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Brocade HBA direct attachment
Hi Friends,
We had a new configuration with VNX5100 and HP server with Brocade 415 HBA card. This was expected to be connected directly without any switches in between. But we encountered problems in getting it in connectivity status. As this was a known issue with direct connection of Brocade HBA and Clariion systems (as per primus emc220768) , we came to the conclusion that the issue is there with VNX also. But we could not get any written document (any primus etc) in support with this.
Comments and suggestions are highly appreciated...
Vipin V.K
RRR
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July 12th, 2012 02:00
You could try to enter the HBA's BIOS and set the connectivity to Point-to-point (switched). I'm not sure if it's called exactly that, but if you browse through all the options, you'll find what I meant to say
. Don't know if it helps, but you can at least try.
Vipin VK
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July 12th, 2012 03:00
RRR , I expected the first answer from you as this is your empire..![](https://prod-care-community-cdn.sprinklr.com/community/687062f5-603c-4f5f-ab9d-31aa7cacb376/ReBrocadeHBAdirectattachment-7eee0ddc-cc77-4353-bf6c-ed41dbb37726-134404536)
Tried almost all possible options in HCM (Host Connectivity Manager) and with driver and BIOS updates by one of my colleague. BIOS was read only (not sure of reason..) for HBA and thus could not do much on that.
As these all didn't give any hope, customer changed the HBA with Emulex and the box just brought in production. Now I am in search for a document which clarifies this (from Interoperability Navigator : this HBA does not support FCAL topology).
Vipin V.K
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July 12th, 2012 06:00
Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop? Hmmm.... I would have ruled out the FCAL option, since in the QLogic HBAs it's either FCAL or P2P (switched), so P2P sounds the right way to go, since it is "point to point", "from HBA to storage port".
Weird. Update this thread if you find anything.
felipon1
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July 13th, 2012 00:00
Hi,
When directly connecting an HBA to a storage port, afaik, FC-AL is always used. If you use P2P (FC-SW) you need to have a switch in between. In this particular case, since Brocade HBAs does not support FC-AL, they won't be able to be directly connected to a Clariion.
Rgds,
F
RRR
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July 13th, 2012 03:00
I must be mistaken then. It's been a while since I encountered such a case. Most customers use a SAN inbetween anyway. My bad.
Vipin VK
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July 14th, 2012 03:00
Yes Felipon, thats why customer had gone for an exchange with Emulex, cheaper when comparing with the alternate (going for an FC switch)...![](https://prod-care-community-cdn.sprinklr.com/community/687062f5-603c-4f5f-ab9d-31aa7cacb376/ReBrocadeHBAdirectattachment-604d5f12-6895-4fc6-95c3-0e0ed5109d59-134404536)