Viewing the fibre-channel fabric connections

Failures of the SAN Volume Controller hardware, fibre-channel cables, fibre-channel switches, fibre-channel hardware in host systems, or disk controllers can cause fibre-channel connectivity problems.

Note: The term fibre-channel fabric describes all the interconnections between the ports on a fibre-channel network.

Other SAN Volume Controller procedures isolate the hardware errors that cause storage area network (SAN) connectivity problems. You were sent to this topic because it is suspected that a problem exists elsewhere on the SAN. The resolution of problems on the fibre-channel fabric is outside of the scope of current documentation. The procedures here describe how to use the fibre-channel fabric viewing tool to help you understand the SAN Volume Controller view of the SAN. The information you acquire here is valuable when you work with support personnel or with the customer to isolate SAN failures.

Perform the following steps to start the fabric-viewing tool:

  1. Log on to the SAN Volume Controller Console.
  2. Click Clusters. The Viewing Clusters panel is displayed.
  3. Select the cluster for which you want to view fabric information, and select Launch the SAN Volume Controller Console from the task list.
  4. Click Go.
  5. Click Service and Maintenance > Fabrics. The Viewing Fabrics panel is displayed. See the example in Figure 1.
    Figure 1. Viewing Fabrics panelThe Viewing Fabrics panel
You see the Viewing Fabrics panel. The contents of each displayed field is described in Table 1.
Table 1. Fibre-channel viewing definitions
Fields Description
Name This field is the name of the device whose worldwide port name (WWPN) is listed in the Remote WWPN field.
State Indicates whether the device listed in the Name field is active or inactive.
Type The type of the device that is listed in the Name field. The expected types are controller (storage controller), node (SAN Volume Controller), or host (system that is using this SAN Volume Controller). If the type of device cannot be determined, unknownis displayed.
Node ID The ID of the node that is listed in the Node field.
Node This field is the node name (as displayed on the front panel of the SAN Volume Controller).
Cluster When the Type field lists a node, the Cluster field displays the name of the cluster to which that node belongs.
Local WWPN The WWPN of the SAN Volume Controller port that has a connection to the device listed in the Name field, using the WWPN that is listed in the Remote WWPN field.
Local Port This field is the physical port number on the back of the node listed in the Node field.
Local NPort ID The NPort number of the local port listed in the Local Port field.
Remote WWPN The WWPN of the device listed in the Name field.
Remote NPort ID The NPort number of the device listed in the Name field.
The first line of Figure 1 shows the following connection:
Figure 2. Example of the fabric connectionsThis figure shows an example of the fabric connections.

The fabric viewer provides comprehensive tools to let you display only the information that you need, and format the output in the most convenient form.

Note: The following examples show methods of displaying fabric connections. Not all scenarios are represented, and the examples only show two potential methods of finding the information that you seek.

Displaying all controllers logged in to a node

Perform the following steps to display all the controllers that are logged in to a node called "node1":

  1. From the task drop-down menu, select Show Filter Row and click Go. Click the Filter link. In the Text field, type controller, and then click OK.
  2. Under the Name heading, click the Filter link. In the Text field, type controller, and then click OK. This action sorts by controller.
  3. Under the Node heading, click the Filter link. In the Text field, type node1 and then click OK. You are shown a display that shows all controllers that are logged in to node1.
  4. To restore the original display, select Clear All Filters from the task drop-down menu and click Go.

Displaying all active devices

Perform the following steps to display all active devices that are logged in to port 2 of node2:

  1. Under the State heading, click the Filter link. In the Text input field, type active.
  2. From the Condition drop-down menu, select Matches, and then click OK.
  3. Under the Node heading, click the Filter link. In the Text input field, type node2 and then click OK.
  4. Under the Local Port heading, click the Filter link. In the Text input field, type 2, and then click OK.

    You see a display that shows all the devices that are logged in to port 2 on node2.

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