IBM b-type Gen 5 16 Gbps Switches and Network Advisor

IBM b-type Gen 5 16 Gbps Switches and Network Advisor

Released May 2014
Publisher(s): IBM Redbooks
ISBN: None

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Book description

IBM® System Storage® Gen 5 fabric backbones are among the industry's most powerful Fibre Channel switching infrastructure offerings. They provide reliable, scalable, and high-performance foundations for mission-critical storage. These fabric backbones also deliver enterprise connectivity options to add support for IBM FICON® connectivity, offering a high-performing and reliable FICON infrastructure with fast and scalable IBM System z® servers.

Designed to increase business agility while providing nonstop access to information and reducing infrastructure and administrative costs, Gen 5 Fibre Channel fabric backbones deliver a new level of scalability and advanced capabilities to this robust, reliable, and high-performance technology.

Although every network type has unique management requirements, most organizations face similar challenges managing their network environments. These challenges can include minimizing network downtime, reducing operational expenses, managing application service level agreements (SLAs), and providing robust security. Until now, no single tool could address these needs across different network types.

To address this issue, the IBM Network Advisor management tool provides comprehensive management for data, storage, and converged networks. This single application can deliver end-to-end visibility and insight across different network types by integrating with Fabric Vision technology; it supports Fibre Channel SANs, including Gen 5 Fibre Channel platforms, IBM FICON, and IBM b-type SAN FCoE networks. In addition, this tool supports comprehensive lifecycle management capabilities across different networks through a simple, seamless user experience.

This IBM Redbooks® publication introduces the concepts, architecture, and basic implementation of Gen 5 and IBM Network Advisor. It is aimed at system administrators, and pre- and post-sales support staff.

