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sakthi0708
Contributor
Contributor

Help: NPIV and Vmware ESX 3.5 - Virtual WWPN not visible in Switch

Hi,

I am not able to see the

Virtual WWPN generated by ESX, in Brocade 5000 SAN switch. i have a

doubt whether i forgot some steps?

I installed ESX, created VM with Storage as RDM, physical. then

generated WWPN from VM Options. vmkernel log message says the creation

of WWPN failed. also these WWPN are not visible in SAN Switch.

I tried ESX 3.5, 3.5 U2, 4.0 beta. but the result is same.

All that i want to know is what is the cause for this issue? any help is appreciated. are there any known incompatibility?

or simply what should i change (Hardware) to make this NPIV work.

If you have solutions, please help me vsakthivel_cs@yahoo.com

CONFIGURATION DETAILS:

HBA: QLE2462 / 4 GB/ Max NPIV Ports = 64 / Firmware version 4.00.26 , Driver version 8.01.07

ESX: esx-3.5 Update2, Build 110268

Server: DELL Power Edge 2950 / 8 GB / Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5430 @ 2.66GHz

The SAN switch has NPIV Enabled. here is the configuration details;

Switch information: Brocade 5000

Kernel: 2.6.14.2

Fabric OS: v6.0.0b

Made on: Fri Jan 18 21:32:16 2008

Flash: Wed May 28 00:39:57 2008

BootProm: 4.6.6

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Thanks in Advance,

Sakthivel.V

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sakthi0708
Contributor
Contributor

All that i want to know is what is the cause for this issue? any help is

appreciated. are there any known incompatibility?No hardware incompatibility.

or simply what should i change (Hardware) to make this NPIV work.The problem is with zoning. zoning should include the RDM lun which you mapped to the newly created VPort

The Vmware ESX works in the following concept;

when a VM (NPIV enabled) is created, it should be installed in RDM Lun. this is required because this is the way vmware ESX uses NPIV.

When a VM is powered on before VM POST it scans the physical HBA. if ESX identifies a LUN which is zoned with the Vport (Virtual WWPN generated by ESX {done from VC/VI client after VM creation}) then it actually creates a Vport (Virtual WWPN) and login into FC fabric.

So, you have a RDM Lun mapped to VM, and the LUN is masked to this VM, and the FC soft zoning should include;

ESX host WWPN, Virtual WWPN (Vport), Virtual WWNN

now power on the VM, and the magic happens. the virtual port is displayed in Brocade Switch.

Hope this helps for any one who face the same issue in future.

If you need more help just PM me. Smiley Happy

-Sakthivel.V

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