The FICON feature has the following requirements:

• You can implement FICON features in the following switches:

  • Cisco MDS 9706 and MDS 9710 switches

  • Cisco MDS 9250i and MDS 9220i switches

Although in earlier releases the MAINFRAME_PKG license was required to configure FICON, beginning with NX-OS Release 9.4(1a), the FICON feature is a base feature of NX-OS and no special license is required.

This section explains the additional FICON advantages in Cisco MDS switches and includes the following topics:

The Cisco MDS NX-OS software allows multiple switches in a FICON network. To configure multiple switches, you must enable and configure fabric binding in each switch. See the Cisco MDS 9000 Series Security Configuration Guide).

The FICON topologies supported on the Cisco MDS 9000 Series switches are:

• Single hop/traditional cascade – This topology has two switches with a single hop (or set of ISLs between the switches. This support has been around since the introduction of FICON support in 2004.

• Multi-hop cascade – This topology allows for up to four (4) switches between the host channels and their associated control units. The ISLs between these switches can be fibre channel ISLs, port channels made of fibre channel ISLs, FCIP ISLs, or port channels made of FCIP ISLs. Multi-hop cascade was introduced in approximately 2017 and begins with the z13 System Z server forward.

To ensure that a FICON VSAN is operationally up, be sure to verify the following requirements:

• Set the default zone to permit, if you are not using the zoning feature or create a zoneset and associated zones for the VSAN. See Configuring zoning for FICON VSANs.

• Enable in-order delivery on the VSAN. See Configuring Fibre Channel Routing Services and Protocols.

• Enable (and if required, configure) fabric binding on the VSAN. For more information about Fabric Binding, refer to the Cisco MDS 9000 Series Security Configuration Guide.

• Verify that conflicting FC IDs do not exist in the switch by configuring unique static domain IDs for each FICON VSAN on the switch or in the FICON fabric, if using enhanced FICON cascading. For information about configuring domain parameters, seethe Cisco MDS 9000 Series System Management Configuration Guide.

• Verify that the configured domain ID and requested domain ID match on the switch and these match what is configured for the switch in the HCD definitions on the IBM Z Systems Server. For information about configuring domain parameters, see the Cisco MDS 9000 Series System Management Configuration Guide.

• Add the CUP (area FE) to the zone, if you are using zoning. See the CUP In-Band Management.

If any of these requirements are not met, the FICON feature cannot be enabled.

Default FICON port numbers are assigned by the Cisco MDS NX-OS software based on the module and the slot in the chassis. The first port in a switch always starts with a zero (0) (see Default FICON Port Number in Numbering on the Cisco MDS 9000 Family Switch).

The default FICON port numbering is assigned based on the front panel location of the port and is specific to the slot in which the module resides. Forty-eight (48) port numbers are assigned to each slot on all Cisco MDS 9000 Family switches. These default numbers are assigned regardless of the module’s physical presence in the chassis, the port status (up or down), or the number of ports on the module (24 or 48). If a module has fewer ports than the number of port numbers assigned to the slot, then the excess port numbers are unused. If a module has more ports than the number of port numbers assigned to the slot, the excess ports cannot be used for FICON traffic unless you manually assign the port numbers.

Note

You can use the ficon slot assign port-numbers command to make use of excess ports mapped to a slot by default that are not addressable due to the module not having ports for them by manually assigning more port numbers to other slots. Before doing this, however, we recommend that you review the default port number assignments for Cisco MDS 9000 switches shown in Table 1 and Table 1, and that you read the following sections to gain a complete understanding of FICON port numbering: About the Reserved FICON Port Numbering Scheme, FICON Port Numbering Guidelines, and Assigning FICON Port Numbers to Slots.

Note	Only Fibre Channel, Port Channel, and FCIP ports are mapped to FICON port numbers. Other types of interfaces do not have a corresponding port number.

The following table lists the default port number assignment for the Cisco MDS 9000 Family of switches and directors.

Following the deprecation of FICON Port Swap in NX-OS 9.4(1a), the port address is always the same as the port number.

An implemented port refers to any port address that is either assigned by default or is assignable using the ficon slot x assign port-numbers command. On the MDS 9000 Series switches, all port numbers from 0 to 253 are implemented giving customers flexibility for what values are used. The only unimplemented port is 255 while the value of 254 is always reserved for the CUP device.

