Welcome to Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview.

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Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 1
 This course is intended for individuals who will work with hardware components and software
configurations of Connectrix MDS-Series switches. This training includes details on MDS-Series
products, most common features, basic initial configuration, and management options. This
course is also intended for individuals who will work with MDS-Series FCoE switches and blades,
including FCoE technical architecture, features, and deployment considerations.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 2
 Here we have an overview of the content in this course. Click any topic here to be led to the
associated content. Use the home button in the lower left of each of the destination slides to
return here.

Note: This navigation functionality is only present in the hosted eLearning delivery of the course.
If you are viewing this content as a static document, please use this slide as a guide to the layout
of the course.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 3
 This module focuses on the hardware components, features, and software configurations of the
Connectrix MDS-Series switches.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 4
 This lesson covers the Connectrix MDS-Series directors, modules, switches, and their
configurations.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 5
 This slide shows members of the Connectrix MDS-Series family of products. The Connectrix family
represents the industry’s most extensive selection of networked storage connectivity products.
Connectrix integrates high-speed Fibre Channel connectivity, highly resilient switching technology,
and options for intelligent IP storage networking. The Connectrix family incorporates 8Gbps,
10Gbps and 16Gbps Fibre Channel or 10GE DCB/FCoE technology with Connectrix products for a
virtual data center. This wide range of connectivity options allow you to configure Connectrix
directors and switches to meet any business requirement. EMC’s industry-leading design,
implementation, and support services combine everything in one complete package.

Connectrix MDS-Series products are an integral part of data center fabric architectures and
provide a better way to access, manage, and protect growing information resources across a
consolidated Fibre Channel, Fibre Channel over Ethernet, Fibre Channel over IP, Gigabit Ethernet,
and optical network. Some models also offer integration with other EMC products such as VPLEX
and ViPR. Check the EMC Support Matrix for further information.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 6
 EMC Connectrix directors are ideal for the largest mission-critical network environments that
require massive consolidation and nonstop operations. Connectrix directors effectively consolidate
SANs for greater efficiency in your networked storage.

Connectrix MDS 9500 and 9700 series directors have redundant and hot-swappable power
supplies and fan modules. These directors support all generation MDS 9000 switching modules,
which includes Fibre Channel Switching Modules, IP Storage Service Modules, and Multiprotocol
Service Modules. The 9500 series directors supports modules that are capable of 1/2/4/8/10 Gbps
FC and 10Gbps FCoE. The 9700 series directors support modules that are capable of 2/4/8/10/16
Gbps FC and 10Gbps FCoE.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 7
 The MDS 9506 Director has a six-slot chassis with up to 192 ports if populated with 48 port
modules. Slots five and six are reserved for supervisor modules.

The MDS 9513 Director has a thirteen-slot chassis with up to 528 ports if populated with 48 port
modules. Slots seven and eight are reserved for supervisor modules.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 8
 Connectrix MDS 9000 Family, generation four, 8/10-Gbps Fibre Channel switching modules
provide the following new features as compared with the previous generation’s 8-Gbps Fibre
Channel switching modules:
• FlexSpeed technology, which enables auto-sensing 1/2/4/8-Gbps Fibre Channel ports, or
10-Gbps high performance Fibre Channel ports on the same module.
• Arbitrated local switching provides full line-rate local switching within the module itself.
• TrustSec Link Encryption was introduced with the Generation 3 8-Gbps port modules. This
feature is also available with the new 8/10-Gbps Advanced Fibre Channel switching modules.
This feature provides in-flight encryption across ISLs.
• 256-Gbps backplane switching performance is available with the MDS-9513 if Fabric 3
modules are installed. This provides 32 line-rate 8-Gbps ports.

All other features supported with generation 3 8-Gbps FC switching modules are also supported
with generation 4 8/10-Gbps Advanced FC switching modules.

