Fiber Channel

[jwcrabtree]

We currently have 2 VMware environments and will be merging them together into 1 in the next month or so. The plan is to migrate the hosts and VM's from vCenter 2 to vCenter 1 which has the better storage array.

vCenter 1 is connected to 2 Brocade switches and an EMC Unity 300 SAN.

vCenter 2 is connected to 2 Cisco switches and an EMC VNX 5300 SAN.

We have connected the switches together and the hosts from vCenter 2 can see the EMC Unity 300 in vCenter 1 but can not see the storage (Unity sees vCenter 2 and all the hosts but they all show the initiators are not logged in). I moved a host from vCenter 2 to vCenter 1 and get the same result.

The Cisco switches have been zoned to allow traffic from the hosts to the WWN of the brocade switches and the brocade switches are zoned to allow the hosts from vCenter 2 to have access to the Unity.

I found an old article (2013 era) that indicated the 2 could not work together, but don't know if that is relevant now.

Any suggestions on how to get this working? If we have to run fiber, the 2 environments are in the same DC but at opposite ends of the aisle, 40 ft apart so we would have to run several long cables.

[e_espinel]

Hello.
Before working on Switch FC you need to verify certain details:
Compatibility between FC Switches if they are from different vendors, for this type and model of each FC SW is required.
Verify firmware compatibility (FOS) between the SW FC.
Verify the type of configuration that can be by port or by WWN. Mixed configurations are not recommended.
Verify in the HBA of the Host that the drivers and Frimware are compatible with the SW FC to which they are going to be connected.

You must have a backup of the configuration of each Fabric (SAN) before any change or connection.

You can get a complete diagram of your SAN with the following Brocade tool
https://www.broadcom.com/support/fibre-channel-networking/tools/san-health

When you state that the two cannot work together do you mean the Brocade and Cisco FC Switches ? or do you mean the storages ?

Another radical option would be to install an additional HBA on each ESXi Host in group 2 and connect it directly to one of the SWs in group 1, configure it and verify that it has access to the new Storage.

Depending on the type of licenses and version you have of VMware vSphere, you could try a vMotion in environments with non shared storage. I attach links about this.

https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/5.5/com.vmware.vsphere.vcenterhost.doc/GUID-561681D9-6511-...
https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/5.5/com.vmware.vsphere.vcenterhost.doc/GUID-9F1D4A3B-3392-...

I have done this type of migrations as follows:
1. disconnecting the ESXi host from the old vcenter.
2. plugging the esxi host into the new vcenter
3. shutting down one of the VMs and performing the vmotion
4. then power on the VM and verify its operation.
5. continue with the other VMs in the same way.

 to move the VM to another ESXi Host you must verify the Network configuration, it must be identical between the Hosts.

[a_p_]

I didn't have access to such a combination yet, so it's more of a guess.

>>> The Cisco switches have been zoned to allow traffic from the hosts to the WWN of the brocade switches ...
Why are the hosts zoned to the Borcade WWN rather than to the Unity? You did that on the Brocade switches, so why not doing the same on the Cisco switches?

Don't the interconnect ports between the switched open as E-Ports?

André