Ports and Port Channels

Server and Uplink Ports

Each fabric interconnect can include the following port types:

Server Ports

Server ports handle data traffic between the fabric interconnect and the adapter cards on the servers.

Uplink Ethernet Ports

Uplink Ethernet ports handle Ethernet traffic between the fabric interconnect and the next layer of the network. All network-bound Ethernet traffic is pinned to one of these ports.

By default, Ethernet ports are unconfigured. However, you can configure them to function in the following ways:

  • Uplink

  • FCoE

  • Appliance

You can configure uplink Ethernet ports on either the fixed module or an expansion module.

Uplink Fibre Channel Ports

Uplink Fibre Channel ports handle FCoE traffic between the fabric interconnect and the next layer of the storage area network. All network-bound FCoE traffic is pinned to one of these ports.

By default, Fibre Channel ports are uplink. However, you can configure them to function as Fibre Channel storage ports. This is useful in cases where Cisco UCS requires a connection to a Direct-Attached Storage (DAS) device.

You can only configure uplink Fibre Channel ports on an expansion module. The fixed module does not include uplink Fibre Channel ports.

Unified Ports

Unified ports can be configured to carry either Ethernet or Fibre Channel traffic. These ports are not reserved. A Cisco UCS domain cannot use these ports until you configure them.

All ports on the following fabric interconnects are unified:

  • Cisco UCS 6248 UP Fabric Interconnect

  • Cisco UCS 6296 UP Fabric Interconnect

  • Cisco UCS 6324 Fabric Interconnect

  • Cisco UCS 6332-16UP Fabric Interconnect


Note

When you configure a port on a fabric interconnect, the administrative state is automatically set to enabled. If the port is connected to another device, this may cause traffic disruption. You can disable the port after configuring it.

Unified Storage Ports

Unified storage is configuring the same physical port as an Ethernet storage interface and FCoE storage interface. You can configure any appliance port or FCoE storage port as a unified storage port on either a fixed module or an expansion module. To configure a unified storage port, the fabric interconnect must be in Fibre Channel switching mode.

In a unified storage port, you can enable/disable individual FCoE storage or appliance interfaces.

  • In an unified storage port, if you do not specify a non default VLAN for the appliance port the fcoe-storage-native-vlan will be assigned as the native VLAN on the unified storage port. If the appliance port has a non default native VLAN specified as native VLAN, this will be assigned as the native VLAN for unified storage port.

  • When you enable or disable the appliance interface, the corresponding physical port is enabled/disabled. So when you disable the appliance interface in a unified storage, even if the FCoE storage is enabled, it goes down with the physical port.

  • When you enable or disable FCoE storage interface, the corresponding VFC is enabled or disabled. So when the FCoE storage interface is disabled in a unified storage port, the appliance interface will continue to function normally.

Unified Uplink Ports

When you configure an Ethernet uplink and an FCoE uplink on the same physical Ethernet port, it is called the unified uplink port. You can individually enable or disable either FCoE or Ethernet interfaces independently.

  • Enabling or disabling the FCoE uplink results in corresponding VFC being enabled or disabled.

  • Enabling or disabling an Ethernet uplink results in corresponding physical port being enabled or disabled.

If you disable an Ethernet uplink, it disables the underlying physical port in an unified uplink. So, even if the FCoE uplink is enabled, the FCoE uplink also goes down. But if you disable an FCoE uplink, only the VFC goes down. If the Ethernet uplink is enabled, it can still function properly in the unified uplink port.

Ports on the Cisco UCS 6300 Series Fabric Interconnects

The Cisco UCS 6300 Series Fabric Interconnect includes the Cisco UCS 6324 Fabric Interconnect for UCS Mini (Cisco UCS Manager Release 3.0), and the Cisco UCS 6332 and 6332-16UP Fabric Interconnects (Cisco UCS Manager Release 3.1).

The following table summarizes the port usage for the Cisco UCS 6300 Series Fabric Interconnects:

Fabric Interconnect Name:

Cisco UCS 6324 (Cisco UCS Mini)

Cisco UCS 6332

Cisco UCS 6332-16UP

Description:

Fabric Interconnect with 4 unified ports and 1 scalability port

32–Port Fabric Interconnect

40–Port Fabric Interconnect

Number of fixed 40 GB Interfaces:

—

6 (ports 17-32)

6 (ports 35-40)

Number of 1GB/10GB Interfaces (depending on the SFP module installed)

All

Ports 5–26 using breakout cable

Ports 17–34 using breakout cable

Unified Ports (8 Gb/s, FC, FCoE)

4

None

Ports 1–16


Note

Cisco UCS 6300 Series Fabric Interconnects support breakout capability for ports. For more information on how the 40G ports can be converted into four 10G ports, see Scalability and Breakout Ports.