The advanced Fibre Channel modules can only be installed in MDS 9500 series directors.
However, they are not compatible with all configurations, as seen here. Refer to EMC Support
Matrix for specifics.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 9
 The Storage Services Node (SSN) supports SAN extension with FCIP and Storage Media
Encryption. In addition, the SSN delivers SAN extension performance with FCIP acceleration
features including FCIP write acceleration and FCIP tape write and read acceleration. The SSN
supports hardware-based encryption and also supports hardware-based compression.

The advanced Fibre Channel modules can only be installed in MDS 9500 series directors. Refer to
EMC Support Matrix for specifics.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 10
 The MDS 9706 Director has a six-slot chassis with up to 192 ports if populated with 48 port
modules. Slots three and four are reserved for supervisor modules.

The Connectrix MDS 9710 director has redundant hot-swappable supervisors, fabrics, and power
supplies. The MDS 9710 Director has a ten-slot chassis with up to 384 ports if populated with 48-
16Gbps port modules. Slots five and six are reserved for supervisor modules. The MDS 9710
director supports up to 6 Fabric Modules, eight power supplies and three fan trays.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 11
 This slide summarizes the MDS-48P-16 FC Module features.

The MDS-48P-16 FC module has 48 auto-sensing ports 2/4/8/16 Gb and 10Gb FC ports with
maximum bandwidth of 1.5 Tbps when only 768Gb will be used. This ensures non-blocking
performance for all ports during high traffic usage. The MDS-48P-16 FC has Intelligent Capabilities
of VSAN, IVR, and FC Redirect.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 12
 The compact, cost-effective design of the Connectrix MDS-9000 series fabric switches simplifies
deployment and administration of small and medium-scale SANs. EMC Connectrix switches are
ideal network switches for departmental or edge SANs, where you need highly available
access to expanding network storage. The MDS 9000 series switches offer non-disruptive
software upgrades to minimize service disruptions in a highly available SAN environment, and
redundant hot-swappable fans, power supplies and SFPs.

Note: Virtual Storage Area Network (VSAN), Port Channels, Quality of Service (QoS), Inter-VSAN
routing (IVR), N_Port Virtualization (NPV) and N_Port ID Virtualization (NPIV) will be covered in
detail in the next module in this course.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 13
 The EMC Connectrix MDS-9148S is an ideal solution for a standalone SAN in small departmental
storage environment, a top-of-rack switch in medium sized redundant fabrics, or as an edge
switch in a large-scale enterprise data center core-edge topologies.

The MDS-9148S offers up to 48 autosensing 2/4/8/16Gbps Fibre Channel ports. The switch can be
licensed for 12-port increments up to the full 48 ports. The MDS-9148S supports VSANs, Port
Channels, IVR, QoS, NPIV, and NPV.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 14
 The MDS-9250i is a fixed 50-port multiservice fabric switch that supports Fibre Channel, FCoE,
FCIP, iSCSI, and FICON. The MDS-9250i is optimized for performance, power, and space with 40
line-rate 16-Gbps Fibre Channel ports and 10 x 10-Gbps Ethernet ports. It provides flexibility for
future growth and capacity expansion.

In addition to SAN, MDS-9250i also supports dedicated IP storage networks. The SAN extension
over IP application package is enabled as standard on the two fixed Gigabit Ethernet IP storage
service ports, enabling features such as FCIP and compression on the switch without the need for
additional licenses.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 15
 The MDS-9396S is a 2RU Multilayer Fabric Switch with line-rate 16Gbps Fibre Channel ports. It
combines high performance with exceptional flexibility and cost effectiveness. The MDS-9396S is
an ideal solution for a standalone core switch in small or medium SAN environment, a top-of-rack
switch in medium sized redundant fabrics, or as an edge switch in a larger-scale enterprise data
center core-edge topologies.

The MDS-9363S comes with 48 or 96 ports activated in the base chassis and the 48-port model
can be upgraded to 96 active ports via port upgrade licenses with 12-port increments.

