Managing Disk Subsystems using IBM TotalStorage Productivity Center

Chapter 7. TotalStorage Productivity Center for Fabric use 333

7.1.2 Supported switches for zoning

For TotalStorage Productivity Center for Fabric to be able to perform zone changes to a SAN

fabric the switch hardware will need to be supported. The following link takes you to the latest

device compatibility page for devices supported by TotalStorage Productivity Center for

Fabric:

http://www-306.ibm.com/software/sysmgmt/products/support/IBM_TSANM_Device_Compatibility.html

Figure 7-1 TotalStorage Productivity Center for Fabric device compatibility Web page

Either scroll down this page to the Switches section or jump directly to it as shown in

Figure 7-1. If the switch you plan to use is not listed or is not a re-branded equivalent to one

listed then it is not supported by TotalStorage Productivity Center for Fabric.

Locate the switch you plan to use and click on it to view the detailed breakdown of its

functional support. Figure 7-2 on page 335 shows a device support details page. If you see a

Yes either in Zone Control Supported (either In-band or Out-of-band) then TotalStorage

Productivity Center for Fabric will be able to work with TotalStorage Productivity Center for

Disk to perform zone administration at LUN allocation and assignment time.

Important: Do not assume that a switch will support zoning changes just because it

appears on the device compatibility Web page. Not all switches support all functions that

TotalStorage Productivity Center for Fabric can provide so it is important to look at the

specific details of the device you plan to use.

334 Managing Disk Subsystems using IBM TotalStorage Productivity Center

There are two methods by which TotalStorage Productivity Center for Fabric can

communicate with a switch to effect zone changes. The method used is determined by the

switch vendor.

 In-band method: This means that a switch accepts zone change control information

through instructions sent to it through the fibre channel network (in-band).

 Out-of-band method: This means that a switch accepts zone change information through

instructions sent to it on its IP network interface know as out-of-band.

Important: For switches that use the in-band zone control method you will need to deploy

at least one TotalStorage Productivity Center for Fabric agent on a server that is fibre

connected to the SAN fabric you want to control.

For switches that use the out-of-band zone control method the TotalStorage Productivity

Center for Fabric manager machine talks directly to the switch over TCPIP and no agents

are required to implement this function.

The out-of-band method will require SNMP network access between the TotalStorage

Productivity Center for Fabric manager machine and the SAN switch. It may be necessary

for an organization to make firewall or network changes to allow this to take place.

Out-of-band is the simpler than In-band to setup because it does not require and agent on

a SAN connected host.

If you establish that an in-band agent will be required to perform zoning change with your

switch and you currently don’t have in-band agents there are a number of things to

consider. A TotalStorage Productivity Center for Fabric agent will need more IP ports than

SNMP to communicate with the Fabric server and will require CPU, RAM and disk

resources on the SAN connected server.

To learn how to deploy TotalStorage Productivity Center for Fabric agents refer to the

redbook IBM TotalStorage Productivity Center - Getting Started, SG24-6490.