Port Channel Configuration Cisco MDS SAN Switch

In this blog we will discuss what is port channel in Cisco MDS switch. Along with we will also talk about F Channel, what are the types of port channel, Modes of port channel. Finally we will see the commands for creating a F port channel between a Cisco MDS core switch and NPV switch.

What Is Port Channel In Cisco MDS SAN Switch

Port Channel is basically a Cisco SAN Switch Terminology. Port Channel is logical aggregation of Individual FC port or FC interfaces which increase total bandwidth, provides load balancing and link redundancy.

Port channel can connect interface between two different modules in same SAN switch. Port channel can not have interface from different SAN switches. This is more clear in below diagram.

Above diagram has two switch switch1 and switch2. There are three port channel between the switches PortChannelA, PortChannelB and PortChannelC. In PortChannelA has aggregation of ports from same module in both switches while PortChannelB has ports from different modules.

Now in case of PortChannelC there are three port of from each switch. In switch1 two ports are from same module but third port is from different module. In switch2 all three ports are from same module.

The conclusion here is that you can select various port combination in same switch but ports cannot be selected from different switches.

What are the Types Of Port Channel

Types of port channel is defined based on the type of connectivity between devices. In general there are two types of port channel E port channel and F port channel.

E Port Channel is logical combination of Multiple E ports which Connects two SAN Switches for ISL connectivity. If we enable trunking then the port channel becomes TE port channel and the ISL link becomes EISL.

F Port Channel is Logical Combination of Multiple F ports which connects from one Switch (F) to NPV switch (NP) or FI interconnect. If trunking is enabled F port channel becomes TF port channel.

Modes Of Port Channel In Cisco MDS Switch

There are two types Port Channel Mode one is ON and other is ACTIVE. Both modes has different purpose. Below are some basic differences between them.

ON	ACTIVE
Default	You must explicitly configure this mode.
Need To Disable port while adding or modifying members to port channel	When you add or modify a Port Channel automatically recovers.
Not Recommended	Recommended
Only Supports E port channel	Supports both F and E port channel

How To Configure F Port Channel In Cisco MDS Switch

This section we will discuss how to create a F Port Channel between Cisco MDS switch and NPV switch. Before we start we have to check few things which are very important for port channel configuration.

First thing we need to make sure that Physical connection is present between switches. Some of the configuration of individual ports and port channel must be same. Make sure Configuration like Speed, Mode, Rate mode, Port VSAN, Trunking mode and Allowed VSAN for individual port and port channel are same. If these are different then we may get error while creating port channel

Steps and Commands To Configure F Port Channel

Step 1. Enable F port trunking and channel protocol on the MDS core switch.

Cswitch(config)# feature fport-channel-trunk

Step 2 Enable NPIV on the MDS core switch:

Cswitch(config)# feature npiv

Step 3 Create the PortChannel and Add Ports on the MDS core switch

This command create a port channel with name 1.

Cswitch(config)# interface port-channel 1

This commands ensures the port channel type is F port channel

Cswitch(config-if)# switchport mode F

Below commands sets channel mode active. F port channel only support ACTIVE port channel mode hence it is important to set the channel mode as ACTIVE.

Cswitch(config-if)# channel mode active

Below Command disable the truncking in Port Channel

Cswitch(config-if)# switchport trunk mode off

Below command is use to set the rate mode in port channel

Cswitch(config-if)# switchport rate-mode shared

Cswitch(config-if)# exit

Till now we have completed creating a F port channel in Core Switch whose number is 1. Now in below steps we will Add Interface To the Port Channel 1. Make a note that the configuration for Port Channel 1 and the interfaces must be same.

Step 4. Configure the PortChannel member interfaces on the core switch

Below two commands selects ports fc2/1 , fc2/2 and fc2/3 as port channel members and then disables them

cswitch(config)# interface fc2/1-3

cswitch(config-if)# shut

Below four commands will set port mode as F, disables the trunking, set the speed as 4000 and the rate mode as shared.

cswitch(config-if)# switchport mode F

cswitch(config-if)# switchport trunk mode off

cswitch(config-if)# switchport speed 4000

cswitch(config-if)# switchport rate-mode shared

Below commands is for adding the interfaces to port channel. In this case ports fc2/1 , fc2/2 and fc2/3 added to Port Channel 1. The next command will disable all ports.

cswitch(config-if)# channel-group 1

cswitch(config-if)# no shut

So far we have completed the port channel configuration in Core switch. Now we have to repeat the same steps and commands to configure F Port channel in NPV switch.

Step 5 Create the PortChannel on the NPV switch

eswitch(config)# interface port-channel 1

eswitch(config-if)# switchport mode NP

eswitch(config-if)# switchport rate-mode shared

eswitch(config-if)# exit

Now we have to configure the individual ports and add them To Port Channel 1 in NPV switch.