MDS-9396S supports up to 500 buffer credits with Base license and up to 4095 buffer credits per
port with Enterprise license. Supported approximate distance for standard FC frame size of 2K at
16Gbps is 62 km with Base license and 512 km with Enterprise license.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 16
 This lesson covers the features of Connectrix MDS-Series, such as VSANs, Port Channels, CFS,
IVR, NPV, and FCIP.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 17
 A virtual storage area network (VSAN) is a logical partition in a SAN that allows traffic to be
isolated. VSANs provide a method for allocating ports within a physical fabric to create virtual
fabrics. Independent physical SAN islands are virtualized onto a common SAN infrastructure.
Separate fabric services are available on each VSAN because it is a virtual fabric. VSAN is
transparent to end devices. Zoning is assigned per VSAN and each switch port is assigned to only
one VSAN.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 18
 Port Channels are an aggregation of multiple physical interfaces into one logical interface. They
provide higher aggregated bandwidth, load balancing, and link redundancy. Port Channels can be
connected to interfaces across switching modules. Thus, failure of a switching module cannot
bring down the Port Channel link.

MDS 9000 series switches support Port Channels with 16 ISLs per Port Channel. First generation
switching modules are limited to a maximum of 128 Port Channels while all other generations can
support a maximum of 256 Port Channels.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 19
 Cisco Fabric Services (CFS) provides a common infrastructure for automatic configuration
synchronization in the fabric. It provides the transport function and services to the applications.
CFS has the ability to discover CFS-capable switches in the fabric and discover the application
capabilities in all CFS-capable switches. The NX-OS uses the Cisco Fabric Services (CFS)
infrastructure to enable efficient database distribution and to provide device flexibility.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 20
 Connectrix MDS supports communication between select devices in different VSANs via Inter-
VSAN Routing (IVR).

With IVR, resources across VSANs can be accessed without compromising other VSAN benefits.
Data traffic can be transported between specific initiators and targets on different VSANs without
merging VSANs into a single logical fabric. Fibre Channel control traffic does not flow between
VSANs. Nor can initiators access any resources aside from the ones designated with IVR routing.
Valuable resources, like tape libraries, can easily be shared without compromise.

An Enterprise License package is required for IVR.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 21
 Here are some of the terms used in an IVR environment:

• Edge VSAN is a VSAN that initiates or terminates an IVR path. Edge VSANs can be adjacent to
each other, or they can be connected by one or more transit VSANs. In the figure shown on
this slide, VSANs 10 and 20 are edge VSANs. An edge VSAN for one IVR path can be a transit
VSAN for another IVR path.

• Edge switch is a switch to which a member of an IVR zone has logged in. Edge switches are
oblivious to the IVR configurations in the border switches. Edge switches need not be IVR
enabled. A single switch can be both a border switch and an edge switch.

• IVR-enabled Border switch is an IVR-enabled switch that is a member of two or more

VSANs, as shown on this slide.

• Transit VSAN is a VSAN that exists along an IVR path from the source edge VSAN of that path
to the destination edge VSAN of that path. In the figure as shown on this slide, VSAN 99 is a
transit VSAN. When the source and destination edge VSANs are adjacent to each other, a
transit VSAN is not required between them.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 22
 N_Port virtualization (NPV) and N_Port ID virtualization (NPIV) are interrelated technologies.

NPV allows a FC switch to stop performing standard FC switch functions such as zoning and name
server, and also remove its need for a domain ID.

NPV mode turns the switch into a connectivity device to aggregate connections. When a host
connected to an NPV switch attempts to log into the fabric, the login request cannot be serviced
by the NPV switch, so it is forwarded to the NPIV switch via an NP_Port. The host, once logged in,
is provided a FCID from the NPIV switch. NPV mode applies to an entire switch. All end devices
connected to a switch that is in NPV mode must log in as an N_Port to use this feature. All links
from the NPV switches to the NPIV switches are established as NP_Ports (not E_Ports, which are
used for typical ISLs).

NPIV allows multiple end devices (N_Ports) that share a link to an NPV switch to register to a
single F-Port on the NPIV switch.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 23
 MDS-Series family of directors and switches supports iSCSI for midrange storage consolidation
and FCIP for SAN extension.