Port Modes

The port mode determines whether a unified port on the fabric interconnect is configured to carry Ethernet or Fibre Channel traffic. The fabric interconnect does not automatically discover the port mode. You configure the port mode in Cisco UCS Central.

Changing the port mode deletes the existing port configuration and replaces it by a new logical port. Any objects associated with that port configuration, such as VLANs and VSANS, are removed. There is no restriction on the number of times you can change the port mode for a unified port.

Effect of Port Mode Changes on Data Traffic

Port mode changes can cause an interruption to the data traffic for the Cisco UCS domain. The length of the interruption and the traffic that is affected depend upon the configuration of the Cisco UCS domain and the module on which you made the port mode changes.


Tip

To minimize the traffic disruption during system changes, form a Fibre Channel uplink port-channel across the fixed and expansion modules.

Impact of Port Mode Changes on an Expansion Module

After you make port mode changes on an expansion module, the module reboots. All traffic through ports on the expansion module is interrupted for approximately one minute while the module reboots.

Impact of Port Mode Changes on the Fixed Module in a Cluster Configuration

A cluster configuration has two fabric interconnects. After you make port changes to the fixed module, the fabric interconnect reboots. The impact on the data traffic depends upon whether or not you have configured the server vNICs to failover to the other fabric interconnect when one fails.

If you change the port modes on the expansion module of one fabric interconnect and then wait for that to reboot before changing the port modes on the second fabric interconnect, the following occurs:

  • With server vNIC failover, traffic fails over to the other fabric interconnect and no interruption occurs.

  • Without server vNIC failover, all data traffic through the fabric interconnect on which you changed the port modes is interrupted for approximately eight minutes while the fabric interconnect reboots.

If you change the port modes on the fixed modules of both fabric interconnects simultaneously, all data traffic through the fabric interconnects are interrupted for approximately eight minutes while the fabric interconnects reboot.

Impact of Port Mode Changes on the Fixed Module in a Standalone Configuration

A standalone configuration has only one fabric interconnect. After you make port changes to the fixed module, the fabric interconnect reboots. All data traffic through the fabric interconnect is interrupted for approximately eight minutes while the fabric interconnect reboots.

Port Roles

The port role defines the type of traffic carried over a unified port connection.

All of the port roles listed are configurable on both the fixed and expansion module, including server ports, which are configurable on the 6200 and later series fabric interconnect expansion modules.

By default, unified ports changed to Ethernet port mode are set to the uplink Ethernet port role. Unified ports changed to Fibre Channel (FC) port mode are set to the FC uplink port role. You cannot unconfigure FC ports.

Changing the port role does not require a reboot.

When you set the port mode to Ethernet, you can configure the following port roles:

  • Server ports

  • Ethernet uplink ports

  • FCoE storage ports

  • FCoE uplink ports

  • Appliance ports

When you set the port mode to FC, you can configure the following port roles:

  • FC uplink ports

  • FC storage ports

Guidelines for Configuring Unified Ports

Consider the following guidelines and restrictions when configuring unified ports:

Hardware and Software Requirements

Unified ports are not supported on 6100 series fabric interconnects.

Port Mode Placement

Because the Cisco UCS Central GUI interface uses a slider to configure the port mode for unified ports on a fixed or expansion module, it automatically enforces the following restrictions which limits how port modes can be assigned to unified ports. When using the Cisco UCS Central CLI interface, these restrictions are enforced when you commit the transaction to the system configuration. If the port mode configuration violates any of the following restrictions, the Cisco UCS Central CLI displays an error:

  • Ethernet ports must be grouped together in a block. For each module (fixed or expansion), the Ethernet port block must start with the first port and end with an even numbered port.

  • Fibre Channel ports must be grouped together in a block. For each module (fixed or expansion), the first port in the Fibre Channel port block must follow the last Ethernet port and extend to include the rest of the ports in the module. For configurations that include only Fibre Channel ports, the Fibre Channel block must start with the first port on the fixed or expansion module.

  • Alternating Ethernet and Fibre Channel ports is not supported on a single module.