A range of 254 port numbers are available for you to assign to all the ports on a switch. On the Cisco MDS 9710, you can have more than 254 physical ports on a switch and the excess ports do not have port numbers in the default numbering scheme. When you have more than 254 physical ports on your switch, you can have ports without a port number assigned if they are not in a FICON VSAN, or you can assign duplicate port numbers if they are not used in the same FICON VSAN. For example, you can configure port number 1 on interface fc1/1 in FICON VSAN 10 and fc10/1 in FICON VSAN 20.

Note	A VSAN can have a maximum of 254 port numbers (0-253) and always has the FICON CUP device with port number 254 (0xFE).

Note	FICON port numbers are not changed for ports that are active. You must first disable the interfaces using the shutdown command.

Note	You can configure port numbers even when no module is installed in the slot.

An installed port refers to a port for which all required hardware is present. A specified port number in a VSAN can be implemented, and yet not installed, if any of the following conditions apply:

• The module is not present—For example, if module 1 is not physically present in slot 1 in a Cisco MDS 9710 Director, ports 0 to 47 are considered uninstalled.

• The small form-factor pluggable (SFP) port is not present—For example, if a 48-port module is inserted in slot 2 in a Cisco MDS 9710 Director and no SFPs are inserted into the module, ports 48 to 95 are considered uninstalled.

• For slot 1, ports 0 to 47 have been assigned by default. Only the physical port fc1/5 with port number 4 is in VSAN 2. The rest of the physical ports are not in VSAN 2. The port numbers 0 to 254 are considered implemented for any FICON-enabled VSAN. Therefore, VSAN 2 has port numbers 0 to 254 and one physical port, fc1/4. The corresponding physical ports 0 to 3, and 5 to 254 are not in VSAN 2. When the FICON VSAN port address is displayed, those port numbers with the physical ports not in VSAN 2 are not installed (for example, ports 0 to 3, or 5 to 254).

  Another scenario is if VSANs 2 through 5 are FICON-enabled, and trunking-enabled interface fc1/1 has VSANs 4 through 10, then port address 0 is uninstalled in VSAN 2 and 3.

• The port is part of a PortChannel—For example, if interface fc 1/1 is part of PortChanne1 5, port address 0 is uninstalled in all FICON VSANs. See Default Settings.

The following guidelines apply to FICON port numbers:

• Supervisor modules do not have port number assignments.

• Port numbers do not change based on TE ports. As TE ports appear in multiple VSANs, chassis-wide unique port numbers should be reserved for TE ports.

• Each PortChannel must be explicitly associated with a FICON port number from the pool of assigned logical port numbers.

• When a Fibre Channel ISL becomes a member of a PortChannel, the FICON Port number for this physical interface becomes uninstalled for this VSAN as it is now part of the FICON Port number assigned to the PortChannel.

• When a Fibre Channel ISL is removed from a PortChannel, the FICON port number for this physical interface becomes installed for this VSAN(s) that is it a part of.

• Each FCIP interface must be explicitly associated with a logical FICON port number.

• When an FCIP interface becomes a member of a PortChannel (which will have its own logical FICON port number), it also retains the logical FICON Port number associated with the FCIP interface itself.

• If logical port numbers are not assigned for PortChannels or FCIP interfaces, then these interfaces will not come up for the FICON VSAN(s).

See the About Port Numbers for FCIP and PortChannel.

Use the show ficon port-numbers assign command to display the port numbers assigned on the switch.

switch# show ficon port-numbers assign
ficon slot 1 assign port-numbers 0-47
ficon slot 2 assign port-numbers 48-95
ficon slot 3 assign port-numbers 96-143
ficon slot 4 assign port-numbers 144-191
ficon logical-port assign port-numbers 240-253

Use the show ficon port-numbers assign slot command to display the port numbers assigned to a specific slot.

switch# show ficon port-numbers assign slot 2
ficon slot 2 assign port-numbers 48-95

Use the show ficon port-numbers assign command to display the port numbers reserved for logical ports.

switch# show ficon port-numbers assign logical-port
ficon logical-port assign port-numbers 240-253

FCIP and PortChannels cannot be used in a FICON-enabled VSAN unless they are explicitly bound to a port number.