The MDS-Series family also supports the FICON protocol to enable the connection of IBM
mainframes. This feature is available on the MDS 9500 and 9200-Series switches. The ‘FICON
Control Unit Port specification’ is supported to allow hosts to perform in-band management
functions for FICON devices. Switch cascading is possible because the MDS-Series platform
supports static domain IDs.

The MDS-Series VSAN feature allows for intermixing FICON and FC traffic on the same physical
infrastructure. Additionally, disaster recovery and business continuance applications can be run
through the platform by implementing FICON over FCIP using the IPS Storage Services Module.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 24
 Fibre Channel over IP or FCIP is a TCP/IP-based tunneling protocol connecting geographically
distributed SAN islands over Ethernet. The IP network is transparent to the Fibre Channel fabric.
Only edge devices need to be aware of FCIP encapsulation. The FC network(s) and associated
protocol are invisible to the TCP/IP network. This solution can take advantage of existing Fiber
Channel networks and tie them together using existing IP networks. It allows for remote disk
access, tape backup, and live mirroring.

When the Connectrix MDS series directors and switches are used, the SAN Extension Package
provides an integrated, cost-effective, and reliable business continuity offering that uses existing
IP infrastructure.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 25
 The iSCSI-capable switch provides transparent SCSI routing. IP hosts using the iSCSI protocol
can transparently access targets on the Fibre Channel network. The switch creates a separate
iSCSI SAN view and Fibre Channel SAN view.

For iSCSI SAN view, the switch creates iSCSI virtual targets, then maps them to physical Fibre
Channel targets available in the Fibre Channel SAN. The iSCSI-capable switches present the Fibre
Channel targets to IP hosts as if they were physical iSCSI targets that are attached to the IP
network.

For the Fibre Channel SAN view, the switch presents iSCSI hosts as a virtual Fibre Channel host.
The storage devices communicate with the virtual Fibre Channel host in a similar way to
communications performed with real Fibre Channel hosts.

The switch transparently maps the command between the iSCSI virtual target and the virtual
Fibre Channel host.

iSCSI is supported in MDS 9000 series without any modifications.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 26
 The Cisco MDS 9000 Family Enterprise Package includes the following enhanced network security
features:

• The Switch-switch and host-switch authentication feature helps eliminate disruptions that
may occur because of unauthorized devices connecting to a large enterprise fabric.

• DH-CHAP protocol is used to perform authentication locally or remotely through RADIUS or

TACACS+. If authentication fails, a switch or host cannot join the fabric.

• The Port security feature locks the mapping of a device to a switch port to prevent
unauthorized connection of devices to a switch port.

• VSAN-based access control allows customers to define a role that is limited to certain
VSANs.

• IPsec is available for FCIP on the Cisco MDS 9000 SSN module. This feature offers secure
authentication, data encryption for privacy, and data integrity.

• Digital certificates are issued by a trusted third party and are used as electronic passports to
prove the identity of certificate owners.

• Fabric binding for open systems helps ensure that ISLs are enabled only between switches
that have been authorized in the fabric binding configuration. This feature helps prevent
unauthorized switches from joining the fabric or disrupting current fabric operations.

• Cisco TrustSec Fibre Channel Link Encryption is an extension of the FC-SP feature, and
uses the existing FC-SP architecture to help ensure data integrity and privacy.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 27
 This module covered the hardware components, features, and configurations of Connectrix MDS-
Series switches.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 28
 This module focuses on the management tools and the list of steps required to perform a basic
installation of Connectrix MDS-Series switches.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 29
 This lesson covers the Connectrix MDS-Series management tools and licensing options.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 30
 There are multiple connection options and protocols available to manage the MDS Series switches
via CLI. The initial configuration must be done with a direct serial connection.

When the initial configuration is complete, you can access the switch with either SSH protocol or
Telnet. You can access the MDS Series for configuration, status, or management through the
console port. You may also initiate a Telnet session through the Ethernet management port, or IP
over Fibre Channel. The console port is an asynchronous port with a default configuration of 9600
bps, eight data bits, no parity, and one stop bit.