Example of a valid configuration— Might include unified ports 1–16 on the fixed module configured in Ethernet port mode and ports 17–32 in Fibre Channel port mode. On the expansion module you could configure ports 1–4 in Ethernet port mode and then configure ports 5–16 in Fibre Channel mode. The rule about alternating Ethernet and Fibre Channel port types is not violated because this port arrangement complies with the rules on each individual module.

Example of an invalid configuration— Might include a block of Fibre Channel ports starting with port 16. Because each block of ports has to start with an odd-numbered port, you would have to start the block with port 17.


Note

The total number of uplink Ethernet ports and uplink Ethernet port channel members that can be configured on each fabric interconnect is limited to 31. This limitation includes uplink Ethernet ports and uplink Ethernet port channel members configured on the expansion module.

The 40GB ports on the 6300 series fabric interconnects do not support expansion module configuration.

Cautions and Guidelines for Configuring Unified Uplink Ports and Unified Storage Ports

The following are cautions and guidelines to follow while working with unified uplink ports and unified storage ports:

  • You must configure a non default native VLAN on FCoE and unified uplink ports. This VLAN is not used for any traffic. Cisco UCS Central will reuse an existing fcoe-storage-native-vlan for this purpose. This fcoe-storage-native-vlan will be used as a native VLAN on FCoE and unified uplinks.

  • In an unified uplink port, if you do not specify a non default VLAN for the Ethernet uplink port the fcoe-storage-native-vlan will be assigned as the native VLAN on the unified uplink port. If the Ethernet port has a non default native VLAN specified as native VLAN, this will be assigned as the native VLAN for unified uplink port.

  • When you create or delete a member port under an Ethernet port channel, Cisco UCS Central automatically creates or deletes the member port under FCoE port channel. The same happens when you create or delete a member port in FCoE port channel.

  • When you configure an Ethernet port as a standalone port, such as server port, Ethernet uplink, FCoE uplink or FCoE storage and make it as a member port for an Ethernet or FCOE port channel, Cisco UCS Central automatically makes this port as a member of both Ethernet and FCoE port channels.

  • When you remove the membership for a member port from being a member of server uplink, Ethernet uplink, FCoE uplink or FCoE storage, Cisco UCS Central deletes the corresponding members ports from Ethernet port channel and FCoE port channel and creates a new standalone port.

  • For unified uplink ports and unified storage ports, when you create two interfaces, only one license is checked out. As long as either interface is enabled, the license remains checked out. The license will be released only if both the interfaces are disabled for a unified uplink port or a unified storage port.

  • Cisco UCS 6100 series fabric interconnect switch can only support 1VF or 1VF-PO facing same downstream NPV switch.

Configuring Unified Ports

Procedure

Step 1

Click the Browse Tables icon and choose Fabric Interconnects.

Step 2

Click on a Fabric Interconnect to open it for editing.

Step 3

Click the Tools icon and choose Unified Port Configuration.

Step 4

Use your mouse to drag the slider along the bar until the displays shows the port mode configuration that you want to use.

The ports are displayed as follows:

  • Ethernet ports are displayed in green.

  • FC ports are displayed in purple.

  • Disabled ports are displayed in faded green or purple.

Note 

Depending on the server, the Ethernet and FC port slider may be reversed.

Step 5

Click Configure.

Note 

Configuring unified ports reboots the FI, and can cause an interruption to the data traffic for the Cisco UCS domain.

Configuring Ports


Note

Ports configured for Cisco UCS Manager releases prior to 3.1 were supported in Cisco UCS Central release 1.3, but are not supported in later releases of Cisco UCS Central. Any additional configuration of those ports must be done in Cisco UCS Manager.

Before you begin

  • You must be running Cisco UCS Manager release 3.1 or above.

  • All Cisco UCS Manager domains must be included in a Cisco UCS Central domain group.

  • Port Configuration must be set to Global on the Policy Resolution Control page in Cisco UCS Manager.

Procedure

Step 1

Click the Browse Tables icon and choose Fabric Interconnects.

Step 2

Click on a Fabric Interconnect to open it for editing.

Step 3

Click Ports.

Step 4

Choose the port that you want to configure.

Step 5

On the Ports page, click the Tools icon on the far right and select Configure Port.

The Configure Port page for the selected port displays.

Step 6

Select the Role for the port.

For Ethernet ports, this can be one of the following:

  • Appliance

  • FCoE Storage

  • FCoE Uplink

  • Server

  • Uplink

For FC ports, this can be one of the following:

  • FC Uplink

  • FC Storage
Step 7

Complete the fields as required for your selection.

