This post is going to be a mess. Here's a whole amalgamation of data I found that I want to keep here on my blog:
1.U_Port (Universal) - Port on the switch when booting wait for something plugged into the port.
2.G_Port (General Purpose Port) - Port on the switch that auto configures itself once the attached node logs in to the fabric. The node may be any N-Port such as an HBA (F_Port) or another switch (E_Port).
3.FL_Port (Fabric Loop Port) - Disk array that supports Fabric (public) addressing and relies on arbitrated loop services. Many switches autoconfigure to FL-Port after the attached array has logged in.
4.F-Port (Fabric Port) - Array controller or HBA that supports Fabric (Public) addressing.
5.E_Port (Expansion Port) - Inter Switch Link (ISL) or switch to switch connection within a fabric. Older Qlogic and Sun switches refer to this as a T_Port. 1
The definitions above are pretty unclear. The N port is the port literally on the node (server, storage system, etc) and the F port is the one on the switch. You typically connect from the N port to the F port. E ports run from one switch to another. You can create virtual ports for when you want multiple addresses per physical port.
It appears NPIV is just the method by which VN_Ports are created.
Quick hits:
iscsi security show : DOT CLI command to display current CHAP settings
Supported iSCSI configurations: Direct-attached, Network-attached (Single-network, Multi-network, VLANs)
iscsi session show -v : DOT CLI command to see if iSCSI digests are enabled.
Network types: page 39 http://www.filibeto.org/sun/lib/nonsun/brocade/53-0000231-05.pdf
cascade, mesh, core-edge.
also a great resource on trunking, etc
single image cfmode:
http://hd.kvsconsulting.us/netappdoc/733docs/html/ontap/bsag/GUID-31DC026F-2B78-425A-BA55-487782F9909A.html
Disable ALUA on igroups connecting using the NetApp DSM.
1 http://my.opera.com/siyeclover/blog/show.dml/159596
2. http://searchvirtualstorage.techtarget.com/definition/Fibre-Channel-port-names
3. https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/blogs/anthonyv/entry/don_t_say_green_say_aqua1?lang=en
1.U_Port (Universal) - Port on the switch when booting wait for something plugged into the port.
2.G_Port (General Purpose Port) - Port on the switch that auto configures itself once the attached node logs in to the fabric. The node may be any N-Port such as an HBA (F_Port) or another switch (E_Port).
3.FL_Port (Fabric Loop Port) - Disk array that supports Fabric (public) addressing and relies on arbitrated loop services. Many switches autoconfigure to FL-Port after the attached array has logged in.
4.F-Port (Fabric Port) - Array controller or HBA that supports Fabric (Public) addressing.
5.E_Port (Expansion Port) - Inter Switch Link (ISL) or switch to switch connection within a fabric. Older Qlogic and Sun switches refer to this as a T_Port. 1
Port
| Full Name | Port Function |
|---|---|---|
| N-port | network port or node port | Node port used to connect a node to a Fibre Channel switch |
| F-port | fabric port | Switch port used to connect the Fibre Channel fabric to a node |
| L-port | loop port | Node port used to connect a node to a Fibre Channel loop |
| NL-port | network + loop port | Node port which connects to both loops and switches |
| FL-port | fabric + loop port | Switch port which connects to both loops and switches |
| E-port | extender port | Used to cascade Fibre Channel switches together |
| G-port | general port | General purpose port which can be configured to emulate other port types |
| EX_port | external port | Connection between a fibre channel router and a fibre channel switch; on the switch side, it looks like a normal E_port -- but on the router side, it is a EX_port |
| TE_port | trunking E-port | Povides standard E_port functions and allows for routing of multiple virtual SANs by modifying the standard Fibre Channel frame upon ingress/egress of the VSAN environment2 |
The definitions above are pretty unclear. The N port is the port literally on the node (server, storage system, etc) and the F port is the one on the switch. You typically connect from the N port to the F port. E ports run from one switch to another. You can create virtual ports for when you want multiple addresses per physical port.
It appears NPIV is just the method by which VN_Ports are created.
Quick hits:
1.2.1 NetApp storage system configuration details.
WWPN of NetApp FC Target Ports begin with 5 (target HBAs generally begin with 1 forEmulex, 2 for QLogic, and 5 for NetApp - e.g. 50:0a:09:81:83:e1:52:d9 ).
FC fabric topologies that NetApp supports: 1) A single FC switch. 2) Dual FC switches with no ISLs (Inter-Switch Links.) 3) Four FC switches with multiple ISLs between eachpair of switches. 4) Four FC switches with multiple ISLs between ALL switches.
iscsi security show : DOT CLI command to display current CHAP settings
Supported iSCSI configurations: Direct-attached, Network-attached (Single-network, Multi-network, VLANs)
iscsi session show -v : DOT CLI command to see if iSCSI digests are enabled.
Two benefits of soft zoning (device WWPN zoning) over hard zoning (domain ID plus port) for Cisco and Brocade FC switches: 1) A device can be connected to any port in the fabric without changing zoning. 2) It is fully interoperable between switch vendors.
Network types: page 39 http://www.filibeto.org/sun/lib/nonsun/brocade/53-0000231-05.pdf
cascade, mesh, core-edge.
also a great resource on trunking, etc
single image cfmode:
http://hd.kvsconsulting.us/netappdoc/733docs/html/ontap/bsag/GUID-31DC026F-2B78-425A-BA55-487782F9909A.html
Disable ALUA on igroups connecting using the NetApp DSM.
1 http://my.opera.com/siyeclover/blog/show.dml/159596
2. http://searchvirtualstorage.techtarget.com/definition/Fibre-Channel-port-names
3. https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/blogs/anthonyv/entry/don_t_say_green_say_aqua1?lang=en
