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Brocade CLI Zoning Tutorial

// March 11th, 2010 // No Comments » // Technical Know-It-All

Given that more and more features within Brocade SAN switches are configured using zones, thought I would share this quick CLI guide for those looking to script this.

Zoning is organised as such

- Every SAN device has a unique WWN (much like how IP devices have MAC addresses)
- WWN’s are then mapped to aliases
- Multiple aliases then form a zone
- Multiple zones then form a config
- Nutshell, WWN->Aliases->Zones->Config

So here are the steps to create a zones quickly using CLI.

1. Ensure you have noted down the device WWN and assign it a usable name for alias. WWN’s for devices can be found using “switchshow“. In this example, I will be mapping the following devices to the appropriate names

10:00:00:00:00:00:00:01 -> Server_HBA01
50:00:00:00:00:00:00:01 -> Storage_P01
50:00:00:00:00:00:00:02 -> Storage_P02

alicreate “Server_HBA01″, “10:00:00:00:00:00:00:01″

alicreate “Storage_P01″, “50:00:00:00:00:00:00:01″

alicreate “Storage_P02″, “50:00:00:00:00:00:00:02″

2. Next, we want to group these 3 members into a single zone so they can have access to each other. Let’s create a zone called “Zone_svr2_hba01_str_p01_str_po2″. Remember that zone members are case sensitive.

zonecreate “Zone_svr2_hba01_str_p01_str_p02″, “Server_HBA01; Storage_P01; Storage_P02″

3. After completing step 2, put the newly created zone into a config. For simplicity, I shall call this “Config_Test”. Again this is case sensitive.

cfgcreate “Config_Test”, “Zone_svr2_hba01_str_p01_str_p02″

4. Verify the zones using “cfgshow“. The zones should only show up under “Defined Configuration”. To make this zones active, you will need to enable it.

cfgenable “Config_Test”

5. Now if you run “cfgshow” again, you will realise that the “Defined Configuration” and “Effective Configuration” is the same. This is when you know the zones are activated.

6. To script this, you can simply prepare all commands in Notepad and open up a putty session then cut and paste it. You can also use SSH scripts if required.

Brocade SAN Health Tutorial

// December 10th, 2009 // 2 Comments » // Technical Know-It-All

As promised before, I will try to explain in detail how to work Brocade SAN Health. Just a recap, Brocade SH is an exceptionally informative tool that allows you to capture performance, and configuration data from Brocade and McData SAN fabrics. It will then take this data and churn out a very useful Visio diagram and an Excel file.

Alright, let’s start!

1. Firstly, you would need to download the tool from the Brocade website. Once downloaded, the install takes like 3 secs. Fire up the tool and you will see a screen like above.

2. Click on “New”, and it will prompt you to fill up all your contact details. Fill it in accordingly.

3. Click on the “Report Return” tab, and fill in the your email address. It is “IMPORTANT” to get your email address right here because ultimately, this is where your report is going to be sent to.

4. Click on the “SAN Details” tab next, and give your audited SAN a name.

5. Next click on “Add Switches”. Input the IP addresses and login details of the switches. Usually, you would only require 1 switch from each fabric. Once it successfully logs in to the first switch, the rest is discovered in-band.

6. Click on “Fabric Details”. Here fill up fabric name, vendor details, and the duration of this audit.

7. Verify that all the “Green Smiley” faces are there. If not click on each of those and make sure they are green. When that’s done, you are ready to do a preflight check! Go to the “Start Audit” tab and run “Pre-Flight Check”. If pre-flight is good, the “Start Audit” button will be available.

8. It will then start running. Depending on how long you want it to capture, you can probably minimise the window and let it run in the background. I usually recommend 24 hours just so you get a complete trending of the peaks and lows.

9. Once complete, it will encrypt the file (so it is safe to be sent across the Internet). Keep clicking “Next” and read the on-screen instructions.

10. The last screen will tell you where the <filename>.BSH ( Brocade San Health) file is saved. You will then need to forward the *.BSH file to SHUpload@brocade.com. This file will then get processed in the backend by Brocade server’s and then you should receive a reply in 24 hours (more often than not, you will get it in 4-5 hrs). In the event that you don’t hear from them in that time frame, email SHAdmin@brocade.com and let them know the filename of the *.BSH file, they will let you know if it’s in the queue.

That is it! Simple!

Many of my customers swear on this, and they do it on a weekly basis just to keep their SAN environments in check. So give it a go. Things that are FREE are rarely this good & usefull….

P/S : You cannot capture performance data from McData fabrics and there are no roadmaps for this.