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Home > Archive > Data Storage > November 2004 > Trick to connecting server directly to SAN?
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Trick to connecting server directly to SAN?
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| Rob Lancia 2004-11-05, 5:45 pm |
| I have what may turn out to be a very basic question about connecting
a Dell server to a DataDirect Networks SAN. I should mention that all
of the existing setup was done by someone else, and although I have
the DataDirect User's Guide I have no real SAN experience to fall back
on.
The gist is this:
My 2TB SAN (dual DataDirector HSTD's) works fine connected to a
Brocade fiber switch servicing 4 Sun Enterprise 420R's with QLogic
2200 adapters. I also have 2 previously-unrelated Dell Poweredge
1650's with unknown fiber adapters that connect fine into a Cisco
fiber network switch. What to take from this is that the equipment
involved all worked fine in previous but unrelated configurations.
Now I have a need to reallocate the 2 Dells and the SAN into a small
self-contained setup, in other words, running the Dells straight into
the host ports of the HSTDs. I have wiped out existing LUNs and
created 1 small one to test with. I have also deleted all existing
users from the SAN.
I thought that all I needed to do was plug the fiber cable directly
from the Dells into the host ports of the HSTDs and they'd
automatically be detected, but that doesn't appear to be the case.
The SAN shows no faults, the Dells are fine, and removing the fiber
cables I can see that both ports seem to be active (i.e., I can see
the light!) When correctly hooking up the cables though, the SAN user
command shows nothing (audit=on) and not surprisingly neither does
"user connections." I had expected to see the Dell's WWN's in the
list and go from there; instead it shows NOTHING in the list.
Any thoughts as to what I'm missing??? Thanks!
-Rob.
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| Likely you'll need to change you HBAs' topology from FC-SW (switched)
to FC-AL (arbitrated loop). You'll have to figure out the manufacturer
of the HBAs to do this-- most come with some management software or a
driver config file.
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| net-user.org 2004-11-06, 7:45 am |
| Hi - it sounds like the toplogy of the array fibre ports are set to
FC-Switch (ie they are expected to loging to a switch port as a f-port) and
effectively what you are doing is making a FCAL connection (Fibre channel
arbitrated loop) - You should be able to change the port setting to either
FC-Direct, or FCAL - if you cannot - then you will be stuck. I do not know
the specifics of the array that you are looking at - but this is my
guess...
guess you will have to do some more reading! :-)
O.
Rob Lancia wrote:
> I have what may turn out to be a very basic question about connecting
> a Dell server to a DataDirect Networks SAN. I should mention that all
> of the existing setup was done by someone else, and although I have
> the DataDirect User's Guide I have no real SAN experience to fall back
> on.
>
> The gist is this:
>
> My 2TB SAN (dual DataDirector HSTD's) works fine connected to a
> Brocade fiber switch servicing 4 Sun Enterprise 420R's with QLogic
> 2200 adapters. I also have 2 previously-unrelated Dell Poweredge
> 1650's with unknown fiber adapters that connect fine into a Cisco
> fiber network switch. What to take from this is that the equipment
> involved all worked fine in previous but unrelated configurations.
>
> Now I have a need to reallocate the 2 Dells and the SAN into a small
> self-contained setup, in other words, running the Dells straight into
> the host ports of the HSTDs. I have wiped out existing LUNs and
> created 1 small one to test with. I have also deleted all existing
> users from the SAN.
>
> I thought that all I needed to do was plug the fiber cable directly
> from the Dells into the host ports of the HSTDs and they'd
> automatically be detected, but that doesn't appear to be the case.
> The SAN shows no faults, the Dells are fine, and removing the fiber
> cables I can see that both ports seem to be active (i.e., I can see
> the light!) When correctly hooking up the cables though, the SAN user
> command shows nothing (audit=on) and not surprisingly neither does
> "user connections." I had expected to see the Dell's WWN's in the
> list and go from there; instead it shows NOTHING in the list.
>
> Any thoughts as to what I'm missing??? Thanks!
> -Rob.
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| ahedge 2004-11-06, 8:45 pm |
|
"Rob Lancia" <rob.lancia@ncfe.com> wrote in message
news:ac32859c.0411050846.4345330c@posting.google.com...
