Virtual Port Mode — One Fibre Channel Fabric with Dual 16 Gb 2-Port Storage Controllers
Use one Fibre Channel (FC) fabric with virtual port mode to prevent an unavailable port or storage
controller from causing a loss of connectivity between the host servers and a storage system with dual 16
Gb 2-port
storage controllers.
About this task
This configuration includes one fault domain, one fabric, and one FC switch. Each storage controller
connects to the FC switch using two FC connections.
• If a physical port becomes unavailable, the virtual port moves to another port in the fault domain on
the same storage controller
• If a storage controller becomes unavailable, the virtual ports on the offline storage controller move to
physical ports on the other storage controller.
NOTE: This configuration is vulnerable to switch unavailability, which results in a loss of connectivity
between the host servers and
storage system.
Steps
1. Connect each server to the FC fabric.
2. Connect fault domain 1 (shown in orange) to the fabric.
• Storage controller 1: port 1 to the FC switch
• Storage controller 1: port 2 to the FC switch
• Storage controller 2: port 1 to the FC switch
• Storage controller 2: port 2 to the FC switch
Example
Figure 46. Storage System in Virtual Port Mode with Dual 16 Gb Storage Controllers and One FC Switch
1. Server 1 2. Server 2
3. FC switch (Fault domain 1) 4. Storage system
5. Storage controller 1 6. Storage controller 2
Next steps
Install or enable MPIO on the host servers.
58
Connect the Front-End Cabling
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