Step 8

Click Save.

Configuring an Appliance Port

Appliance ports are used to connect fabric interconnects to directly attached NFS storage.


Note

If you are changing the configuration from an FCoE storage port to an appliance port, admin users have the option to make the port appliance only or unified storage.

Procedure

Step 1

Click the Browse Tables icon and choose Fabric Interconnects.

Step 2

Click on a Fabric Interconnect to open it for editing.

Step 3

Click Ports.

Step 4

Choose the port that you want to configure.

Step 5

On the Ports page, click the Tools icon on the far right and select Configure Port.

The Configure Port page for the selected port displays.

Step 6

In the Role drop-down, select Appliance.

Step 7

On the Basic tab, do the following:

  1. Enter the Interface User Label.

  2. Select the port speed.

  3. Select the quality of service setting associated with this interface. This can be one of the following:

    • Platinum—Use this priority for vNIC traffic only.

    • Gold—Use this priority for vNIC traffic only.

    • Silver—Use this priority for vNIC traffic only.

    • Bronze—Use this priority for vNIC traffic only.

    • Best Effort—Do not use this priority. It is reserved for the Basic Ethernet traffic lane.

    • Fibre Channel—Use this priority for vHBA traffic only.

Step 8

On the Policies tab, select the flow control policy, pin group, and network control policy.

Note 

Only network control policies of type Appliance are supported and available for appliance port configuration.

Step 9

On the VLANs tab, choose whether the port will be a Truck or Access port, and select the VLANs that you want to assign to the ports.

You can click Search and specify a VLAN name to filter the results of VLANs displayed. You can search with a partial or full name of the VLAN that you want to select. For example, you can search for VLAN100 to filter the list of VLANs with names containing VLAN100.

  • Trunk ports can have multiple VLANs and allow the VLANs to transport between switches over the trunk link.

  • Access ports have one VLAN and is connected to an end point. If the VLAN is a primary VLAN, secondary VLANs are required.

The VLANs that you select are displayed in the VLANs from System column. VLANs that were created in Cisco UCS Manager are displayed in the VLANs Configured on Domain column.

Note 

Only VLANs of type Appliance are supported and available for appliance port configuration.

Step 10

On the Ethernet Target Endpoint tab, click Enabled to enter the Name and MAC Address for the endpoint.

The Ethernet target endpoint is disabled by default.

Step 11

Click Save.

Configuring an FCoE Storage Port

Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) Storage ports allow storage consolidation from two separate links to a single storage that carries both Fibre Channel (FC) and Ethernet traffic.


Note

If you are changing the configuration from an appliance port to an FCoE storage port, admin users have the option to make the port FCoE storage only or unified storage.

Before you begin

The Fibre Channel switching mode must be set to Switching for these ports to be valid. The storage ports cannot function in end-host mode.

Procedure

Step 1

Click the Browse Tables icon and choose Fabric Interconnects.

Step 2

Click on a Fabric Interconnect to open it for editing.

Step 3

Click Ports.

Step 4

Choose the port that you want to configure.

Step 5

On the Ports page, click the Tools icon on the far right and select Configure Port.

The Configure Port page for the selected port displays.

Step 6

In the Role drop-down, select FCoE Storage.

Step 7

On the Basic tab, enter the Interface User Label.

Step 8

On the VSAN tab, select the VSANs that you want to assign to the ports.

The VSANs that you select are displayed in the VSAN column. VSANs that were created in Cisco UCS Manager are displayed in the VSAN on Domain column.

Note 

Only VSANs of type Storage are supported and available for FCoE storage port configuration.

Step 9

Click Save.

Configuring an FCoE Uplink Port

FCoE Uplink ports are physical Ethernet interfaces between the fabric interconnects and the upstream Ethernet switch, used for carrying FCoE traffic. With this support, the same physical Ethernet port can carry both Ethernet traffic and Fibre Channel traffic.


Note

If you are changing the configuration from an uplink port to an FCoE uplink port, admin users have the option to make the port FCoE uplink only or unified uplink.

Procedure

Step 1

Click the Browse Tables icon and choose Fabric Interconnects.

Step 2

Click on a Fabric Interconnect to open it for editing.

Step 3

Click Ports.

Step 4

Choose the port that you want to configure.

Step 5

On the Ports page, click the Tools icon on the far right and select Configure Port.

The Configure Port page for the selected port displays.