Table of contents

  1. Front cover
  2. Notices
    1. Trademarks
  3. Preface
    1. Authors
    2. Now you can become a published author, too!
    3. Comments welcome
    4. Stay connected to IBM Redbooks
  4. Chapter 1. Product introduction
    1. 1.1 Overview of the product
      1. 1.1.1 Hardware features
      2. 1.1.2 Brocade Fabric Vision technology
      3. 1.1.3 Fabric OS features
      4. 1.1.4 Hardware naming convention: IBM and Brocade
      5. 1.1.5 Fabric Operating System hardware support
      6. 1.1.6 Management
      7. 1.1.7 Monitoring
      8. 1.1.8 IBM Network Advisor
    2. 1.2 Product descriptions
      1. 1.2.1 IBM System Networking SAN24B-5
      2. 1.2.2 IBM System Networking SAN48B-5
      3. 1.2.3 IBM System Networking SAN96B-5
      4. 1.2.4 IBM System Networking SAN384B-2 and IBM System Networking SAN768B-2
  5. Chapter 2. Product hardware and features
    1. 2.1 Topologies
      1. 2.1.1 Edge-core topology
      2. 2.1.2 Edge-core-edge topology
      3. 2.1.3 Full-mesh topology
    2. 2.2 Gen 5 Fibre Channel technology
      1. 2.2.1 Condor3 ASIC
      2. 2.2.2 Fabric Vision
    3. 2.3 IBM System Networking SAN b-type family
    4. 2.4 IBM System Networking Gen 5 SAN b-type family
      1. 2.4.1 IBM System Networking SAN24B-5 (2498-F24, 2498-X24, and 2498-24G)
      2. 2.4.2 IBM System Networking SAN48B-5 (2498-F48)
      3. 2.4.3 IBM System Networking SAN96B-5 (2498-F96 / 2498-N96)
      4. 2.4.4 IBM System Networking SAN384B-2 (2499-416) and IBM System Networking SAN768B-2 (2499-816)
      5. 2.4.5 IBM Fabric backbone blades
      6. 2.4.6 Optical UltraScale Inter-Chassis Links
    5. 2.5 Generic features
      1. 2.5.1 Zoning
      2. 2.5.2 ISL Trunking
      3. 2.5.3 Dynamic Path Selection
      4. 2.5.4 Port types
      5. 2.5.5 In-flight encryption and compression
      6. 2.5.6 NPIV
      7. 2.5.7 Dynamic Fabric Provisioning
  6. Chapter 3. IBM Network Advisor
    1. 3.1 Planning server and client system requirements
      1. 3.1.1 Server and client operating system and hardware requirements
      2. 3.1.2 Client and server system requirements
      3. 3.1.3 Browser requirements for IBM Network Advisor
      4. 3.1.4 Supported Fabric OS versions with IBM Network Advisor V12.0.x
      5. 3.1.5 Recommended upgrade path and supported Fabric OS
      6. 3.1.6 Enterprise Fabric Connectivity Manager upgrade path to IBM Network Advisor target path
      7. 3.1.7 Downloading software
      8. 3.1.8 Pre-installation requirements
      9. 3.1.9 Syslog troubleshooting
    2. 3.2 New installations and upgrading IBM Network Advisor to Version 12.0.3
      1. 3.2.1 New installation of IBM Network Advisor
      2. 3.2.2 Upgrading to IBM Network Advisor V12.0.x from an existing IBM Network Advisor installation
    3. 3.3 User, device, and dashboard management
      1. 3.3.1 User management
      2. 3.3.2 Discovering and adding SAN fabrics
    4. 3.4 New features of IBM Network Advisor V12.0.3
      1. 3.4.1 Performance Dashboard
      2. 3.4.2 Frame Viewer
      3. 3.4.3 Port Commissioning
      4. 3.4.4 Bulk Port Configuration
    5. 3.5 IBM Network Advisor Dashboard
      1. 3.5.1 Dashboard overview
      2. 3.5.2 Customizing the dashboard
      3. 3.5.3 Performance Dashboard
    6. 3.6 Scheduling daily or weekly backups for the fabric configuration
      1. 3.6.1 Call Home
    7. 3.7 Fabric Vision
      1. 3.7.1 ClearLink Diagnostics
      2. 3.7.2 Bottleneck Detection
      3. 3.7.3 Flow Vision
      4. 3.7.4 Monitoring Alerting Policy Suite
      5. 3.7.5 Simplified management and reporting
      6. 3.7.6 Investment protection
    8. 3.8 Using MAPS with IBM Network Advisor
      1. 3.8.1 Configuring MAPS by using IBM Network Advisor
      2. 3.8.2 Configuring MAPS actions
      3. 3.8.3 Creating policies and rules
    9. 3.9 Configuring Flow Vision using IBM Network Advisor
      1. 3.9.1 Adding a flow definition
  7. Chapter 4. Initial switch setup and configuration
    1. 4.1 Initial setup
      1. 4.1.1 Configuring the IBM System Storage fabric backbone
      2. 4.1.2 IBM System Storage b-type switch initial configuration