See the Configuring FICON Ports, and the Reserving FICON Port Numbers for FCIP and PortChannel Interfaces, and the Binding Port Numbers to FCIP Interfaces.

You can use the default port numbers if they are available (see Table 1) or if you reserve port numbers from the pool of port numbers that are not reserved for Fibre Channel interfaces (see the About the Reserved FICON Port Numbering Scheme).

To find the first available port number to bind an FCIP or PortChannel interface, use the show ficon first-available port-number command (see Displays the Available Port Numbers).

Tip	The show ficon vsan portaddress brief command displays the port number to interface mapping. You can assign port numbers in the PortChannel/FCIP range that are not already assigned to a PortChannel or FCIP interface (see Displays Port Address Information in a Brief Format).

FICON requires a predictable and static FC ID allocation scheme. When FICON is enabled, the FC ID allocated to a device is based on the port address of the port to which it is attached. The port address forms the middle byte of the fabric address. Additionally, the last byte of the fabric address should be the same for all devices in the fabric. By default, the last byte value is 0 and can be configured.

Note	As the domain ID for FICON VSANs must be static, you cannot configure persistent FC IDs in FICON-enabled VSANs.

Cisco MDS switches have a dynamic FC ID allocation scheme. When FICON is enabled or disabled on a VSAN,all the ports are shut down and restarted to switch from the default dynamic allocation scheme to use static FC IDs and vice versa (see Static FC ID Allocation for FICON).

By default FICON is disabled in all VSANs on the switch.

You can enable FICON on a per VSAN basis in one of the following ways:

• Use the automated setup ficon command.

  See the Setting Up a Basic FICON Configuration.

• Manually address each prerequisite.

  See the About FICON.

• Use Device Manager.

• When you enable the FICON feature in Cisco MDS switches, the following restrictions apply:

  • You cannot disable in-order delivery for the FICON-enabled VSAN.

  • You cannot disable fabric binding or static domain ID configurations for the FICON-enabled VSAN.

  • The load balancing scheme is changed to Source ID (SID)—Destination ID (DID). If all of the hosts and devices in this FICON VSAN support FICON Dynamic Routing (FDR), you can change the load balancing scheme to Source ID (SID) – Destination ID (DID) – Exchange ID (OXID).

  • The IPL configuration file is automatically created.

  See the About FICON Configuration Files.

Tip

Using Device Manager, FICON auto-save can be invoked by multiple users logged on to the same FICON-enabled switch. Device Manager performs a periodic auto-save on any FICON-enabled switch causing increments in the FICON key counter. These increments highlight a change that has actually not occurred. To avoid this we recommend that only one instance of Device Manager monitor a FICON-enabled switch.

Note	You can clear time stamps only from the Cisco MDS switch—not the mainframe.

Use the clear ficon vsan vsan-id timestamp command in EXEC mode to clear the VSAN clock.

switch# clear ficon vsan 20 timestamp

FICON requires serialization of access among multiple mainframes, CLI, and SNMP sessions be maintained on Cisco MDS 9000 Family switches by controlling device allegiance for the currently executing session. Any other session is denied permission to perform configuration changes unless the required allegiance is available.

Caution

This task discards the currently executing session.

You can clear the current device allegiance by issuing the clear ficon vsan vsan-id allegiance command in EXEC mode.

switch# clear ficon vsan 2 allegiance

FICON port blocking attribute has been deprecated from NX-OS 9.4(1a) forward. You can use the shutdown/ 'no' shutdown commands to accomplish similar results. Port blocking was deprecated because the Z Systems Software that communicated with the switch over the FICON CUP interface to perform this function has long gone End of Support.

FICON Port Prohibit attribute has been deprecated from NX-OS Release NX-OS 9.4(1a). If specific port to port protections are desired within FICON VSANs (above the protections implicitly given by the static routing nature of the System Z HCD configuration), zoning can be used.

The Registered Link Incident Report (RLIR) application provides a method for a switch port to send an Link Incident Record (LIR) to a registered Nx port.

When an LIR is detected in FICON-enabled switches in the Cisco MDS 9000 Family from a RLIR Extended Link Service (ELS), the switch sends that record to the members in its Established Registration List (ERL).