Step 6

In the Role drop-down, select FCoE Uplink.

Step 7

On the Basic tab, enter the Interface User Label.

Step 8

On the Policies tab, select the link profile policy that you want to assign to the port.

Step 9

Click Save.

Configuring a Server Port

Server Ports handle data traffic between the Fabric Interconnect and the adapter cards on the servers. Server ports are only configurable on the 6200 series and 6300 series fabric interconnect expansion modules.

Procedure

Step 1

Click the Browse Tables icon and choose Fabric Interconnects.

Step 2

Click on a Fabric Interconnect to open it for editing.

Step 3

Click Ports.

Step 4

Choose the port that you want to configure.

Step 5

On the Ports page, click the Tools icon on the far right and select Configure Port.

The Configure Port page for the selected port displays.

Step 6

In the Role drop-down, choose Server.

Step 7

In the Server field, enter the Interface User Label.

Step 8

Click Save.

Configuring an Uplink Port

Ethernet Uplink Ports connect to external LAN Switches. Network bound Ethernet traffic is pinned to one of these ports.

Note

If you are changing the configuration from an FCoE uplink port to an uplink port, admin users have the option to make the port uplink only or unified uplink.

Procedure

Step 1

Click the Browse Tables icon and choose Fabric Interconnects.

Step 2

Click on a Fabric Interconnect to open it for editing.

Step 3

Click Ports.

Step 4

Choose the port that you want to configure.

Step 5

On the Ports page, click the Tools icon on the far right and select Configure Port.

The Configure Port page for the selected port displays.

Step 6

In the Role drop-down, select Uplink.

Step 7

On the Basic tab, do the following:

  1. Enter the Interface User Label.

  2. Select the port speed.

Step 8

On the VLANs tab, select the VLANs that you want to assign to the ports.

The VLANs that you select are displayed in the VLANs from System column. VLANs that were created in Cisco UCS Manager are displayed in the VLANs Configured on Domain column.

You can click Search and specify a VLAN name to filter the results of VLANs displayed. You can search with a partial or full name of the VLAN that you want to select. For example, you can search for VLAN100 to filter the list of VLANs with names containing VLAN100.

Note 

Only VLANs of type LAN are supported and available for uplink port configuration.

Step 9

From the VLAN Groups tab, select the VLAN groups you want to assign to the ports.

The VLAN Groups that you select are displayed in the VLAN Groups from System column. VLAN groups that were configured on the port in Cisco UCS Manager are displayed in the VLAN Groups Configured on Domain column.
Note 

Only LAN type VLAN groups are created and available in Cisco UCS Central.

Step 10

On the Policies tab, select the flow control policy and link profile.

Step 11

Click Save.

Configuring an FC Storage Port

FC Storage ports allow you to directly attach an FC storage device to a port on the FI.

Before you begin

The Fibre Channel switching mode must be set to Switching for these ports to be valid. The storage ports cannot function in end-host mode.

Procedure

Step 1

Click the Browse Tables icon and choose Fabric Interconnects.

Step 2

Click on a Fabric Interconnect to open it for editing.

Step 3

Click Ports.

Step 4

Choose the port that you want to configure.

Step 5

On the Ports page, click the Tools icon on the far right and select Configure Port.

The Configure Port page for the selected port displays.

Step 6

In the Role drop-down, select FC Storage.

Step 7

On the Basic tab, enter the Interface User Label and select a fill pattern.

Step 8

On the VSAN tab, select the VSANs that you want to assign to the ports.

The VSANs that you select are displayed in the VSAN column. VSANs that were created in Cisco UCS Manager are displayed in the VSAN on Domain column.

Note 

Only VSANs of type Storage are supported and available for FC storage port configuration.

Step 9

Click Save.

Configuring an FC Uplink Port

FC uplink ports allow you to connect to external SAN switches.

Procedure

Step 1

Click the Browse Tables icon and choose Fabric Interconnects.

Step 2

Click on a Fabric Interconnect to open it for editing.

Step 3

Click Ports.

Step 4

Choose the port that you want to configure.

Step 5

On the Ports page, click the Tools icon on the far right and select Configure Port.

The Configure Port page for the selected port displays.

Step 6

In the Role drop-down, select FC Uplink.

Step 7

On the Basic tab, enter the Interface User Label and select a fill pattern.

Step 8

On the VSAN tab, select the VSANs that you want to assign to the ports.

