protocol (DHCHAP) is an FC-SP protocol that provides authentication
between Cisco MDS 9000 Family switches and other devices. DHCHAP consists of the CHAP protocol
combined with the Diffie-Hellman exchange.
This chapter includes the following sections:
• About Fabric Authentication, page 45-1
• DHCHAP, page 45-2
• Default Settings, page 45-10
About Fabric Authentication
All switches in the Cisco MDS 9000 Family enable fabric-wide authentication from one switch to
another switch, or from a switch to a host. These switch and host authentications are performed locally
or remotely in each fabric. As storage islands are consolidated and migrated to enterprise-wide fabrics
new security challenges arise. The approach of securing storage islands cannot always be guaranteed in
enterprise-wide fabrics. For example, in a campus environment with geographically distributed switches
someone could maliciously interconnect incompatible switches or you could accidentally do so,
resulting in Inter-Switch Link (ISL) isolation and link disruption. This need for physical security is
addressed by switches in the Cisco MDS 9000 Family (see
Figure 45-1).
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