In case of multiswitch topology, a Distribute Registered Link Incident Record (DRLIR) Inter-Link Service (ILS) is sent to all reachable remote domains along with the RLIR ELS. On receiving the DRLIR ILS, the switch extracts the RLIR ELS and sends it to the members of the ERL.

The Nx ports interested in receiving the RLIR ELS send the Link Incident Record Registration (LIRR) ELS request to the management server on the switch. The RLIRs are processed on a per-VSAN basis.

The RLIR data is written to persistent storage when you enter the copy running-config startup-config command.

The RLIR data is written to persistent storage when you copy the running configuration to the startup configuration.

The show rlir statistics command displays the complete statistics of LIRR, RLIR, and DRLIR frames. It lists the number of frames received, sent, and rejected. Specify the VSAN ID to obtain VSAN statistics for a specific VSAN. If you do not specify the VSAN ID, then the statistics are shown for all active VSANs (see Examples Displays RLIR Statistics for All VSANs and Displays RLIR Statistics for a Specified VSAN).

switch# show rlir statistics 
Statistics for VSAN: 1
------------------------
Number of LIRR received      = 0
Number of LIRR ACC sent      = 0
Number of LIRR RJT sent      = 0
Number of RLIR sent          = 0
Number of RLIR ACC received  = 0
Number of RLIR RJT received  = 0
Number of DRLIR received     = 0
Number of DRLIR ACC sent     = 0
Number of DRLIR RJT sent     = 0
Number of DRLIR sent         = 0
Number of DRLIR ACC received = 0
Number of DRLIR RJT received = 0
Statistics for VSAN: 100
-------------------------
Number of LIRR received      = 26
Number of LIRR ACC sent      = 26
Number of LIRR RJT sent      = 0
Number of RLIR sent          = 815
Number of RLIR ACC received  = 815
Number of RLIR RJT received  = 0
Number of DRLIR received     = 417
Number of DRLIR ACC sent     = 417
Number of DRLIR RJT sent     = 0
Number of DRLIR sent         = 914
Number of DRLIR ACC received = 828
Number of DRLIR RJT received = 0

switch# show rlir statistics vsan 4
Statistics for VSAN: 4
-------------------------
Number of LIRR received      = 0
Number of LIRR ACC sent      = 0
Number of LIRR RJT sent      = 0
Number of RLIR sent          = 0
Number of RLIR ACC received  = 0
Number of RLIR RJT received  = 0
Number of DRLIR received     = 0
Number of DRLIR ACC sent     = 0
Number of DRLIR RJT sent     = 0
Number of DRLIR sent         = 0
Number of DRLIR ACC received = 0
Number of DRLIR RJT received = 0

Displays All ERLs

switch# show rlir erl
Established Registration List for VSAN: 2
----------------------------------------------
FC-ID       LIRR FORMAT    REGISTERED FOR
----------------------------------------------
0x0b0200    0x18           always receive
Total number of entries = 1
Established Registration List for VSAN: 100
----------------------------------------------
FC-ID       LIRR FORMAT    REGISTERED FOR
----------------------------------------------
0x0b0500    0x18           conditional receive
0x0b0600    0x18           conditional receive
Total number of entries = 2

In Displays All ERLs, if the Registered For column states that an FC ID is conditional receive, the source port is registered as a valid recipient of subsequent RLIRs. This source port is selected as an RLIR recipient only if no other ERL recipient is selected.

In Displays All ERLs, if the Registered For column states that an FC ID is always receive, the source port is registered as a valid recipient of subsequent RLIRs. This source port is always selected as an LIR recipient.

