Configuring FCoE VLANs and Virtual Interfaces

This chapter describes how to configure Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) VLANs and virtual interfaces
on Cisco Nexus 5000 Series switches. It contains the following sections:

• Information About Virtual Interfaces, page 1

• Guidelines and Limitations for FCoE VLANs and Virtual Interfaces, page 1
• Configuring Virtual Interfaces, page 3
• Verifying the Virtual Interface , page 5
• Mapping VSANs to VLANs Example Configuration , page 6

Information About Virtual Interfaces

Cisco Nexus 5000 Series switches support Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE), which allows Fibre Channel
and Ethernet traffic to be carried on the same physical Ethernet connection between the switch and the servers.
The Fibre Channel portion of FCoE is configured as a virtual Fibre Channel interface. Logical Fibre Channel
features (such as interface mode) can be configured on virtual Fibre Channel interfaces.
A virtual Fibre Channel interface must be bound to an interface before it can be used. The binding is to a
physical Ethernet interface (when the converged network adapter (CNA) is directly connected to the Cisco
Nexus 5000 Series switch), a MAC address (when the CNA is remotely connected over a Layer 2 bridge), or
an EtherChannel when the CNA connects to the Fibre Channel Forwarder (FCF) over a virtual port channel
(vPC).

Guidelines and Limitations for FCoE VLANs and Virtual

Interfaces
Follow these guidelines and limitations when configuring FCoE VLANs and Virtual Interfaces:
• Each virtual Fibre Channel interface must be bound to an FCoE-enabled Ethernet or EtherChannel
interface or to the MAC address of a remotely connected adapter. FCoE is supported on 10-Gigabit
Ethernet interfaces.

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 Configuring FCoE VLANs and Virtual Interfaces
Guidelines and Limitations for FCoE VLANs and Virtual Interfaces

The Ethernet or EtherChannel interface that you bind the virtual Fibre Channel interface to must be
configured as follows:
◦ The Ethernet or EtherChannel interface must be a trunk port (use the switchport mode trunk
command).
◦ The FCoE VLAN that corresponds to a virtual Fibre Channel’s VSAN must be in the allowed
VLAN list.
◦ You must not configure an FCoE VLAN as the native VLAN of the trunk port.

Note The native VLAN is the default VLAN on a trunk. Any untagged frames transit the
trunk as native VLAN traffic.

◦ You should use an FCoE VLAN only for FCoE.

◦ Do not use the default VLAN, VLAN1, as an FCoE VLAN.
◦ You must configure the Ethernet interface as PortFast (use the spanning-tree port type edge
trunk command).

Note You are not required to configure trunking on the server interface even if the switch
interface is configured with trunking enabled. All non-FCoE traffic from the server will
be passed on the native VLAN.

• Each virtual Fibre Channel interface is associated with only one VSAN.
• You must map any VSAN with associated virtual Fibre Channel interfaces to a dedicated FCOE-enabled
VLAN.
• FCoE is not supported on private VLANs.
• If the converged access switches (in the same SAN fabric or in another) need to be connected to each
other over Ethernet links for a LAN alternate path, then you must explicitly configure such links to
exclude all FCoE VLANs from membership.
• You must use separate FCoE VLANs for FCoE in SAN-A and SAN-B fabrics.
• FCoE connectivity to pre-FIP CNAs over virtual port channels (vPCs) is not supported.

Note Virtual interfaces are created with the administrative state set to down. You must explicitly configure the
administrative state to bring the virtual interface into operation.

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 Mapping a VSAN to a VLAN
Configuring Virtual Interfaces

Configuring Virtual Interfaces

Mapping a VSAN to a VLAN
A unique, dedicated VLAN must be configured at every converged access switch to carry traffic for each
Virtual Fabric (VSAN) in the SAN (for example, VLAN 1002 for VSAN 1, VLAN 1003 for VSAN 2, and
so on). If MST is enabled, a separate MST instance must be used for FCoE VLANs.

Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 switch# configure terminal Enters configuration mode.

