Table Of Contents

Storage Access Networking Cards

6.1  FC_MR-4 Card Overview

6.1.1  FC_MR-4 Card-Level Indicators

6.1.2  FC_MR-4 Port-Level Indicators

6.1.3  FC_MR-4 Compatibility

6.2  FC_MR-4 Card Modes

6.2.1  Line-Rate Card Mode

6.2.2  Enhanced Card Mode

6.2.3  Distance Extension (Enhanced Mode Only)

6.2.4  Interoperability Features (Enhanced Mode Only)

6.2.5  Link Integrity

6.2.6  Link Recovery

6.3  FC_MR-4 Card Application

Storage Access Networking Cards

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The FC_MR-4 card is a 1.0625- or 2.125-Gbps Fibre Channel/Fiber Connectivity (FICON) card that integrates non-SDH framed protocols into an SDH time-division multiplexing (TDM) platform through virtually concatenated payloads. This chapter provides information about the FC_MR-4 card. For installation and step-by-step circuit configuration procedures, refer to the Cisco ONS 15454 SDH Procedure Guide.

Chapter topics include:

•FC_MR-4 Card Overview

•FC_MR-4 Card Modes

•FC_MR-4 Card Application

6.1  FC_MR-4 Card Overview

The Fibre Channel Multirate 4-port (FC_MR-4) card uses pluggable Gigabit Interface Converters (GBICs) to transport non-SONET/SDH-framed, block-coded protocols over SONET/SDH. The FC_MR-4 enables four client Fibre Channel (FC) ports to be transported over SONET/SDH, encapsulating the frames using the ITU-T Generic Framing Protocol (GFP) format and mapping them into either T1X1 G.707-based Virtual Concatenated (VCAT) payloads or standard contiguously concatenated SONET/SDH payloads. The FC_MR-4 card has the following features:

•Four FICON ports operating at 1 Gbps or 2 Gbps

–All four ports can be operational at any time due to subrate support

–Advanced Distance Extension capability (buffer-to-buffer credit spoofing)

•Pluggable GBIC optics

–Dual rate (1G/2G): MM (550 m) and SM (10 km)

–Single rate (1G): SX (550 m) and LX (10 km)

•SONET/SDH support

–Four 1.0625 Gbps FC channels can be mapped into SONET/SDH containers as small as STS1/VC3 (subrate), with a minimum of STS-24c/VC4-8c for full rate, and as large as STS48c/VC4-24c.

–Four 2.125 Gbps FC channels can be mapped into SONET/SDH containers as small as STS1/VC3 (subrate), with a minimum of STS48c/VC4-24c for full rate, and as large as STS48c/VC4-24c.

•Frame encapsulation: ITU-T G.7041 Generic Framing Procedure-Transparent (GFP-T)

•High-order SONET/SDH VCAT support (STS1-xv/VC-3 and STS3c-xv/VC-4)

Figure 6-1 shows the FC_MR-4 faceplate and block diagram.

Figure 6-1 FC_MR-4 Faceplate and Block Diagram

6.1.1  FC_MR-4 Card-Level Indicators

Table 6-1 describes the two card-level LEDs on the FC_MR-4 card.

Table 6-1 FC_MR-4 Card-Level Indicators  

Card-Level Indicators	Description
Red FAIL LED	The red FAIL LED indicates that the card's processor is not ready. Replace the card if the red FAIL LED persists.
Green ACT LED	If the ACTV/STBY LED is green, the card is operational and ready to carry traffic.
Amber ACT LED	If the ACTV/STBY LED is amber, the card is rebooting.

6.1.2  FC_MR-4 Port-Level Indicators

Each FC_MR-4 port has a corresponding ACT/LNK LED. The ACT/LNK LED is solid green if the port is available to carry traffic, is provisioned as in-service, and in the active mode. The ACT/LNK LED is flashing green if the port is carrying traffic. The ACT/LNK LED is steady amber if the port is not enabled and the link is connected, or if the port is enabled and the link is connected but there is an SONET/SDH transport error. The ACT/LNK LED is unlit if there is no link.

You can find the status of the card ports using the LCD screen on the ONS 15454 SDH fan-tray assembly. Use the LCD to view the status of any port or card slot; the screen displays the number and severity of alarms for a given port or slot. Refer to the Cisco ONS 15454 SDH Troubleshooting Guide for a complete description of the alarm messages.

6.1.3  FC_MR-4 Compatibility

The FC_MR-4 cards can be installed in Slots 1 to 6 and 12 to 17 when used with XC-VXL-2.5G, XC-VXL-10G, and XC10G cards. The FC_MR-4 card can be provisioned as part of any valid ONS 15454 SONET/SDH network topology, such as a subnetwork connection protection ring (SNCP) (CCAT circuits only), multiplex section-shared protection ring (MS-SPRing), 1+1 subnetwork connection (SNC), unprotected, or linear network topologies. The FC_MR-4 card is compatible with Software R4.6 and greater.

6.2  FC_MR-4 Card Modes

The FC_MR-4 card can operate in two modes:

•Line Rate mode. This mode is backward compatible with Software Release 4.6 Line Rate mode.

•Enhanced mode. This mode supports subrate, distance extension, and other enhancements.

The FC_MR-4 card reboots when changing card modes (a traffic hit results). The FPGA running on the card upgrades to the required image. However, the FPGA image in the card's flash is not be modified.

6.2.1  Line-Rate Card Mode

Mapping for the line-rate card mode is summarized here.