> I have what may turn out to be a very basic question about connecting
> a Dell server to a DataDirect Networks SAN. I should mention that all
> of the existing setup was done by someone else, and although I have
> the DataDirect User's Guide I have no real SAN experience to fall back
> on.
>
> The gist is this:
>
> My 2TB SAN (dual DataDirector HSTD's) works fine connected to a
> Brocade fiber switch servicing 4 Sun Enterprise 420R's with QLogic
> 2200 adapters. I also have 2 previously-unrelated Dell Poweredge
> 1650's with unknown fiber adapters that connect fine into a Cisco
> fiber network switch. What to take from this is that the equipment
> involved all worked fine in previous but unrelated configurations.
>
> Now I have a need to reallocate the 2 Dells and the SAN into a small
> self-contained setup, in other words, running the Dells straight into
> the host ports of the HSTDs. I have wiped out existing LUNs and
> created 1 small one to test with. I have also deleted all existing
> users from the SAN.
>
> I thought that all I needed to do was plug the fiber cable directly
> from the Dells into the host ports of the HSTDs and they'd
> automatically be detected, but that doesn't appear to be the case.
> The SAN shows no faults, the Dells are fine, and removing the fiber
> cables I can see that both ports seem to be active (i.e., I can see
> the light!) When correctly hooking up the cables though, the SAN user
> command shows nothing (audit=on) and not surprisingly neither does
> "user connections." I had expected to see the Dell's WWN's in the
> list and go from there; instead it shows NOTHING in the list.
>
> Any thoughts as to what I'm missing??? Thanks!
> -Rob.
You probably need to change the configuration of those QLogic 2200 to
non-switched. Check their website for a manual....
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| Rob Lancia 2004-11-09, 5:45 pm |
| > You probably need to change the configuration of those QLogic 2200 to
> non-switched. Check their website for a manual....
Although the QLogic adapters are noted as being in the Suns, the
direction of this response matches all the others in that I need to
change the adapter config. Problem is, I cannot find out how to do
that. The Dells have Intel Pro/1000 F Server Adapters in them and I
cannot find any reference as to how to make the configuration change.
No "Properties" field does it, nor is there configuration software
loaded on these servers (that I can find) that allows this change.
Anyone have any experience with these adapters?
Thanks!
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| Nik Simpson 2004-11-09, 5:45 pm |
| Rob Lancia wrote:
>
> Although the QLogic adapters are noted as being in the Suns, the
> direction of this response matches all the others in that I need to
> change the adapter config. Problem is, I cannot find out how to do
> that. The Dells have Intel Pro/1000 F Server Adapters in them and I
> cannot find any reference as to how to make the configuration change.
Intel Pro/1000F are GigE interfaces with a Fibre as opposed to copper or UTP
I/F. In which case, it's not surprising that they can't see the array
because they are not Fibre Channel I/F. Intel don't make Fibre Channel HBAs,
take a look at EMULEX & QLogic for FC interfaces.
--
Nik Simpson
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Rob Lancia wrote:
>
>
> Although the QLogic adapters are noted as being in the Suns, the
> direction of this response matches all the others in that I need to
> change the adapter config. Problem is, I cannot find out how to do
> that. The Dells have Intel Pro/1000 F Server Adapters in them and I
> cannot find any reference as to how to make the configuration change.
> No "Properties" field does it, nor is there configuration software
> loaded on these servers (that I can find) that allows this change.
>
> Anyone have any experience with these adapters?
>
> Thanks!
Rob,
If they're QLogic HBAs (sorry, this thread is a bit confusing  ), then
when you boot the system, you should see a prompt as it's booting to
press "Ctrl-Q" to enter the HBA BIOS. Once you're in the HBA BIOS, you
can select the 'topology' or something along those lines that gives you
a choice of FC-AL, point-to-point, etc.
Jim
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| Sounds like you need to open the server, and look at the cards. If you
don't see a brand/model number, you can look for the FCC ID (I'm pretty
sure FC cards have FCC IDs), and try to look it up on the FCC's
website: http://www.fcc.gov/oet/fccid/.
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| Sounds like you need to open the server, and look at the cards. If you
don't see a brand/model number, you can look for the FCC ID (I'm pretty
sure FC cards have FCC IDs), and try to look it up on the FCC's
website: http://www.fcc.gov/oet/fccid/.
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