      3. 4.1.3 EZSwitchSetup initial configuration
  8. Chapter 5. Gen 5 switches and IBM FlashSystem
    1. 5.1 IBM FlashSystem with IBM Gen 5 directors
      1. 5.1.1 Introduction to IBM FlashSystem storage systems
      2. 5.1.2 IBM FlashSystem portfolio
    2. 5.2 Accessing, connecting, and virtualizing IBM Flash System
      1. 5.2.1 Initial setup of IBM FlashSystem
      2. 5.2.2 Creating logical units on IBM FlashSystem
      3. 5.2.3 Modifying volumes
      4. 5.2.4 Modifying access to the existing volumes
      5. 5.2.5 Port masking and SAN zoning between IBM SAN Volume Controller and IBM FlashSystem
      6. 5.2.6 Creating an MDisk group
  9. Chapter 6. Preferred practices
    1. 6.1 Physical patching
      1. 6.1.1 Using a structured approach
      2. 6.1.2 Modular cabling
      3. 6.1.3 Cabling high-density and high-port count fiber equipment
      4. 6.1.4 Using color to identify cables
      5. 6.1.5 Establishing a naming scheme
      6. 6.1.6 Patch cables
      7. 6.1.7 Patch panels
      8. 6.1.8 Horizontal and backbone cables
      9. 6.1.9 Horizontal cable managers
      10. 6.1.10 Vertical cable managers
      11. 6.1.11 Overhead cable pathways
      12. 6.1.12 Cable ties
      13. 6.1.13 Implementing the cabling infrastructure
      14. 6.1.14 Testing the links
      15. 6.1.15 Building a common framework for the racks
      16. 6.1.16 Preserving the infrastructure
      17. 6.1.17 Documentation
      18. 6.1.18 Stocking spare cables
      19. 6.1.19 Preferred practices for managing cabling
      20. 6.1.20 Summary
    2. 6.2 SAN design basics
      1. 6.2.1 Topologies
      2. 6.2.2 Inter-Switch Link
      3. 6.2.3 Inter-Chassis Links
      4. 6.2.4 Device placement
      5. 6.2.5 Fan-in ratios and oversubscription
      6. 6.2.6 FCoE as a ToR solution
      7. 6.2.7 NPIV and the access gateway
    3. 6.3 Data flow considerations
      1. 6.3.1 Congestion in the fabric
      2. 6.3.2 Traffic-based versus frame-based congestion
      3. 6.3.3 Sources of congestion
      4. 6.3.4 Mitigating congestion with Edge Hold Time
    4. 6.4 Redundancy and resiliency
      1. 6.4.1 Single point of failure
    5. 6.5 Distance
      1. 6.5.1 Buffer allocation
      2. 6.5.2 Fabric interconnectivity over Fibre Channel at longer distances
      3. 6.5.3 Fibre Channel over IP
      4. 6.5.4 FCIP with FCR
      5. 6.5.5 Using EX_Ports and VEX_Ports
      6. 6.5.6 Advanced FCIP configuration
      7. 6.5.7 FCIP design preferred practices
      8. 6.5.8 FCIP Trunking
      9. 6.5.9 Virtual Fabrics
      10. 6.5.10 Ethernet Interface Sharing
      11. 6.5.11 Workloads
      12. 6.5.12 Intel -based virtualization storage access
    6. 6.6 Security
      1. 6.6.1 Zone Management: Dynamic Fabric Provisioning (DFP)
      2. 6.6.2 Zone management: Duplicate WWNs
      3. 6.6.3 Role-Based Access Controls
      4. 6.6.4 Default accounts
      5. 6.6.5 Access control lists
      6. 6.6.6 Policy Database Distribution
      7. 6.6.7 In-flight encryption and compression: b-type (16 Gbps) platforms only
      8. 6.6.8 In-flight encryption and compression guidelines
    7. 6.7 Monitoring
      1. 6.7.1 Fabric Watch
      2. 6.7.2 Frame Viewer
      3. 6.7.3 Bottleneck Detection
      4. 6.7.4 Credit loss
      5. 6.7.5 RAS log
      6. 6.7.6 Audit log
      7. 6.7.7 SAN Health
      8. 6.7.8 Design guidelines
      9. 6.7.9 Monitoring and notifications
    8. 6.8 Scalability, supportability, and performance
  10. Chapter 7. Troubleshooting
    1. 7.1 SAN Health
      1. 7.1.1 New features of SAN Health
      2. 7.1.2 Implementing SAN Health
      3. 7.1.3 SAN Health Professional
    2. 7.2 Advanced Performance Monitoring
      1. 7.2.1 End-to-End monitoring
      2. 7.2.2 Frame monitoring
      3. 7.2.3 Top Talker monitors
    3. 7.3 Diagnostic features
    4. 7.4 Port information
    5. 7.5 Overview of system messages
  11. Related publications
    1. IBM Redbooks
    2. Help from IBM
  12. Back cover

Product information

  • Title: IBM b-type Gen 5 16 Gbps Switches and Network Advisor
  • Author(s):
  • Release date: May 2014
  • Publisher(s): IBM Redbooks
  • ISBN: None