Step 6 Configure the PortChannel member interfaces on the NPV switch:

eswitch(config)# interface fc2/1-3

eswitch(config-if)# shut

eswitch(config-if)# switchport mode NP

eswitch(config-if)# switchport speed 4000

eswitch(config-if)# switchport rate-mode shared

eswitch(config-if)# switchport trunk mode off

eswitch(config-if)# channel-group 1

eswitch(config-if)# no shut

Final step is to disable and enable all interfaces from both Core switch and  NPV switch.

Step 7 Set the administrative state of all the PortChannel member interfaces in both NPIV core switch and the NPV switch to ON:

Disable and enables interfaces in Core switch.

cswitch(config)# interface fc1/1-3

cswitch(config-if)# shut

cswitch(config-if)# no shut

Disable and enables interfaces in NPV Switch

eswitch(config)# interface fc2/1-3

eswitch(config-if)# shut

eswitch(config-if)# no shut

This completes the port channel configuration between Cisco MDS SAN switch and a NPV switch. Hope you have like this. Watch below YouTube for more details. Feel free comment on this topic and Subscribe For more such videos

                 
                   

Volume Rehost In Cluster Mode NetApp

How To Re-host Volume From One SVM To Another SVM Cluster Mode NetApp

In this Blog we will see what is Volume Rehost and how we can move or rehost volume from one vserver to another vserver in NetApp Cluster Mode. In later section we will also move a CIFS volume from one SVM to another SVM  via command line.

 

What is Volume Rehost in NetApp Cluster Mode

Volume rehost enables you to reassign NAS or SAN volumes from one storage virtual machine (SVM, formerly known as Vserver) to another SVM without requiring a SnapMirror copy.

Volume rehost is a disruptive operation for data access. Hence you should get a downtime from share owner and then plan it within that downtime window.

Volume Eligible For Rehost In NetApp Cluster Mode

The volume rehost procedures depend upon the protocol type and the volume type. Based on these the steps to perform volume rehost differs. Below is the brief summary for volume rehost for different scenario.

Rehosting CIFS volumes

You can rehost volumes that has CIFS shares. After rehosting the CIFS volume you must mount the volume and create a CIFS share in destination SVM. Volume rehost moves NTFS ACL so no need to worry about permission mismatch. To know how to create cifs share click the Link

Rehosting NFS volumes

You can rehost volumes that serve data over NFS protocol. After rehosting the NFS volumes, you must mount the volume create export policy and permission rules in destination SVM. Click the Link for more details on creating export-policy and rules.

Rehosting SAN volumes

You can rehost volumes that have mapped LUNs. After re-creating the initiator group (igroup) in the destination SVM, volume rehost can automatically remap the volume on the same SVM.

Rehosting volumes in a SnapMirror relationship

You can rehost volumes in a SnapMirror relationship. Before rehosting you should delete the snap-mirror relationship. After volume rehost you must create peer relationship between source and destiantion SVM. You should also create new snap-mirror relationship and schedule it for Sync.

Pre Check For Volume Rehost From In NetApp Cluster Mode

Volume must be online. Offline volume cannot be rehosted Volume management operations, such as volume move or LUN move, must not be running. Data access to the volume must be stopped. Destination SVM Configuration must match with Source SVM.

Post Steps Of Volume Rehost In NetApp Cluster Mode

After the rehost operation volume will lost Some configuration such as Antivirus policies, Volume efficiency policy, QOS, Snapshot policies , Quota rules, export policy and rules, User and group IDs. If any of the above feature was there for rehosting volume them you must create these in destination SVM as well.

You also need to mount the volume and the create new share. Good thing is that NTFS permission will be the same as it was in source SVM. Last thing is that you have to use destination SVM IP to access the shares.

Steps And Commands For Volume Rehost In NetApp Cluster Mode

1. Record information about the CIFS shares to avoid losing information on CIFS shares in case volume rehost operation fails.
2. Unmount the volume In Source SVM:volume unmount -vserver vs1 -volume vol1
3. Switch to the advanced privilege level:set -privilege advanced
4. Rehost the volume on the destination SVM:volume rehost -vserver vs1 -volume vol1 -destination-vserver vs2
5. Mount the volume under the appropriate junction path in the destination SVM:volume mount -vserver vs1 -volume vol1 -junction-path /vol1
6. Create CIFS shares for the rehosted volume:vserver cifs share create -share-name share1 -vserver vs1 -path /vol1
7. Point the DNS Host entry to IP of New SVM.

Checkout the YouTube Video on Volume Rehost In Cluster Mode NetApp. This videos has live demo for volume rehost. Subscribe to Channel for more such videos.