Step 2 switch(config)# vlan vlan-id Enters VLAN configuration mode. The VLAN number
range is from 1 to 4096.

Step 3 switch(config-vlan)# fcoe [vsan Enables FCoE for the specified VLAN. If you do not
vsan-id] specify a VSAN number, a mapping is created from this
VLAN to the VSAN with the same number.
Configures the mapping from this VLAN to the specified
VSAN.

Step 4 switch(config-vlan)# exit Exits VLAN configuration mode.

This example shows how to map VLAN 200 to VSAN 2:

switch(config)# vlan 200
switch(config-vlan)# fcoe vsan 2

Creating a Virtual Fibre Channel Interface

You can create a virtual Fibre Channel interface. You must bind the virtual Fibre Channel interface to a
physical interface before it can be used.

Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 switch# configure terminal Enters configuration mode.

Step 2 switch(config)# interface vfc vfc-id Creates a virtual Fibre Channel interface (if it
does not already exist) and enters interface
configuration mode.
The virtual Fibre Channel interface ID range is
from 1 to 8192.

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 Associating a Virtual Fibre Channel Interface to a VSAN
Configuring Virtual Interfaces

Command or Action Purpose

Step 3 switch(config-if)# bind {interface {ethernet Binds the virtual Fibre Channel interface to the
slot/port | port-channel channel-number} | specified interface.
mac-address MAC-address}
Step 4 switch(config-if)# no bind {interface (Optional)
{ethernet slot/port | port-channel Unbinds the virtual Fibre Channel interface from
channel-number} | mac-address the specified interface.
MAC-address}
Step 5 switch(config)# no interface vfc vfc-id (Optional)
Deletes a virtual Fibre Channel interface.

This example shows how to bind a virtual Fibre Channel interface to an Ethernet interface:
switch# configure terminal
switch(config)# interface vfc 4
switch(config-if)# bind interface ethernet 1/4

This example shows how to bind a virtual Fibre Channel interface to create a vPC:
switch# configure terminal
switch(config)# interface vfc 3
switch(config-if)# bind interface port-channel 1

This example shows how to bind a virtual Fibre Channel interface to a MAC address:
switch# configure terminal
switch(config)# interface vfc 2
switch(config-if)# bind mac-address 00:0a:00:00:00:36

This example shows how to delete a virtual Fibre Channel interface:

switch# configure terminal
switch(config)# no interface vfc 4

Associating a Virtual Fibre Channel Interface to a VSAN

A unique, dedicated VLAN must be configured at every converged access switch to carry traffic for each
Virtual Fabric (VSAN) in the SAN (for example, VLAN 1002 for VSAN 1, VLAN 1003 for VSAN 2, and
so on). If MST is enabled, a separate MST instance must be used for FCoE VLANs.

Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 switch# configure terminal Enters configuration mode.

Step 2 switch(config)# vsan database Enters VSAN configuration mode.

Step 3 switch(config-vsan)# vsan vsan-id Configures the association between the VSAN and
interface vfc vfc-id virtual Fibre Channel interface.
The VSAN number must map to a VLAN on the
physical Ethernet interface that is bound to the virtual
Fibre Channel interface.

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 Configuring FCoE VLANs and Virtual Interfaces
Verifying the Virtual Interface

Command or Action Purpose

Step 4 switch(config-vsan)# no vsan vsan-id (Optional)
interface vfc vfc-id Disassociates the connection between the VSAN and
virtual Fibre Channel interface.

This example shows how to associate a virtual Fibre Channel interface to a VSAN:
switch# configure terminal
switch(config)# vsan database
switch(config-vsan)# vsan 2 interface vfc 4

Verifying the Virtual Interface

To display configuration information about virtual interfaces, perform one of the following tasks:

Command Purpose
switch# show interface vfc vfc-id Displays the detailed configuration of the specified
Fibre Channel interface.

switch# show interface brief Displays the status of all interfaces.

switch# show vlan fcoe Displays the mapping of FCoE VLANs to VSANs.

