Enabling Fibre Channel Switch in End-Host Mode

B.

When the fabric interconnect is configured in end-host mode, it means that the upstream Fibre Channel switch is responsible for handling all the Fibre Channel zoning, name server, and fabric login (FLOGI) functions. In this mode, the fabric interconnect appears as a host to the upstream switch, and all the Fibre Channel devices connected to the fabric interconnect appear as its downstream hosts.

To ensure proper communication between the fabric interconnect and the upstream Fibre Channel switch, the upstream switch must be configured with N-Port Virtualization (NPV) or N-Port ID Virtualization (NPIV) mode. Both modes allow the fabric interconnect to present itself as a single Fibre Channel device with multiple ports to the upstream switch.

NPV mode is a Fibre Channel switch feature that allows a switch to act as a proxy for a downstream switch, making it appear as if all the devices connected to the downstream switch are directly connected to the upstream switch. This mode is typically used in a cascaded Fibre Channel environment to minimize the number of domain IDs required.

NPIV mode, on the other hand, allows multiple Fibre Channel N-ports to share the same physical port on a switch. This mode is typically used in a virtualized server environment to enable the virtual machines (VMs) to access the Fibre Channel SAN without requiring a dedicated Fibre Channel HBA for each VM.

Therefore, in the case of the fabric interconnect configured in end-host mode, either NPV or NPIV mode must be enabled on the upstream Fibre Channel switch. Zoning and Smart Zoning are not directly related to the configuration of the upstream Fibre Channel switch when the fabric interconnect is configured in end-host mode. However, they are still essential features for securing the Fibre Channel SAN environment and controlling access to the storage resources.