This port is the only means of accessing the switch after the initial power up until an IP address is
configured for the management port. After an IP address is configured, you can telnet to the
switch through the management 10/100/1000 port on the supervisor card. In-band IP over Fibre
Channel is used to manage remote switches through the local 10/100 port.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 31
 Cisco Data Center Network Manager (DCNM) combines the management of Ethernet and storage
networks into a single dashboard.

Cisco DCNM streamlines the provisioning of the unified fabric by means of template-based
provisioning for all key NX-OS features, including that of multi-hop FCoE. DCNM provides
coverage for provisioning and monitoring of data center networks. DCNM provides coverage for
deploying a variety of NX-OS features using helpful wizards or templates.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 32
 Here we have an overview of the major components of DCNM:

DCNM-SAN Web Unified Client provides monitoring of Cisco MDS switch events, performance,
and inventory from a remote location using a web browser. Licensing and discovery are part of
the Cisco DCNM web client.

Cisco DCNM-SAN Client is a Java and SNMP-based network fabric and device management tool
with a GUI that displays real-time views of your network fabric, including Cisco MDS 9000 family
switches and third-party switches, hosts, and storage devices. DCNM-SAN Client provides Fibre
Channel troubleshooting tools, in addition to complete configuration and status monitoring
capabilities for Cisco MDS 9000 Family switches.

Cisco DCNM-LAN Client displays a map of discovered Ethernet and provides provisioning,
monitoring of Ethernet interfaces for the Ethernet switches.

Device Manager provides a graphical representation of a Cisco MDS 9000 Family switch chassis,
including the installed switching modules, the supervisor modules, the status of each port within
each module, the power supplies, and the fan assemblies.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 33
 Cisco DCNM-SAN licenses are hosted on the Cisco DCNM-SAN server. All existing Cisco Fabric
Manager licenses are grandfathered into this model. Thus, customers do not need to order or
deploy any additional licenses to manage their existing Connectrix MDS 9000 Family switches.

Two types of Cisco DCNM-SAN licenses are available:

• Cisco DCNM-SAN Essentials Edition is included at no charge with every Connectrix MDS 9000
hardware purchase.
• Cisco DCNM-SAN Advanced Edition provides additional capabilities that are required to use
the Virtual Machine Topology and performance feature and the Performance Forecasting
Charts feature.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 34
 The MDS NX-OS runs on all MDS-Series switches and directors. Most MDS series software
features are included in the base switch configuration. The standard software package includes
the base set of features that are required by most customers for building a SAN. However, some
features are logically grouped into add-on packages that must be licensed separately. For further
information on additional license packages, you should check the EMC Support Matrix.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 35
 If you need to install multiple licenses in any MDS Series switch, be sure to provide unique file
names for each license key file. Use the install license command to install a license key file in
any MDS switch.

If the license meets all guidelines when the install license command is issued, then all features
and modules continue functioning as configured. This is true for any MDS Series switch.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 36
 This lesson covers the steps required to perform a basic MDS-Series switch installation and
configuration.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 37
 The console connection requires a rollover RJ-45 cable in order to perform initial configuration.
The supervisor module of the MDS 9500 series directors has a selector switch, which allows the
use of a pass-through cable to perform the initial configuration of the MDS switch. This toggle
switch comes shipped in the ‘in’ position, and is located behind the LEDs.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 38
 The Basic System Configuration Dialog setup guides you through the basic configuration of the
system.

The Basic System Configuration dialog box options can be skipped by entering a carriage return,
or you can skip all remaining dialog boxes by typing Ctrl-C at any time. You must enter a Y when
prompted to continue with the Basic System Configuration dialog box. Default password is admin,
but this can be changed after initial setup.

After the initial setup is completed, you can login and change the parameters that were set during
that initial configuration process. If you wish to make changes to the initial configuration at a later
time, the setup command can be executed in the EXEC mode.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 39
 You now will enter the name of the switch and the IP configuration for the Out-of-Band
management port.