This example shows how to display a virtual Fibre Channel interface bound to an Ethernet interface:
switch# show interface vfc 3
vfc3 is up
Bound interface is Ethernet1/37
Hardware is Virtual Fibre Channel
Port WWN is 20:02:00:0d:ec:6d:95:3f
Admin port mode is F, trunk mode is on
snmp link state traps are enabled
Port mode is F, FCID is 0x490100
Port vsan is 931
1 minute input rate 0 bits/sec, 0 bytes/sec, 0 frames/sec
1 minute output rate 0 bits/sec, 0 bytes/sec, 0 frames/sec
0 frames input, 0 bytes
0 discards, 0 errors
0 frames output, 0 bytes
0 discards, 0 errors
Interface last changed at Thu May 21 04:44:42 2009

This example shows how to display a virtual Fibre Channel interface bound to a MAC address:
switch# show interface vfc 1001
vfc1001 is down
Bound MAC is 00:0a:00:00:00:01
Hardware is Virtual Fibre Channel
Port WWN is 23:e8:00:0d:ec:6d:95:3f
Admin port mode is F, trunk mode is on
snmp link state traps are enabled
Port vsan is 901
1 minute input rate 0 bits/sec, 0 bytes/sec, 0 frames/sec
1 minute output rate 0 bits/sec, 0 bytes/sec, 0 frames/sec
0 frames input, 0 bytes
0 discards, 0 errors
0 frames output, 0 bytes
0 discards, 0 errors

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 Configuring FCoE VLANs and Virtual Interfaces
Mapping VSANs to VLANs Example Configuration

This example shows how to display the status of all the interfaces on the switch (some output has been removed
for brevity):
switch# show interface brief
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Interface Vsan Admin Admin Status SFP Oper Oper Port
Mode Trunk Mode Speed Channel
Mode (Gbps)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
fc3/1 1 auto on trunking swl TE 2 --
fc3/2 1 auto on sfpAbsent -- -- --
...
fc3/8 1 auto on sfpAbsent -- -- --
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Interface Status IP Address Speed MTU Port
Channel
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ethernet1/1 hwFailure -- -- 1500 --
Ethernet1/2 hwFailure -- -- 1500 --
Ethernet1/3 up -- 10000 1500 --
...
Ethernet1/39 sfpIsAbsen -- -- 1500 --
Ethernet1/40 sfpIsAbsen -- -- 1500 --
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Interface Status IP Address Speed MTU
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
mgmt0 up 172.16.24.41 100 1500
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Interface Vsan Admin Admin Status SFP Oper Oper Port
Mode Trunk Mode Speed Channel
Mode (Gbps)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
vfc 1 1 F -- down -- -- --
...

This example shows how to display the mapping between the VLANs and VSANs on the switch:
switch# show vlan fcoe
VLAN VSAN Status
-------- -------- --------
15 15 Operational
20 20 Operational
25 25 Operational
30 30 Non-operational

Mapping VSANs to VLANs Example Configuration

The following example shows how to configure the FCoE VLAN and a virtual Fibre Channel interface:

Procedure

Step 1 Configure the VLAN on a physical Ethernet address.

switch# configure terminal
switch(config)# interface ethernet 1/4
switch(config-if)# spanning-tree port type edge trunk
switch(config-if)# switchport mode trunk
switch(config-if)# switchport trunk allowed vlan 1,200
switch(config-if)# exit

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Mapping VSANs to VLANs Example Configuration

Step 2 Create a virtual Fibre Channel interface and bind it to a physical Ethernet interface.
switch(config)# interface vfc 4
switch(config-if)# bind interface ethernet 1/4
switch(config-if)# exit

Step 3 Enable the associated VLAN and map the VLAN to a VSAN.
switch(config)# vlan 200
switch(config-vlan)# fcoe vsan 2
switch(config-vlan)# exit

Step 4 Associate the virtual Fibre Channel interface to the VSAN.

switch(config)# vsan database
switch(config-vsan)# vsan 2 interface vfc 4
switch(config-vsan)# exit

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Mapping VSANs to VLANs Example Configuration

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