The VSANs that you select are displayed in the VSAN from System column. VSANs that were created in Cisco UCS Manager are displayed in the VSAN Configured on Domain column.

Note 

Only VSANs of type SAN are supported and available for FC uplink port configuration.

Step 9

Click Save.

Scalability and Breakout Ports

The Cisco UCS 6300 Series Fabric Interconnects contain scalability ports that can be broken out into groups of 4 10-Gigabit Ethernet ports. The configuration requires a Small Form-Factor Pluggable adapter (SPF) that has one 40GB QSFP+ on one end to connect to the Fabric Interconnect, and four 10 GB ports to connect to different end points supporting 10 GB connectivity.

  • The Cisco UCS 6324 Fabric Interconnect contains one scalability port that can be used as a licensed server port for supported Cisco UCS rack servers, an appliance port, or a FCoE storage port.

  • The Cisco UCS 6332 and Cisco UCS 6332-16 UP fabric interconnects contain multiple 40-Gigabet Ethernet ports that can be broken out into 10-Gigabit Ethernet ports.


Caution

Configuring breakout ports requires rebooting the Fabric Interconnect. Any existing configuration on a port is erased. It is recommended to break out all required ports in a single transaction.

Once you configure a breakout port, you can configure each 10 GB sub-port as server, uplink, FCoE uplink, FCoE storage or appliance port as required.

The following table summarizes the constraints for breakout functionality for the Cisco UCS 6332 and 6332-16UP fabric interconnects:

Fabric Interconnect

Breakout Configurable Ports

Normal Ports with no Breakout Support

UCS-FI-6332

1-12,15-26

13-14,27-32

Note 

  • Auto-negotiate behavior is not supported on ports 27–32.

  • A maximum of four ports are allowed as breakout ports if using QoS jumbo frames.

UCS-FI-6332-16UP

17-34

1-16,35-40

Note 

  • Auto-negotiate behavior is not supported on ports 35-40.

  • A maximum of four ports are allowed as breakout ports if using QoS jumbo frames.

Managing Configured Ports

Procedure

Step 1

Click the Browse Tables icon and choose Fabric Interconnects.

Step 2

Click on a Fabric Interconnect to open it for editing.

Step 3

Click Ports.

Step 4

Choose the port that you want to configure.

Step 5

Click the Port Tools icon on the far right.

Step 6

Select one of the following:

  • Configuration Status—Displays the status of the port.
  • Configure Port—Enables you to change the configuration of the port.
  • Unconfigure Port—Deletes the port configuration information. If you unconfigure a port, all traffic using the port will stop.
  • Enable Port—Sets the administrative state of the port to Enabled. Only visible when the port is Disabled.
  • Disable Port—Sets the administrative state of the port to Disabled. Only visible when the port is Enabled.
  • Unconfigure Breakout Port—Combines the four 10GbE ports into a single 40GbE port.
  • Configure as Breakout Port—Turns the port into a scalability port that can be broken out into four 10GbE ports.
Step 7

Complete the fields as required.

Creating a Port Channel

Procedure

Step 1

Click the Browse Tables icon and choose Fabric Interconnects.

Step 2

Click on a Fabric Interconnect to open it for editing.

Step 3

In the Fabric Interconnect page, click the Tools icon and choose Create Port Channel.

Step 4

In Basic, select the type of port channel that you want to create.

This can be one of the following:

Step 5

Complete the fields as required for your selection.

Step 6

Click Save.

Creating or Editing an Ethernet Port Channel

Procedure

Step 1

Click the Browse Tables icon and choose Fabric Interconnects.

Step 2

Click on a Fabric Interconnect to open it for editing.

Step 3

In the Fabric Interconnect page, click the Tools icon and choose Create Port Channel.

Step 4

In Basic, select Ethernet and complete the following:

  1. Enter the Port ID, Name, and optional Description.

  2. Select the admin speed and whether to enable auto negotiation.

Step 5

Click Policies and select the flow control and LACP policy that you want to assign to the ports.

Step 6

Click VLANs and select the VLANs that you want to assign to the ports.

The VLANs that you select are displayed in the VLANs from System column. VLANs that were created in Cisco UCS Manager are displayed in the VLANs Configured on Domain column.

Step 7

Click Ports and click the Add icon to add ports to the port channel.

Step 8

Click Save.

Creating or Editing an FC Port Channel


Note

For Cisco UCS Manager release 3.1(2) and above, FC port channels must be disabled before you can delete them.

Procedure

Step 1

Click the Browse Tables icon and choose Fabric Interconnects.