When there are options to select for each dialog, you can either press Return, which accepts the
choice indicated between the square brackets, or you can select the alternative.

Telnet services are enabled to remotely log on to the switch. A Network Time Protocol (NTP)
server provides a precise time source to synchronize the system clocks of network devices. NTP is
transported over UDP/IP. Using NTP is optional, but recommended.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 40
 The system prints a summary of the configuration for your review. Then the system asks if you
would like to edit the configuration that was just printed out. Any configuration changes made to
a switch are immediately enforced, but are not saved. If no edits are needed, then you are asked
if you want to use this configuration and also save it. Since ‘yes’ is the default selection, pressing
Return activates this function. The configuration then becomes part of the running-config, and is
copied to the startup-config.

This also ensures that the kickstart and system boot images are automatically configured.
Therefore, you do not need to run a copy command after this process. A power loss restarts the
switch using the startup-config; startup_config has everything saved that has been configured to
the non-default values. If you do not save the configuration at this point, none of your changes
are updated until the next time the switch is rebooted.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 41
 Zoning is the process of grouping initiators and targets. Initiators and targets placed in the same
zone are allowed to communicate by the fabric. Zoning also plays a critical role in event isolation.
In order for a fabric to work properly, it must be properly zoned.

A collection of zones is called a zoneset. The zoneset can be active or inactive. An active zoneset
is the collection of zones currently being used by the switched fabric to manage data traffic.

Single HBA zoning consists of a single initiator HBA port and one or more storage target ports. It
is important to note that a port can reside in multiple zones, which provides the ability to map a
single storage port to multiple host ports. Single HBA zoning simulates a single initiator SCSI
environment. This reduces risks associated with issues such as different driver revisions, HBA
types, and heterogeneous servers on the same fabric. EMC best practices recommend a single
HBA zoned to a single storage port.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 42
 DCNM provides an easy tool for all zone configuration tasks.

Zones are configured within VSANs. However, it is possible to configure zones without configuring
any VSANs by configuring them within the default VSAN. The VSANs/Zones tab displays the
VSANs configured in the currently discovered fabric.

Zones can be changed from the Edit Local Full Zone Database dialog. Using DCNM, right-click
on a VSAN. From the drop-down menu, select Edit Local Full Zone Database.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 43
 From the Edit Local Full Zone Database dialog box, right-click on the Zones folder and select
Insert. Enter the name of the zone and click OK. Once the new Zone is displayed in the Database
window, add members to the Zone.

There are two ways to add members:

– Right-click on the Zone in the Zones folder and select Insert from the drop-down
menu. In the dialog box, specify End Devices or Switch Ports as members of a zone.
Click Add to add the member to the Zone.
– Or, select the Zone you have created. Then select the members you want to add from
the right pane and click Add to Zone.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 44
 Zones provide a mechanism for specifying access control, while Zonesets are a grouping of zones
to enforce access control in the fabric. If two zonesets exist, either of the two zonesets can be
activated separately, but not together.

Changes to a zoneset do not take effect in a full zoneset until it is activated.

To create additional zonesets using DCNM:

• Right-click on a VSAN to open the Edit Local Full Zone Database dialog box. From the
drop-down menu, select Edit Local Full Zone Database
• Right-click on a Zonesets folder in the left pane and select Insert from the drop down
menu. Enter the name of the Zoneset and click OK.

The new zoneset is displayed in the Database window.

Now, to add Zones to the zoneset:

• Right-click on a Zoneset in the Zonesets folder in the left pane and select Insert from the
drop down menu. Select the Zones to be added in the Zoneset, and click Add.

The new zones are displayed in the Database window.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 45
 Once Zones and Zonesets have been created and populated with members, they must be
activated. If zoning is activated, any member that is not assigned to an active Zone belongs to
the default Zone. If zoning is not activated, then all members belong to the default zone.

