Fabric Switch Migration process from CISCO fabric to Brocade Fabric.

It has different phases while migrating the fabric from cisco to brocade.

Planning :
During this phase lot of analysis need to be performed .
 validate the compatibility between these two fabric switches ( cisco and brocade) .
 Cisco has VSAN on the other hand Brocade has the logical switches .
 whether to have logical switches or consolidate it .
 what type of new brocade switches we are going to migrate
 How many

Brocade DCX Backbone 14U Family has 512 Fiber Channel ports ( 4 Gbps or 8 GBps SFPs) .eight vertical blade slots.
8U Family has 256 Fiber Channel ports
Both the Models features ultra-high speed inter-chassis link (ICL) ports to connect upto three backbones without using any
Fiber Channal ports .

Both the Brocade DCX models provide 256 Gbps of bandwidth per slot. 4.6 Tbps chaises bandwidth ( 4.1 Tbps fiber
channel/FICON ports ad 512 GBPS bandwidth per slot )

some analysis is required here as well.

for example : if an FA port is connected to multiple servers through a fabric switch .
now we need to see , on the new switch , is this should be the same or we can move certain hosts to new FA ports ( if some
or empty or low utilized )

the port speed of the target can be one level greater than the initiator port speed , example if the initiator is at 2 gbps , the
target port speed can be 4 gbps , it can't higher than this .

this activity done in two phases , first it is done on ODD fabric , when this is reported successful , then task is performed on
EVEN fabric

Prep work:
1. create a Map using a excel sheet , this mapping needs to show which are the host initiator ports and storage FA
ports/Controller Ports need to be unplugged from old fabric and which are the New fabric ports it need to be
connected .
2. validate and note the aliases for each intiator and Target and the number of existing zones and naming
conventions
3. write commands to create aliases and required zones on the new fabric for this newly plugging ports.
4. if existing initiator and target FA ports are being used , no changes are needed on the storage array, if not
corresponding changes need to be done on the storage array host groups/host modes port groups etc.
5. what are the existing VANs on cisco switches and what are its corresponding logical switches .
6. existing initiator and target port speeds and what are its new port speeds for initiator and target .

pre-validations :
 co-ordinate with SA team and ensure that all the paths are existing intact ( looking at the multipath)
 validate Host modes and host groups , port groups on the storage arrays
 confirm that all looks good
 create a change involving DCO groups/cable group ,

 the DCS/Cable team must be clearly notified which are the existing cables need to un-plugged
and to which new ports it should be plugged .
 The SA should validate multipath and notify the existing paths for each server.
 Create aliases and necessary zones on the new fabric and designated ports under
migrations.
 validate and set the port speeds for initiators and targets.
Migration cutover:
1. this work can be done only when the proper change is approved and ready for implementation.
2. open a bridge/adobe chat
3. inform DCO/Cable team to unplug the cables and plug to the new fabric
4. inform SA that the cables are unplugged ( he can check the number of paths , it will be less now )
5. when DCO/cable team complete their plugging to new ports on the new fabric when should notify SAN engineer.
6. SAN engineer need to perform operation on the fabric array ( i an y required ) like changes to host group ( adding
new controller , removing the old controller , host modes etc )
7. When SAN engineer completes his task he should notify SA

Post validations :
o perform nodefind operation and confirm that the initiator and target ports are logged in.
o validate the wwn are accurate .
o validate the aliases and zones names are in accordance with the standards.
o validate on the storage array list logins .
o SA needs to validate the multipath and ensure that he is able to see the all the paths .( now SA can see one CISCO
path and Brocade path)

=================================

Monitoring and Alerting Policy Suite (MAPS)

Flow Monitor:

upto eight 8 gbps ports for ISL trunking ( upto 64 Gbps per ISL tucnk)

Brocade DCX: 4.6 Tbps per chassis (512 ports × 8 Gbps data rate + 512 Gbps ICL bandwidth) Brocade
DCX-4S: 2.3 Tbps per chassis (256 ports × 8 Gbps data rate + 256 Gbps ICL bandwidth)

port slots : 16/32/48/64

Switch latency Locally switched ports 700 ns; blade-to-blade latency is 2.1 µsec

ICL bandwidth Brocade DCX: 512 Gbps; four ICLs provide the equivalent of 64 8 Gbps ports Brocade DCX-
4S: 256 Gbps; four ICLs provide the equivalent of 32 8 Gbps ports Both models: ICL bandwidth is load-
balanced using eight 8-port frame-based trunks and DPS
Maximum frame size 2112-byte payload