Step 2

Click on a Fabric Interconnect to open it for editing.

Step 3

In the Fabric Interconnect page, click the Tools icon and choose Create Port Channel.

Step 4

In Basic, select FC and complete the following:

  1. Enter the Port ID, Name, and optional Description.

  2. Select the Admin Speed for the port channel.

Step 5

Click VLAN and select the VLANs that you want to assign to the ports.

You can click Search and specify a VLAN name to filter the results of VLANs displayed. You can search with a partial or full name of the VLAN that you want to select. For example, you can search for VLAN100 to filter the list of VLANs with names containing VLAN100.

The VLANs that you select are displayed in the VLAN from System column. VLANs that were created in Cisco UCS Manager are displayed in the VLAN Configured on Domain column.

Step 6

Click Ports and click the Add icon to add ports to the port channel.

Step 7

Click Save.

Creating or Editing an FCoE Port Channel

Procedure

Step 1

Click the Browse Tables icon and choose Fabric Interconnects.

Step 2

Click on a Fabric Interconnect to open it for editing.

Step 3

In the Fabric Interconnect page, click the Tools icon and choose Create Port Channel.

Step 4

In Basic, select FCoE.

Step 5

Enter the Port Channel ID, Name, and optional Description.

Step 6

Click Policies and select the LACP policy that you want to assign to the ports.

Step 7

Click Ports and click the Plus icon to add ports to the port channel.

Step 8

Click Save.

Creating or Editing an Appliance Port Channel

Procedure

Step 1

Click the Browse Tables icon and choose Fabric Interconnects.

Step 2

Click on a Fabric Interconnect to open it for editing.

Step 3

In the Fabric Interconnect page, click the Tools icon and choose Create Port Channel.

Step 4

Basic, select Appliance and complete the following:

  1. Enter the Port Channel ID, Name, and optional Description.

  2. Select the admin speed and whether to use Static mode or dynamic LACP.

  3. Select the quality of service Priority associated with this interface. This can be one of the following:

    • Platinum—Use this priority for vNIC traffic only.

    • Gold—Use this priority for vNIC traffic only.

    • Silver—Use this priority for vNIC traffic only.

    • Bronze—Use this priority for vNIC traffic only.

    • Best Effort—Do not use this priority. It is reserved for the Basic Ethernet traffic lane.

    • Fibre Channel—Use this priority for vHBA traffic only.

Step 5

Click Policies and select the flow control policy, network control policy, and the pin group that you want to assign to the ports.

Step 6

Click VLANs and select the VLANs that you want to assign to the ports.

The VLANs that you select are displayed in the VLANs from System column. VLANs that were created in Cisco UCS Manager are displayed in the VLANs Configured on Domain column.

Step 7

Click Ethernet Target Endpoint and click Enabled to enter the Name and MAC Address for the endpoint.

The Ethernet target endpoint is disabled by default.

Step 8

Click Ports and click the Add icon to add ports to the port channel.

Step 9

Click Save.

Pin Groups

LAN Pin Groups

Cisco UCS uses LAN pin groups to pin Ethernet traffic from a vNIC on a server to an uplink Ethernet port or port channel on the fabric interconnect. You can use this pinning to manage the distribution of traffic from the servers.

To configure pinning for a server, you must include the LAN pin group in a vNIC policy. The vNIC policy is then included in the service profile assigned to that server. All traffic from the vNIC travels through the I/O module to the specified uplink Ethernet port.


Note

If you do not assign a pin group to a server interface through a vNIC policy, Cisco UCS Central chooses an uplink Ethernet port or port channel for traffic from that server interface dynamically. This choice is not permanent. A different uplink Ethernet port or port channel may be used for traffic from that server interface after an interface flap or a server reboot.

If an uplink is part of a LAN pin group, the uplink is not necessarily reserved for only that LAN pin group. Other vNIC's policies that do not specify a LAN pin group can use the uplink as a dynamic uplink.

SAN Pin Groups

Cisco UCS uses SAN pin groups to pin Fibre Channel traffic from a vHBA on a server to an uplink Fibre Channel port on the fabric interconnect. You can use this pinning to manage the distribution of traffic from the servers.

Note

In Fibre Channel switch mode, SAN pin groups are irrelevant. Any existing SAN pin groups will be ignored.

To configure pinning for a server, you must include the SAN pin group in a vHBA policy. The vHBA policy is then included in the service profile assigned to that server. All traffic from the vHBA will travel through the I/O module to the specified uplink Fibre Channel port.