To activate a zoneset:
• Select a Zoneset and from the right pane click Activate.
• Click Yes to review the differences between local and active zonesets. Click Close.
• Check the Save Running to Startup Configuration checkbox to save all changes to the
startup configuration. Click Continue Activation to activate the Zoneset.

If one zoneset is active and you activate another zoneset, then the current active zoneset is
deactivated.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 46
 This module covered the management tools and the list of steps required to perform basic
installation of the Connectrix MDS-Series switches.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 47
 This module focuses on features and hardware components of Connectrix MDS-Series FCoE
products.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 48
 This lesson covers the features and functionalities of Connectrix MDS-Series FCoE products.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 49
 Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE), a protocol defined by the T11 standards committee, expands
FC into the Ethernet environment.

FCoE consolidates both SANs and Ethernet traffic onto one Converged Network Adapter,
eliminating the need for using separate HBAs and Network Interface Cards.

FCoE allows Fibre Channel frames to be encapsulated within Ethernet frames, providing a
transport protocol more efficient than TCP/IP. It offers a single, integrated infrastructure, thereby
reducing network complexities in the data center.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 50
 The Fibre Channel portion of FCoE appears as normal Fibre Channel to a host or a switch and
therefore to a user. It is based completely on the FC model, which makes it easy to understand,
manage, and troubleshoot. A major value point is that FCoE uses Ethernet hardware to deliver an
enterprise storage solution, while also using the existing FC management infrastructure.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 51
 FCoE utilizes virtual ports, which emulate the behavior of regular Fibre Channel ports. The only
difference is the physical link, since FC is encapsulated over Ethernet. The different port names
are listed on this slide.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 52
 Converged Network Adapters (CNAs) are intelligent multi-protocol adapters that provide host LAN
and Fibre Channel SAN connectivity over 10 Gbps Ethernet using FCoE and Enhanced Ethernet
functionality.

CNA cards combine Fibre Channel Host Bus Adapters (HBAs) and standard Network Interface
Cards (NICs). FCoE-specific ASICs are added to the CNA, and are proprietary to each vendor.
Usually, a CNA offers full hardware offload for the FCoE protocol. This reduces the system CPU
utilization for I/O operations, which leads to faster application performance and higher levels of
consolidation in virtualized systems. Implementing a CNA creates minimum disruption in the
existing environment.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 53
 Prior to FCoE CNA configuration, each application class has its own interface – Ethernet for
networking, Fibre Channel for storage, and Infiniband Architecture (IBA) for clustering. The result
is three different networks, each with an adapter for each system or server, three cables and
switches, three skill sets and tools, and three different management facilities.

With the FCoE CNA solution, one converged network adapter can do the work of a FC HBA,
Ethernet NIC and IBA clustering. This convergence means fewer switches, less hardware, fewer
cables, less power consumption, reduced cooling, and easier LAN and SAN management.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 54
 FCoE switches or Fibre Channel Forwarders (FCFs) provide the connectivity between FCoE
initiators, FCoE targets, and conventional Fibre Channel fabrics. FCFs therefore offer both FCoE
ports and native FC ports for both device and switch-to-switch fabric connections.

The function of the Fibre Channel Forwarder (FCF) is essentially to decapsulate FC frames that are
coming from the CNA and going to the SAN, and to encapsulate FC frames that are coming from
the SAN and going to the CNA.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 55
 A Data Center Bridging Ethernet (DCB) switch is an Ethernet switch implementation that has
certain characteristics. The most important is that these switches do not drop frames under
congestion, meaning they are lossless. A lossless network is important to block I/O operations
because unlike TCP/IP, the loss of a single frame typically requires the entire exchange to be
aborted and re-driven by the upper-level protocol, instead of just re-sending a particular chunk of
data.

With DCB, speed increases to 10Gbps without Ethernet loss.

DCB adds features to Ethernet including Priority-based Flow Control (PFC), DCB Capability
Exchange Protocol (DCBX), Congestion Notification (CN), and Enhanced Transmission Selection
(ETS).