Frame buffers 2048 per 16-port group on 16-, 32-, and 64-port blades and up to 2048 per 24-port group
on 48-port blades, dynamically allocated

Classes of service Class 2, Class 3, Class F (inter-switch frames)

Fibre Channel port types FL_Port, F_Port, M_Port (Mirror Port), E_Port, EX_Port (Fibre Channel
Integrated Routing); optional port type control

Data traffic types Fabric switches supporting unicast, multicast (255 groups), and broadcast.

9513 cisco switch Cisco MDS 9513 Multilayer Director

high-performance, protocol-independent switch fabric

the Cisco MDS 9513 addresses the stringent requirements of large virtualized data center storage environments.

Multiprotocol architecture: The multilayer architecture of the Cisco MDS 9000 Family enables a consistent feature
set over a protocol-independent switch fabric. The Cisco MDS 9513 transparently integrates Fibre Channel, FCoE,
IBM Fiber Connectivity (FICON), Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI), and Fibre Channel over IP
(FCIP) in one system.

1/2/4/8-Gbps and 10-Gbps Fibre Channel:/ 10-Gbps Multihop FCoE/1/2/4/8-Gbps and 10-Gbps FICON:

32port line cards

Up to 4095 buffer-to-buffer credits: Can be assigned to an individual port for optimal bandwidth utilization across
distance.

PortChannels: Allow users to aggregate up to 16 physical ISLs into a single logical bundle, providing optimized
bandwidth utilization across all links. The bundle can consist of any speed-matched ports from any module in the
chassis, helping ensure that the bundle can remain active even in the event of a module failure.

port bandwidth reservation: Allows users to define dedicated bandwidth on a per port basis.
 ● Line-card slots: 11
● Supervisor slots: 2
Chassis Slot Configuration ● Crossbar switching fabric slots: 2

● 8.4-Tbps internal switching bandwidth

● Supported Fibre Channel port speeds
◦ 1/2/4/8-Gbps autosensing, optionally configurable
◦ 1/2/4-Gbps autosensing, optionally configurable
◦ 10-Gbps fixed rate
Performance/Scalability

● Ports per chassis

◦ Up to 528 1/2/4/8-Gbps Fibre Channel ports
◦ Up to 264 10-Gbps Fibre Channel ports
◦ Up to 88 10-Gbps FCoE ports
◦ Up to176 1-Gbps Ethernet ports
● Ports per rack
◦ Up to 1584 1/2/4/8-Gbps Fibre Channel ports
◦ Up to 792 10-Gbps Fibre Channel ports
◦ Up to 264 10-Gbps FCoE ports
◦ Up to 528 1-Gbps Ethernet ports
● PortChannel: up to 16 ports (the channel can span any speed-matched port on any module in the chassis)

● Name server
● Registered State Change Notification (RSCN)
● Login services
● Fabric Configuration Server (FCS)
● Public loop
● Broadcast
Fabric Services ● In-order delivery

Brocade 8540/8510

Brocade® DCX® 8510 Backbones are the industry’s most reliable, scalable, and high-performance Gen 5
Fibre Channel switching infrastructure for mission-critical storage. They are designed to increase
business agility while providing non-stop access to information and reducing infrastructure and
administrative costs.

A Foundation for Server Virtualization, Flash Storage, and Cloud Architectures

Performance capabilities include:

• Brocade DCX 8510-8: - Up to 512 ports (equivalent to 640 with UltraScale ICLs) at 16 Gbps

› 10.2 Tbps chassis bandwidth

› 8.2 Tbps Fibre Channel ports

› 2.0 Tbps UltraScale ICL bandwidth

- 512 Gbps bandwidth per slot

• Brocade DCX 8510-4:

- Up to 256 ports (equivalent to 320 with UltraScale ICLs) at 16 Gbps

› 5.1 Tbps chassis bandwidth

› 4.1 Tbps Fibre Channel ports

› 1 Tbps UltraScale ICL bandwidth

- 512 Gbps bandwidth per slot