•1 Gbps Fibre Channel/FICON is mapped into:

–SONET CCAT: STS24c, STS48c

–SONET VCAT: STS3c-8v, STS1c-24v

–SDH CCAT: VC4-8c, VC4-16c

–SDH VCAT: VC4-8v

•2 Gbps Fibre Channel/FICON is mapped into:

–SONET CCAT: STS48c

–SONET VCAT: STS3c-16v, STS1c-48v

–SDH CCAT: VC4-16c

–SDH VCAT: VC4-16v

6.2.2  Enhanced Card Mode

Features available in enhanced card mode are given in this section.

6.2.2.1  Mapping

1 Gbps Fibre Channel/FICON is mapped into:

•SONET CCAT: STS1c, STS3c, STS6c, STS9c, STS12c, STS18c, STS24c, STS48c

•SONET VCAT: STS3c-Nv (N is 1 to 8), STS1c-Nv (N is 1 to 24)

•SDH CCAT: VC4-1c, VC4-2c, VC4-3c, VC4-4c, VC4-6c, VC4-8c, VC4-16c

•SDH VCAT: VC4-Nv (N is 1 to 8)

2 Gbps Fibre Channel/FICON is mapped into:

•SONET CCAT: STS1c, STS3c, STS6c, STS9c, STS12c, STS18c, STS24c, STS36c, STS48c

•SONET VCAT: STS3c-Nv (N is 1 to 16), STS1c-Nv (N is 1 to 48)

•SDH CCAT: VC4-1c, VC4-2c, VC4-3c, VC4-4c, VC4-6c, VC4-8c, VC4-12c, VC4-16c

•SDH VCAT: VC4-16v (N is 1 to 16)

6.2.2.2  SW-LCAS

Virtual Concatenation Group (VCG) is reconfigurable with the software link capacity adjustment scheme (SW-LCAS) enabled, as follows:

•Out of service and out of group members can be removed from VCG

•Members with deleted cross connect can be removed from VCG

•Errored members can be autonomously removed from VCG

•Degraded bandwidth VCGs are supported

•VCG is flexible with SW-LCAS enabled (VCG can run traffic as soon as the first cross-connect is provisioned on both sides of the transport)

6.2.3  Distance Extension (Enhanced Mode Only)

This following list describes FC_MR-4 card distance extension capabilities.

•Enabling of SAN extension over long distances through buffer-to-buffer (B2B) credit spoofing.

–2300 Km for 1G ports (longer distances supported with lesser throughput)

–1150 Km for 2G ports (longer distances supported with lesser throughput)

•Negotiation mechanism to identify if far end FC-over-SONET card supports Cisco proprietary B2B mechanism.

•Auto detection of FC switch B2B credits from FC-SW standards-based ELP frames.

•Support for manual provisioning of credits based on FC switch credits.

•Automatic GFP buffer adjustment based on roundtrip latency between two SL ports.

•Automatic credit recovery during SONET switchovers/failures.

•Insulation for FC switches from any SONET switchovers. No FC fabric reconvergences for SONET failures of less than or equal to 60 ms.

6.2.4  Interoperability Features (Enhanced Mode Only)

The interoperability features are as follows:

•Maximum frame size setting to prevent accumulation of oversize PMs for VSAN frames

•Ingress filtering disable for attachment to third party GFP over SONET/SDH equipment

6.2.5  Link Integrity

The link integrity features are as follows:

•Data port disabled if upstream data port is not able to send over SONET/SDH Transport

•Data port disabled if SONET/SDH transport is errored

6.2.6  Link Recovery

Link recovery has the following features:

•Reduces the impact of SONET/SDH disruptions on attached fiber channel equipment

•Speeds up the recovery of Inter Switch Links (ISL)

•Allows the monitoring of B2B credit depletion due to SONET outage and the full recovery of the credits, thus preventing the slow decay of the bandwidth/throughput

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Note Distance Extension and Link Recovery cannot be enabled at the same time.

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6.3  FC_MR-4 Card Application

The FC_MR-4 card reliably transports a carrier-class, private-line Fibre Channel/FICON transport service. Each FC_MR-4 card can support up to four 1-Gbps circuits or four 2-Gbps circuits. Four 1.0625 Gbps FC channels can be mapped into containers as small as STS1 (subrate), with a minimum of STS-24c/VC4-8c for full rate, and as large as STS48c/VC4-24c. Four 2.125 Gbps FC channels can be mapped into containers as small as STS1 (sub-rate), with a minimum of STS48c/VC4-24c for full rate, and as large as STS48c/VC4-24c.

The FC_MR-4 card incorporates features optimized for carrier-class applications such as:

•Carrier-class Fibre Channel/FICON

•50 ms of switch time through SONET/SDH protection as specified in Telcordia GR-253CORE

•Hitless software upgrades

•Remote Fibre Channel/FICON circuit bandwidth upgrades by means of integrated Cisco Transport Controller (CTC)

•Multiple management options through CTC, Cisco Transport Manager (CTM), TL1 (for SONET only), and Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)

The FC_MR-4 payloads can be transported over the following protected circuit types, in addition to unprotected circuits:

•SNCP (CCAT circuits only)

•MS-SPRing

•Protection channel access (PCA)

The FC_MR-4 card supports high-order virtual concatenation (VCAT). See the "10.14  Virtual Concatenated Circuits" section on page 10-22.

The FC_MR-4 uses pluggable GBICs for client interfaces and is compatible with the following GBIC types:

•ONS-GX-2FC-SML= (short reach 1 or 2 Gbps FC 1310 nm single mode with SC connectors)

•ONS-GX-2FC-MMI= (long reach 2 Gbps FC 850 nm multimode with SC connectors)

•15454-GBIC-SX (short reach 1 Gbps 850 nm multimode)

•15454E-GBIC-SX (short reach 1 Gbps 850 nm multimode)

•15454-GBIC-LX/LH (long reach 1 Gbps 1310 nm multimode)

•15454E-GBIC-LX/LH (long reach 1 Gbps 1310 nm multimode)