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 56
 This lesson covers the hardware components of Connectrix MDS-Series FCoE products.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 57
 The MDS-FCoE-9700 48-port 10 Gbps Fibre Channel over Ethernet module is installed in MDS
9700 series directors and provides eight full-bandwidth 10-Gbps FCoE ports. The MDS 9700 48-
Port 10-Gbps FCoE Module provides up to 384 10-Gbps, full line-rate, autosensing ports in a
single 9710 chassis, or up to 192 10-Gbps full line-rate ports in a single MDS-9706 Director.

FCoE Port Channels with up to 16 physical links can be configured to create massive 160-Gbps
logical links.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 58
 MDS series switches provide a simple solution for converged network with both the FC SAN and
Ethernet LAN at access layer. As shown here, a single MDS 9700 series director can provide FCoE
solution with MDS-FCOE-9700 module and FC storage solution with MDS-48P-16 module.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 59
 This module covered the hardware components and features of Connectrix MDS-Series FCoE
products.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 60
 This module focuses on the management tools and software configurations of the Connectrix
MDS-Series FCoE products.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 61
 Here we see an overview of the management tools and guidelines available for the converged
networks:

Recall that DCNM is the set of GUI configuration tools for MDS products. A stand-alone version is
licensed with every switch. A license can be installed to install a Server-Client model, which allows
the management of multiple fabrics.

SNMP allows you to configure switches using Management Information Bases. SNMP is used to
configure access to third party management protocols, such as EMC Control Center.

Cisco VMDC provides a set of guidelines for the design and deployment of a virtualized data
center. The VMDC provides a solution to bring together the routing and switching technologies,
network services, data center and cloud security, automation, and integrated solutions to develop
a trusted approach to the data center virtualization.

Key components of VMDC include Network Switches, Services, Compute, Storage solution (SAN,
NAS) and Management (Cisco UCS manager, DCNM, VMware vCenter).

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 62
 FCoE is supported on MDS switches. To configure FCoE on a switch with DCNM, in the Physical
Attributes pane, choose Switches > FC Services > FCoE.

Double-click the relevant FCoE parameter for a switch, and modify the value of the parameter. In
the Information pane toolbar, click the Apply Changes icon to save the changes.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 63
 Alternatively DCNM Device Manager can be used to manage FCoE switches. To configure FCoE on
a switch using Device Manager, Launch Device Manager, Choose FCoE > Config, double-click the
relevant FCoE parameter for a switch, and modify the value of the parameter. Click Apply to save
the changes.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 64
 Host connectivity

There are two options for host connectivity to an FCoE switch. The first option is for hosts that do
not need to access storage over a SAN. In this scenario, a host will have one or more 10 Gbps
Ethernet NICs installed. The FCoE switch acts as a standard Ethernet switch for these hosts, and
forwards Ethernet frames to the next device in the Ethernet network. The standard 10 Gbps
Ethernet NICs do not provide access to Fibre Channel SAN resources at this time.

In the second environment, a host will have one or more Converged Network Adapters (CNAs).
The CNAs support the same standard networking protocols as the NICs as well as FCoE. This
allows hosts that have CNAs installed to access both network resources as well as Fibre Channel
resources by using a single interface.

Both NICs and CNAs can be used to connect different hosts on the same switch.

Storage connectivity

FCoE target ports can be used as targets only. Therefore, replication technologies (for example:
SRDF and RecoverPoint) cannot be used on these. However, FC ports on the same array can be
used for replication. FCoE target ports can communicate concurrently with CNAs (FCoE
technology) and HBAs (FC technology) as long as they go through proper connections. LUNs can
be accessed by a host, either through HBAs or through CNAs. LUNs may also be replicated
between compatible arrays using native array replication technology.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 65
 This module covered the management tools, host connectivity, and basic configurations of
Connectrix MDS-Series FCoE products.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 66
 This course covered the hardware components, management options, and software configurations
of Connectrix MDS-Series switches, and also the features and functions of FCoE offered with MDS-
Series products.

This concludes the training.

Copyright 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Connectrix MDS-Series Architecture and Management Overview 67