EMC Storage Product Knowledge Sharing

Brocade Switches:
How to merge two switches with different active zone sets."

Merging Two B-series Directors and/or Switches with Different Active Zoning Configurations
Before Beginning The following procedure is disruptive to fabric traffic.:
--It will require disabling the switch and the removal of the effective zoning configurations at one step. Removing this configuration will stop the data flow. Since this step in the procedure takes only a few moments to complete, data should resume as soon as the new configuration is activated.
To evaluate the impact on an OS platforms and applications, please refer to the ESN Topology Guide for OS platform timeout recommendations as well as the actual configuration files of the servers to identify their current timeout settings.

Supported Director and Switch Types
The following information on fabric merging applies to the following EMC Director and Switch types:
ED-12000B
DS-32B2
DS-16B2
DS-16B
DS-8B
NOTE: Also applies to similar OEM version of these switch types. See ESM for latest switch firmware qualification prior to merging non-EMC Directors and/or Switches into an EMC SAN.

Host Requirements:
A host computer with a FTP service is required.

Merging

1. Log into the first switch via telnet or WebTools
a. Known as “swo1” for this example
b. For DS-16Bs, DS-8Bs, and comparable switch models running firmware 2.5.0d and above, default access zoning must be set to “ALLACCESS”
NOTE: This is an offline command that will interrupt data flow.
1. Issue switchdisable command
2. Issue configure command
3. Enter “y” when prompted for “Zoning Operation parameters”
4. Enter “1” when prompted for “Default Access”
5. Enter “n” for all other parameters
6. Issue switchenable command
2. Upload the first switch (or one switch of a multi-switch fabric) configuration to a host using FTP
a. Use configupload command or use WebTools
b. Name the file “sw01_config.txt”
1. All zoning and configuration data for this switch will be located in this file.
3. Log into the second switch via telnet or WebTools
a. Known as “sw02” for this example
b. For DS-16Bs, DS-8Bs, and comparable switch models running firmware 2.5.0d and above, default access zoning must be set to “ALLACCESS”
NOTE: This is an offline command that will interrupt data flow.
1. Issue switchdisable command
2. Issue configure command
3. Enter “y” when prompted for “Zoning Operation parameters”
4. Enter “1” when prompted for “Default Access”
5. Enter “n” for all other parameters
6. Issue switchenable command
4. Upload the switch configuration to a host using FTP
a. Use configupload command or use WebTools
b. Name the file “sw02_config.txt”
1. All zoning and configuration data for this switch will be located in this file.
5. Open in a text editor (i.e. Microsoft Word, VI, emacs, etc) for both “sw01_config.txt” and “sw02_config.txt” files
a. The uploaded configuration contains a list of switches in the fabric, list of ISLs, list of ports, name server data, and zoning information.
b. For the purposes of merging, one need only be concerned with the zoning section of the uploaded configuration, which may be found at the end of the file. It contains zones, aliases, and defined and effective configurations.

Example sw01_config.txt Zoning Section
[Zoning]
cfg.cfg_1:zone_1
zone.zone_1:10:00:00:08:00:00:00:01
alias.HBA1:10:00:00:08:00:00:00:01
enable:cfg_1
Example sw02_config.txt Zoning Section
[Zoning]
cfg.cfg_2:zone_2
zone.zone_2:10:00:00:00:09:00:00:02
alias.HBA2:10:00:00:00:09:00:00:02
enable:cfg_2

6. Make a copy of “sw01_config.txt” and rename the copy as “configmerge.txt”
7. Copy aliases from “sw02_config.txt”
a. Highlight and copy the alias data
8. Paste aliases from “sw02_config.txt” to “configmerge.txt”
a. Paste under existing alias data in “configmerge.txt”
9. Copy zones from “sw02_config.txt”
a. Highlight and copy the zone data
10. Paste zones from “sw02_config.txt” to “configmerge.txt”
a. Paste under existing zone data in “configmerge.txt”
11. Copy zone names from “cfg.cfg” line of “[Zoning]” section from “sw02_config.txt” to “configmerge.txt”
a. Copy zone name(s) to “cfg.cfg” line after existing zones separating each zone with a semicolon
b. The last zone name will not be followed by a semicolon

Example Configmerge.txt Zoning Section After Paste from sw02_config.txt
[Zoning]
cfg.cfg_1:zone_1;zone_2
zone.zone_1:10:00:00:08:00:00:00:01
zone.zone_2:10:00:00:00:09:00:00:02
alias.HBA1:10:00:00:08:00:00:00:01
alias.HBA2:10:00:00:00:09:00:00:02
enable:cfg_1

NOTE: Areas highlighted in red above illustrate the additions from “sw02_config.txt”
12. Save changes to “configmerge.txt”
13. Download “configmerge.txt” to sw01
a. Use configdownload command or use WebTools
1. If using configdownload command, the switch must be manually disabled before downloading commences. Use the switchdisable command. After completion, the switch must be manually enabled. Use the switchenable command.
2. Using WebTools automatically disables and re-enables the switch.
b. After downloading, the newly merged configuration is automatically the effective configuration because it is already specified in the “[Zoning]” section as the enabled configuration.
14. Issue cfgsave command on sw01
a. Saves the configuration to flash
15. Issue cfgshow command to see defined and effective zoning configurations
Example Output of cfgshow Command on sw01 After Configmerge.txt is Downloaded

Defined configuration:
cfg: cfg_1 zone_1; zone_2
zone: zone_1 10:00:00:08:00:00:00:01
zone: zone_2 10:00:00:00:09:00:00:02
alias: HBA1 10:00:00:08:00:00:00:01
alias: HBA2 10:00:00:00:09:00:00:02
Effective configuration:
cfg: cfg_1
zone: zone_1 Protocol:ALL 10:00:00:08:00:00:00:01
zone: zone_2 Protocol:ALL 10:00:00:00:09:00:00:02

16. On sw02, issue the following commands to remove both defined and effective zoning configurations
a. cfgdisable
b. cfgclear
c. cfgsave
17. Issue cfgshow command to see defined and effective zoning configurations
Example Output of “cfgshow” Command on Second Switch After Removing the Configuration
Defined configuration:
no configuration defined
Effective configuration:
no configuration in effect
18. Connect the switches via a fiber optic cable to the ports chosen to be E_ports.
a. sw02 will inherit the zoning data from sw01 when they exchange fabric parameters.
NOTE: Be sure to check that both switches have unique Domain IDs. Be sure to check the fabric parameters such as EDTOV, RATOV, Data Field Size, Core Switch PID are identical.
19. Issue cfgshow command on second switch to see defined and effective zoning configurations.
Example Output of cfgshow Command on sw02 After Fabric Merge

Defined configuration:
cfg: cfg_1 zone_1; zone_2
zone: zone_1 10:00:00:08:00:00:00:01
zone: zone_2 10:00:00:00:09:00:00:02
alias: HBA1 10:00:00:08:00:00:00:01
alias: HBA2 10:00:00:00:09:00:00:02
Effective configuration:
cfg: cfg_1
zone: zone_1 Protocol:ALL 10:00:00:08:00:00:00:01
zone: zone_2 Protocol:ALL 10:00:00:00:09:00:00:02

NOTE: Zoning configurations on both switches are now identical.
20. Issue switchshow and fabricshow commands to verify a successful fabric merge

Hope this info will help you to replace a switch in your enviornment or merge.