Using the NPV Setup Wizard

Select Tools > NPV > NPV Setup... to launch NPV Setup Wizard from DCNM-SAN.

Before the wizard starts, DCNM-SAN checks if there are any NPV- and NPIV-capable switches from the client’s SAN. An NPV-capable switch has to be a Cisco MDS 9124, 9134, 9148, a Cisco Nexus 5000 Series switch, an HP Blade Server, or an IBM Blade Server with SAN-OS Release 3.2.2 and later. An NPIV-capable switch has to be Cisco switch with SAN-OS Release 3.0.1 and later. If there are no NPV-capable switches, DCNM-SAN displays an error message saying that no NPV-capable switches are available and that they are not manageable or not present.

Click OK to continue.

Select the NPV devices. Click Next.

A table lists all the available NPV-capable switches including the switches on which NPV is not yet enabled. Check the check boxes to select the required NPV devices. On devices that are not NPV enabled, this wizard will enable NPV on the devices in the final step.

If you choose switches that are NPV disabled and click Next, a warning message appears with a list of IP addresses of the NPV devices on which NPV will be enabled. Enabling NPV on the switch will result in reboot of the switch. Boot variables of the switches have to be set, to enable NPV on them through this wizard.

Select the NPIV core switches. Click Next.

Check the check boxes to select the required NPIV core switches. The table lists all the available NPIV core switches including the core switches that have not yet enabled the NPIV feature. NPIV core switches that are not NPIV-enabled. This wizard will enable NPIV in the final step.

Create new NPV device and NPIV core switch pairs as required.

Based on selections in the previous steps, the wizard displays all available NPV devices and NPIV core switches in separate lists. You can select one from each list and click Add or Remove buttons to create new NPV device and NPIV core switch combinations or pairs.

The NPV wizard checks if there are any NPIV core switches that are already connected to the NPV devices selected in the previous step. Click the Add Connected Pairs button to add a list of all the existing pairs that are interconnected to the Selected table.

The Selected table is then populated with both the existing and the intended pairs. Each NPIV core switch can be paired with multiple NPV devices.

After Step 6, the wizard prompts you to physically connect the new pairs that are not yet connected.

On the switches that are not paired, the NPV wizard enables the NPV and NPIV modes. However, there is a possibility that these unpaired switches may be segmented and lose their presence on the fabric.

After you click the Next button in Step 3 of 6, the wizard determines if you have selected all the connected pairs. A warning message is displayed that lists all the connected pairs that you have not selected and warns that they will be segmented after the NPV setup.

Click Next.

Note NPV wizard does not detect ports that are in a channel group and that are not connected by ISLs. The wizard does not configure any port in a Port Channel Group to F ports on the core switch. Port channel grouping is not applicable to NPV devices.

You can configure NPV-associated ports either through automated or manual methods.

The Auto Port Selection has two options:

Choosing the first option allows you to convert the existing ISLs to be run as NPV links. If you want ISLs to take priority, then choose the Convert existing ISLs option.

The wizard discovers ISLs (Up or Down) between the selected switches, that are available at the time of wizard launch.

Choosing the second option allows the NPV wizard to automatically configure free ports for NPV usage. In the second option, you can choose up to a maximum of six additional NPV links per NPV device and core switch pair.

During automatic port selection on the NPV switch, ports are defined as licensed FC ports with “Operational status” = Auto and “Status Cause” = none(2), offline(8), or sfp not present(29), and “Operational Status” = TE or E.

Ports on the NPV switch are selected in the following way:

The ISLs are considered in the second method. The selection algorithm spreads out the free port selections, so that the first port in every four ports is selected, for example, the 1st, 5th, 9th, etc. If after going through the 1st port in every four ports, you still have not selected enough ports (because the preferred ports were not free) then move to the second port in every four, for example, the 2nd, 6th, 10th etc. Different switches have different port preferences.

Ports on the NPIV switch are selected in the following way:

During automatic port selection on the NPIV switch free ports are defined as ports that are licensed FC ports and ports that have "Operational status" = Auto and "Status Cause" =none(2), offline(8) or sfp not present(29). If the ports are found in any other operational state, (for example F, NP, E, TE etc), then they are considered used, except for E and TE ports that are in ISLs connected to NPV device switches that will be enabled for NPV mode in this wizard session, as they will be considered to be free. However, these ISL ports will not necessarily be the ports selected by the automatic port selection algorithm as they are treated no different then any other free port. If you want to convert those used ISL ports, then choose the Convert existing ISLs option first and then run the wizard a second time choosing Automatic port selection (option 2) to add additional links.

When you choose to configure ports from available ports, the wizard searches for ports that are not currently participating in NP link configuration. It is possible that all ports can be participating in NP port configuration. In that case a warning message is displayed.

Note In both manual and automatic methods of configuring NPV associated ports, the ports that are unhealthy or that are in adminDown state are not considered during port selection.

Select the Manual method to manually create port pairs. Click on a satellite switch and select the NP device port expanded under each of the NPV switches listed. Then select the required F port on the NPIV core switch and click Add for them to pair.

During manual selection from the list for NPV and NPIV, ports are defined as the licensed FC ports with "Operational status" = Auto and "Status Cause" = none(2), offline(8), or sfp not present(29) and 'Operational Status" = TE or E.

Note Failed ports with the Auto operational status will not be listed. Failed ports with the E operational status will be listed and available for NPV configuration.

Based on user selection, the wizard decides which ports are set to NP ports on the NPV device side and which are F ports on the core switch side to make an NPV connection.

Note Sometimes the Manual selection in step 4 does not show any port when the NPV switch tree is expanded as the NPV Wizard filters out ports that are in fail or down status. Only healthy ports are made visible in the NPV Switch tree. Check your port settings.

Click Next.

Select a VSAN.

From the drop-down list select a VSAN or enter a VSAN ID to specify the VSAN. All selected NPV devices and NPIV core switches are added to the specified VSAN. All ports on the selected NPV devices and associated ports on the NPIV core switches are added to the VSAN.

Click Next.

The VSAN configuration is applied in the final step.

Review all the NPV Setup configurations you entered in the earlier steps and click Finish to complete the setup.

Enable Switch Feature lists the switches, the impending actions against them with reference to features, and the resultant status.

Set Port Type lists the switches and the ports to be set on the switches to configure NPV associate ports.

Configure VSAN lists the switches and ports to be added to the specified VSAN.

Click >> to view the expanded the panes. Click << to collapse the panes.

A progress bar at the bottom of the window indicates the overall extent of completion of the configuration tasks. A text message that runs below the progress bar indicates the current task in progress.

The status cells next to each item indicate the In progress, Success, and Error states. When a configuration cannot be applied, the status cell next to the task is changed to Error. Click Error to view Details. A message is displayed in place of the progress bar stating, Cannot apply all configurations.

After the completion of all the tasks, a View NPV Port Connections link is displayed in the place of the progress bar.

Click View NPV Port Connections to view the NPV port connections in a table. Refer to this list to verify the physical connections between NP Port on NPV devices and Auto ports on NPIV core switches. The physical connections already exist for the ISLs and they have to be verified. In some cases when the physical connections do not exist, they have to be established manually.

Using the NPV Setup Wizard

Prerequisites

Restrictions

Detailed Steps