Note	If an always receive RLIR is not registered for any N port or if the delivery of an RLIR fails for one of those ports, then the RLIR is sent to a port registered to conditional receive RLIRs.

switch# show rlir erl vsan 100
Established Registration List for VSAN: 100
----------------------------------------------
FC-ID       LIRR FORMAT    REGISTERED FOR
----------------------------------------------
0x0b0500    0x18           conditional receive
0x0b0600    0x18           conditional receive
Total number of entries = 2

switch# show rlir history
Link incident history
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Host Time Stamp         Switch Time Stamp       VSAN   Domain   Port    Intf        Link Incident       Loc/Rem
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Sep 20 12:42:44 2006    Sep 20 12:42:44 2006    ****    ****    0x0b    fc1/12      Loss of sig/sync     LOC
 Reported Successfully to: [0x640001] [0x640201]
 Sep 20 12:42:48 2006    Sep 20 12:42:48 2006    ****    ****    0x0b    fc1/12      Loss of sig/sync     LOC
 Reported Successfully to: [0x640001] [0x640201]
 *** ** **:**:** ****    Sep 20 12:42:51 2006    1001    230     0x12    ****        Loss of sig/sync     REM
 Reported Successfully to: [0x640001] [0x640201]
 Sep 20 12:42:55 2006    Sep 20 12:42:55 2006    ****    ****    0x0b    fc1/12      Loss of sig/sync     LOC
 Reported Successfully to: None [No Registrations]
 *** ** **:**:** ****    Sep 20 12:45:56 2006    1001    230     0x12    ****        Loss of sig/sync     REM
 Reported Successfully to: None [No Registrations]
 *** ** **:**:** ****    Sep 20 12:45:56 2006    1001    230     0x12    ****        Loss of sig/sync     REM
 Reported Successfully to: None [No Registrations]
 Sep 20 12:52:45 2006    Sep 20 12:52:45 2006    ****    ****    0x0b    fc1/12      Loss of sig/sync     LOC
 Reported Successfully to: None [No Registrations]
**** - Info not required/unavailable

switch# show rlir recent interface fc1/1-4
Recent link incident records
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Host Time Stamp          Switch Time Stamp        Port Intf   Link Incident
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thu Dec 4 05:02:29 2003  Wed Dec 3 21:02:56 2003   2   fc1/2  Implicit Incident
Thu Dec 4 05:02:54 2003  Wed Dec 3 21:03:21 2003   4   fc1/4  Implicit Incident

switch# show rlir recent portnumber 1-4
Recent link incident records
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Host Time Stamp          Switch Time Stamp        Port Intf    Link Incident
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thu Dec 4 05:02:29 2003  Wed Dec 3 21:02:56 2003   2   fc1/2   Implicit Incident
Thu Dec 4 05:02:54 2003  Wed Dec 3 21:03:21 2003   4   fc1/4   Implicit Incident

Use the clear rlir statistics command to clear all existing statistics for a specified VSAN.

switch# 
clear rlir statistics vsan 2

Use the clear rlir history command to clear the RLIR history where all link incident records are logged for all interfaces.

switch# clear rlir history 

Use the clear rlir recent interface command to clear the most recent RLIR information for a specified interface.

switch# clear rlir recent interface fc 1/2

Use the clear rlir recent portnumber command to clear the most recent RLIR information for a specified port number.

switch# clear rlir recent portnumber 16

Only one user can access the configuration file at any given time:

• If this file is being accessed by user 1, user 2 cannot access this file.
• If user 2 does attempt to access this file, an error is issued to user 2.
• If user 1 is inactive for more than 15 seconds, the file is automatically closed and available for use by any other permitted user.

FICON configuration files can be accessed by any host, SNMP, or CLI user who is permitted to access the switch. The locking mechanism in the Cisco NX-OS software restricts access to one user at a time per file. This lock applies to newly created files and previously saved files. Before accessing any file, you must lock the file and obtain the file key. A new file key is used by the locking mechanism for each lock request. The key is discarded when the lock timeout of 15 seconds expires. The lock timeout value cannot be changed.

You can apply the configuration from the saved files to the running configuration using the ficon vsan number apply file filename command.

switch# ficon vsan 2 apply file SampleFile

Use the show ficon vsan vsan-id file all command to display the contents of all FICON configuration files.

switch# show ficon vsan 69 file all 
File IPL      is locked
FICON configuration file IPL3     in vsan 69
Description:                         
		Port address 0(0)
			Port name is                         
			Port is not blocked
			Prohibited port addresses are 255(0xff)

		Port address 1(0x1)
			Port name is                         
			Port is not blocked
			Prohibited port addresses are 255(0xff)

		Port address 2(0x2)
			Port name is                         
			Port is not blocked
			Prohibited port addresses are 255(0xff)