You can assign the same pin group to multiple vHBA policies. As a result, you do not need to manually pin the traffic for each vHBA.


Important

Changing the target interface for an existing SAN pin group disrupts traffic for all vHBAs which use that pin group. The fabric interconnect performs a log in and log out for the Fibre Channel protocols to re-pin the traffic.

Creating a Pin Group

You can create a pin group for either LAN or SAN.

Procedure

Step 1

Click the Browse Tables icon and choose Domains.

Step 2

Click the domain in which you want to create a pin group.

Step 3

On the domain page, click the Tools icon and select Create Pin Group.

Step 4

In the Create Pin Group dialog box, click Basic and choose whether you want to create a LAN or a SAN pin group.

Step 5

Enter the Name and optional Description.

Step 6

In Fabric A Target, choose whether you want to manually select a port, or select an existing port channel.

Step 7

If you selected Manual, select the port.

For LAN pin groups, only ethernet uplink ports are shown. For SAN pin groups, only FC and FCoE uplink ports are shown.

Step 8

If you selected Port Channel, select an existing port channel.

For LAN pin groups, only ethernet port channels are shown. For SAN pin groups, only FC and FCoE port channels are shown.

Step 9

In Fabric B Target, select a port or a port channel.

Step 10

Click Save.

Fibre Channel Switching Mode

The Fibre Channel switching mode determines how the fabric interconnect behaves as a switching device between the servers and storage devices. The fabric interconnect operates in either of the following Fibre Channel switching modes:

End-Host Mode

End-host mode allows the fabric interconnect to act as an end host to the connected fibre channel networks, representing all servers (hosts) connected to it through virtual host bus adapters (vHBAs). This behavior is achieved by pinning (either dynamically pinned or hard pinned) vHBAs to Fibre Channel uplink ports, which makes the Fibre Channel ports appear as server ports (N-ports) to the rest of the fabric. When in end-host mode, the fabric interconnect avoids loops by denying uplink ports from receiving traffic from one another.

End-host mode is synonymous with N Port Virtualization (NPV) mode. This mode is the default Fibre Channel Switching mode.


Note

When you enable end-host mode, if a vHBA is hard pinned to an uplink Fibre Channel port and this uplink port goes down, the system cannot repin the vHBA, and the vHBA remains down.

Switch Mode

Switch mode is the traditional Fibre Channel switching mode. Switch mode allows the fabric interconnect to connect directly to a storage device. Enabling Fibre Channel switch mode is useful in Pod models where there is no SAN (for example, a single Cisco UCS domain that is connected directly to storage), or where a SAN exists (with an upstream MDS).

Switch mode is not the default Fibre Channel switching mode.


Note

In Fibre Channel switch mode, SAN pin groups are irrelevant. Any existing SAN pin groups are ignored.

Configuring Fibre Channel Switching Mode

You can configure your fabric interconnect to use either FC End-Host Mode or FC Switch Mode. By default, the FI is set to end-host mode.


Note

When you change the Fibre Channel switching mode, Cisco UCS Central logs you out and restarts the fabric interconnect. For a cluster configuration, Cisco UCS Central restarts both fabric interconnects sequentially. The second fabric interconnect can take several minutes to complete the change in Fibre Channel switching mode and become system ready.

Procedure

Step 1

Click the Browse Tables icon and choose Fabric Interconnects.

Step 2

Click on a Fabric Interconnect to open it for editing.

Step 3

On the fabric interconnect page, click the Tools icon and select the FC switching mode.

If you are using end-host mode, Set FC Switching Mode displays. If you are using FC switching mode, Set FC End-Host Mode displays.

Step 4

Click Yes on the warning page to change the configuration and restart the FI.

Viewing Port Configuration Status

Procedure

Step 1

Click the Browse Tables icon and choose Fabric Interconnects.

Step 2

Click on a Fabric Interconnect to open it for editing.

Step 3

Click the Tools icon on the far right and select Configuration Status.

The Configuration Status page for the selected port displays.

Step 4

Click Close to close the window.

Port Configuration Faults

The port faults page displays the following information for each fault:

  • Code—The ID associated with the fault

  • Timestamp—Date and time at which the fault occurred

  • Cause—Cause of the fault

  • Affected Object—The component that is affected by this fault

  • Fault Details—The details of the fault.

  • Severity—The severity of the fault

  • Action—Any action required by the fault