Use the show ficon vsan vsan-id file name command to display the contents of a specific FICON configuration file.

switch# show ficon vsan 69 file name IPL3
FICON configuration file IPL3     in vsan 69
	Description:                         
	Port address 0(0)
		Port name is                         
		Port is not blocked
		Prohibited port addresses are 255(0xff)

	Port address 1(0x1)
		Port name is                         
		Port is not blocked
		Prohibited port addresses are 255(0xff)

	Port address 2(0x2)
		Port name is                         
		Port is not blocked
		Prohibited port addresses are 255(0xff)

Use the show ficon vsan vsan-id filename filename portaddress command to display the FICON configuration file information for a specific FICON port.

switch# show ficon vsan 69 file name IPL3 portaddress 2
FICON configuration file IPL3     in vsan 69
Description:                         
	Port address 2(0x2)
		Port name is                         
		Port is not blocked
		Prohibited port addresses are 255(0xff)

Use the ficon vsan vsan-id copy file existing-file-name save-as-file-name command in EXEC mode to copy an existing FICON configuration file.

switch# 
ficon vsan 69 copy file IPL IPL3

You can see the list of existing configuration files by issuing the show ficon vsan vsan-id command.

switch# show
 
ficon vsan 69
Ficon information for VSAN 69
  Ficon is online
  VSAN is active
  Host port control is Enabled
  Host offline control is Enabled
  User alert mode is Disabled
  SNMP port control is Enabled
  Host set director timestamp is Enabled
  Active=Saved is Enabled
  Loadbalance is srcid-dstid
  Number of implemented ports are 254
  Key Counter is 11
  FCID last byte is 0

  Date/Time is set by host to Fri Jan 26 21:28:56.122170 2024
  Device Allegiance not locked
  Codepage is us-canada
  Saved configuration files
    IPL
    IPL3

Displays Control Unit Information displays configured control device information.

switch# show ficon control-device sb3
Control Unit Image:0x80b9c2c
VSAN:20 CU:0x20fe00 CUI:0 CUD:0 CURLP:(nil)
ASYNC LP:(nil) MODE:1 STATE:1 CQ LEN:0 MAX:0
PRIMARY LP:   VSAN:0 CH:0x0 CHI:0 CU:0x0 CUI:0
ALTERNATE LP: VSAN:0 CH:0x0 CHI:0 CU:0x0 CUI:0
Logical Path:0x80b9fb4
VSAN:20 CH:0x200600 CHI:15 CU:0x20fe00 CUI:0 STATE:1 FLAGS:0x1
LINK: OH:0x0 OC:0x0 IH:0x0 IC:0x0
DEV:  OH:0x0 OC:0x0 IH:0x0 IC:0x0
SENSE: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 46
       30 20 00 00 00 00 00 00
       00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
       00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
IUI:0x0 DHF:0x0 CCW:0x0 TOKEN:0x0 PCCW:0x0 FCCW:0x0 PTOKEN:0x0 FTOKEN:0x0
CMD:0x0 CCW_FLAGS:0x0 CCW_COUNT:0 CMD_FLAGS:0x0 PRIO:0x0 DATA_COUNT:0
STATUS:0x0 FLAGS:0x0 PARAM:0x0 QTP:0x0 DTP:0x0
CQ LEN:0 MAX:0 DESTATUS:0x0

In Displays Configured FICON Information, the user alert mode is Enabled output confirms that you will receive an alert to indicate any changes in the FICON configuration.

switch# show ficon
  Ficon information for VSAN 69
  Ficon is online
  VSAN is active
  Host port control is Enabled 
  Host offline control is Enabled 
  User alert mode is Enabled 
  SNMP port control is Enabled
  Host set director timestamp is Enabled 
  Active=Saved is Disabled
  Number of implemented ports are 254 
  Key Counter is 73723
  FCID last byte is 0(0)
  Serial number is 04.002A6A64AF85
  Date/Time is set by host to Fri Jan 26 21:38:10.991999 2024 
  Device allegiance is locked by Host
  Codepage is us-canada 
  Saved configuration files
    IPL

Examples Displays Port Address Information to Displays Port Address Counter Information display FICON Port Address information.

switch# show ficon vsan 69 portaddress 
Port Address 4(0x4) is up in vsan 69
	Port number is 4(0x4), Interface is fc1/5
	Port name is                         
	Admin port mode is auto
	Port mode is F, FCID is 0xc00400
	Peer is type 008561 model T01 manufactured by IBM
	Serial num is 00000007AFB8, FICON tag is 0x80A8

Port Address 5(0x5) is up in vsan 69
	Port number is 5(0x5), Interface is fc1/6
	Port name is                         
	Admin port mode is auto
	Port mode is F, FCID is 0xc00500
	Peer is type 008561 model T01 manufactured by IBM
	Serial num is 00000007AFB8, FICON tag is 0x80A9

Port Address 6(0x6) is up in vsan 69
	Port number is 6(0x6), Interface is fc1/7
	Port name is                         
	Admin port mode is auto
	Port mode is F, FCID is 0xc00600
	Peer is type 008561 model T01 manufactured by IBM
	Serial num is 00000007AFB8, FICON tag is 0x80AA 

switch# show ficon first-available port-number
Port number 129(0x81) is available

switch# show ficon vsan 69 portaddress 50-55 brief
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Port    Port    Interface          Admin     Status           Oper   FCID      
Address Number                     Blocked                    Mode             
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
0x32    0x32    fc2/3              off       up               F      0xc03200
0x33    0x33    fc2/4              off       up               F      0xc03300
0x34    0x34    fc2/5              off       up               F      0xc03400
0x35    0x35    fc2/6              off       up               F      0xc03500
0x36    0x36    fc2/7              off       up               F      0xc03600
0x37    0x37    fc2/8              off       up               F      0xc03700

switch# show ficon vsan 69 portaddress 8 counters
Port Address 8(0x8) is up in vsan 20
    Port number is 8(0x8), Interface is fc1/8 
    Version presented 1, Counter size 32b 
    242811 frames input, 9912794 words
      484 class-2 frames, 242302 class-3 frames
      0 link control frames, 0 multicast frames
      0 disparity errors inside frames
      0 disparity errors outside frames
      0 frames too big, 0 frames too small
      0 crc errors, 0 eof errors
      0 invalid ordered sets
      0 frames discarded c3
      0 address id errors
    116620 frames output, 10609188 words
      0 frame pacing time
      0 link failures
      0 loss of sync
      0 loss of signal
      0 primitive seq prot errors
      0 invalid transmission words
      1 lrr input, 0 ols input, 5 ols output
      0 error summary

If FICON is enabled on a VSAN, you can display the port address information for that VSAN (see Displays the Specified Port Address When FICON Is Enabled).

switch# show ficon vsan 69 portaddress 5
Port Address 5(0x5) is up in vsan 69
Port number is 5(0x5), Interface is fc1/6
	Port name is                         
	Admin port mode is auto
	Port mode is F, FCID is 0xc00500
	Peer is type 008561 model T01 manufactured by IBM
	Serial num is 00000007AFB8, FICON tag is 0x80A9

In Displays the History Buffer for the Specified VSAN, the Key Counter column displays the 32-bit value maintained by Cisco MDS switches. This value is incremented when any port changes state in that VSAN. The key counter (a 32-bit value) is incremented when a FICON-related configuration is changed. Host programs can increment this value at the start of the channel program and then perform operations on multiple ports. The director history buffer keeps a log of which port address configuration was changed for each key-counter value.

The director history buffer provides a mechanism to determine the change in the port state from the previous time when a value was contained in the key counter.

switch# show ficon vsan 20 director-history
Director History Buffer for vsan 20
---------------------------------------------
Key Counter           Ports Address
                      Changed
---------------------------------------------
74556                 43
74557                 44
74558                 45
74559                 46
74560                 47
74561                 48
74562                 49
74563                 50
74564                 51
74565                 52
74566                 53
74567                 54
74568                 55
74569                 56
74570                 57
74571                 58
74572                 59
74573                 60
74574                 61
74575                 62
74576                 63
74577                 64
74578
74579
74580                 1-3,5,10,12,14-16,34-40,43-45,47-54,56-57,59-64
74581                 3,5
74582                 64
74583
74584                 1-3,10,12,14-16,34-40,43-45,47-54,56-57,59-64
74585                 1
74586                 2
74587                 3

In the directory history buffer, the Key Counter column displays the 32-bit value maintained by Cisco MDS switches. This value is incremented when any port changes state in that VSAN. The key counter (a 32-bit value) is incremented when a FICON-related configuration is changed. Host programs can increment this value at the start of the channel program and then perform operations on multiple ports. The director history buffer keeps a log of which port address configuration was changed for each key-counter value.

The director history buffer provides a mechanism to determine the change in the port state from the previous time when a value was contained in the key counter.

Displays the Running Configuration Information displays the FICON-related information in the running configuration.

switch# show running-config 
Building Configuration ...
in-order-guarantee
vsan database
  vsan 11 name “FICON11” loadbalancing src-dst-id
  vsan 75 name “FICON75” loadbalancing src-dst-id
fcdomain domain 11 static vsan 11
fcdomain domain 119 static vsan 75
fcdroplatency network 100 vsan 11
fcdroplatency network 500 vsan 75
feature fabric-binding
fabric-binding database vsan 11
  swwn 20:00:00:0d:ec:01:20:c0 domain 10
fabric-binding database vsan 75
  swwn 20:00:00:0d:ec:00:d6:40 domain 117
fabric-binding activate vsan 11
fabric-binding activate vsan 75
ficon vsan 75
interface port-channel 1
  ficon portnumber 0x80
  switchport mode E
snmp-server user mblair network-admin auth md5 0x688fa3a2e51ba5538211606e59ac292
7 priv 0x688fa3a2e51ba5538211606e59ac2927 localizedkey
snmp-server user wwilson network-admin auth md5 0x688fa3a2e51ba5538211606e59ac29
27 priv 0x688fa3a2e51ba5538211606e59ac2927 localizedkey
snmp-server host 171.71.187.101 traps version 2c public udp-port 1163
snmp-server host 172.18.2.247 traps version 2c public udp-port 2162
vsan database
  vsan 75 interface fc1/1
...
interface mgmt0
  ip address 172.18.47.39 255.255.255.128
  switchport speed 100
  switchport duplex full
no system health
ficon vsan 75
  file IPL

Displays the Startup Configuration displays the FICON-related information in the startup configuration.

switch# show startup-config 
...
ficon vsan 2
file IPL

switch# show startup-config
No ASCII config available since configuration was last saved internally
on account of 'active=saved' mode.
Please perform an explicit 'copy running startup` to get ASCII configuration

Displays Logging Levels for the FICON Feature and Displays FICON-Related Log File Contents display the logging information for FICON-related configurations.

switch# show logging level ficon
Facility        Default Severity        Current Session Severity
--------        ----------------        ------------------------
ficon                   2                       2
0(emergencies)          1(alerts)       2(critical)
3(errors)               4(warnings)     5(notifications)
6(information)          7(debugging)

switch# show logging logfile
...
2024 Jan 29 12:45:40.784113 Challenger-9710 %PORT-5-IF_UP: %$VSAN 69: 2024 Mon Jan 29   16:45:40.122353%$ Interface fc2/17 is up in mode F   
2024 Jan 29 12:45:40.857400 Challenger-9710 %PORT-5-IF_UP: %$VSAN 69: 2024 Mon Jan 29 16:45:40.122371%$ Interface fc2/14 is up in mode F   
2024 Jan 29 12:45:40.866201 Challenger-9710 %PORT-5-IF_UP: %$VSAN 69: 2024 Mon Jan 29 16:45:40.122373%$ Interface fc1/6 is up in mode F   
2024 Jan 29 12:45:40.882935 Challenger-9710 %PORT-5-IF_UP: %$VSAN 69: 2024 Mon Jan 29 16:45:40.122378%$ Interface fc1/22 is up in mode F   
2024 Jan 29 12:45:40.942220 Challenger-9710 %PORT-5-IF_UP: %$VSAN 69: 2024 Mon Jan 29 16:45:40.122392%$ Interface fc2/16 is up in mode F   
2024 Jan 29 12:45:40.943643 Challenger-9710 %PORT-5-IF_UP: %$VSAN 69: 2024 Mon Jan 29 16:45:40.122392%$ Interface fc2/19 is up in mode F