Cisco MDS 9000 Series Release Notes, Release 8.5(1)

 

This document describes the features, issues, and deployment guidelines for the Cisco MDS NX-OS software for the use on the Cisco MDS 9000 Series Switches.

Note:      The documentation set for this product strives to use bias-free language. For the purposes of this documentation set, bias-free is defined as language that does not imply discrimination based on age, disability, gender, racial identity, ethnic identity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and intersectionality. Exceptions may be present in the documentation due to language that is hardcoded in the user interfaces of the product software, language used based on RFP documentation, or language that is used by a referenced third-party product.

Note:      Release notes are updated on an as needed basis with new information on restrictions and caveats. Refer to the following website for the most recent version of the Cisco MDS 9000 Series Release Notes.

Introduction

The Cisco MDS 9000 Series of Multilayer Directors and Fabric Switches provide best-in-class high availability, scalability, security, and management, that enables to deploy high-performance storage-area networks. Layering a rich set of intelligent features onto a high-performance switch fabric, the Cisco MDS 9000 Series addresses the stringent requirements of large data center storage environments: high availability, security, scalability, ease of management, and seamless integration of new technologies.

About Software Images

The Cisco MDS NX-OS operating system is shipped with the Cisco MDS 9000 Series Switches. The Cisco MDS NX-OS software consists of two images: the kickstart image and the system image. These images can be upgraded or downgraded to different versions. The versions of both images must match for the system to boot.

Each model of Cisco MDS switch has unique kickstart and system images. For more information on the image names for each Cisco MDS switch, see the Cisco MDS 9000 NX-OS Software Upgrade and Downgrade Guide, Release 8.x.

To download new Cisco MDS 9000 Series software, including Cisco MDS NX-OS and Cisco DCNM management software, go to the Storage Networking Software download website at https://software.cisco.com/download/home.

Choosing Between Cisco MDS NX-OS Open Systems Releases

Cisco uses release numbering to indicate the maturity of a Cisco MDS NX-OS release train. Cisco MDS NX-OS major versions are incremented when significant software features or hardware support are added. Because of the focus on new features and hardware, all defects may not yet have been fixed. After an initial release, minor version numbers of the train are incremented, and only security patches and defect fixes are added, providing better stability to the new features and updated security.

Details about the new features and hardware supported by Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 8.5(1) can be found in the New Hardware and Software Features section. For information about other releases, refer to the Release Notes on the Cisco MDS 9000 NX-OS and SAN-OS Software documentation page.

For Cisco recommended MDS NX-OS releases for each type of hardware, see the Recommended Releases for Cisco MDS 9000 Series Switches document.

Components Supported

For information on supported software and hardware components, see the Cisco MDS 9000 Series Compatibility Matrix.

FICON

Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 8.5(1) is not IBM FICON qualified. For more information on releases that are IBM FICON qualified, see http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/storage-networking/mds-9000-nx-os-san-os-software/products-release-notes-list.html.

Upgrading Cisco MDS NX-OS Software Image

This section lists the guidelines recommended for upgrading Cisco MDS NX-OS software image and includes the following topics:

●      General Upgrading Guidelines

●      Open Systems Nondisruptive Upgrade Paths

For detailed instructions for performing a software upgrade using Cisco DCNM, see the Cisco DCNM Release Notes.

General Upgrading Guidelines

This section lists the general guidelines for performing a software upgrade:

●      Install and configure dual supervisor modules before the upgrade.

●      Issue the show install all impact upgrade-image command to determine if the upgrade will be nondisruptive.

●      Some features are impacted whether an upgrade is disruptive or nondisruptive:

◦    Fibre Channel Ports: Fibre Channel ports can be nondisruptively upgraded without affecting traffic on the ports. See the “Open Systems Nondisruptive Upgrade Paths” section for all MDS NX-OS releases.

◦    Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) Ports: FCoE ports can be nondisruptively upgraded without affecting traffic on the ports. See the “Open Systems Nondisruptive Upgrade Paths” section for all MDS NX-OS releases.

◦    IP Storage (IPS) Ports: Traffic on IPS ports on Cisco MDS 9220i, MDS 9250i, and Cisco MDS 24/10-Port SAN Extension Modules is disrupted during an upgrade or downgrade. Nodes that are members of VSANs traversing an FCIP ISL are impacted, and a fabric reconfiguration may occur. If supported, iSCSI initiators connected to the IPS ports lose connectivity to iSCSI targets while the upgrade is in progress.

Note:      In addition to these guidelines, review the information in the "Limitations and Restrictions" section before a software upgrade to determine if a feature may possibly behave differently following the upgrade.

◦    To upgrade or downgrade to a Cisco MDS NX-OS release version, the same release version of the kickstart and system images in the install all command must be used.

◦    If you are upgrading Cisco MDS 9700 Series Directors from Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 8.3(1), Release 8.3(2), Release 8.4(1), or Release 8.4(1a) to Release 8.4(2) or later, ensure that you perform a switchover before upgrading. For more information, see CSCvt87216.

Open Systems Nondisruptive Upgrade Paths

The software upgrade information in this section applies only to Fibre Channel switching traffic. Upgrading system software disrupts IP traffic and intelligent services traffic.

Note:      If the SAN Analytics feature is enabled, then disable the SAN Analytics feature using the no feature analytics command before upgrading from Cisco MDS NX-OS 8.2(x) or Cisco MDS NX-OS 8.3(x) to Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 8.5(1). However, you can upgrade from Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 8.4(1) and above releases to Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 8.5(1) without disabling the feature.

Table 1.        Nondisruptive Upgrade Paths to Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 8.5(1)

Downgrading Cisco MDS NX-OS Software Image

This section lists the guidelines recommended for ISSD of Cisco MDS NX-OS software image and includes the following topics:

●      General Downgrading Guidelines

●      Open Systems Nondisruptive Downgrade Paths

General Downgrading Guidelines

Follow these general guidelines before performing a software downgrade:

●      Disable all features that are not supported by the downgrade release. Use the show incompatibility system downgrade-image command to determine the features that needs to be disabled.

●      Use the show install all impact downgrade-image command to determine if the downgrade is nondisruptive.

●      The following features are impacted during a downgrade, whether it is a nondisruptive downgrade or a disruptive downgrade:

◦    Fibre Channel Ports: Fibre Channel ports can be nondisruptively downgraded without affecting traffic on the ports. See the “Open Systems Nondisruptive Downgrade Paths” section for all MDS NX-OS releases.

◦    Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) Ports: FCoE ports can be nondisruptively downgraded without affecting traffic on the ports. See the “Open Systems Nondisruptive Downgrade Paths” section for all MDS NX-OS releases.

◦    FCoE Port: FCoE ports can be nondisruptively downgraded without affecting traffic on the ports.

◦    IPS Ports: Traffic on IPS ports on Cisco MDS 9220i, MDS 9250i, and Cisco MDS 24/10-Port SAN Extension Modules is disrupted during an upgrade or downgrade. Nodes that are members of VSANs traversing an FCIP ISL are impacted, and a fabric reconfiguration may occur. If supported, iSCSI initiators connected to the IPS ports lose connectivity to iSCSI targets while the upgrade is in progress.

Find the MDS NX-OS image that you want to downgrade to in the To MDS NX-OS Release column of the Table 2 and follow the steps in the order specified to perform the downgrade.

Note:      The software downgrade information in the below tables applies only to Fibre Channel switching traffic. Downgrading system software disrupts IP and intelligent services traffic.

●      Any hardware that is not supported by the downgrade release version will be powered down when the downgrade release starts running. Power off and or remove any unsupported components before downgrading. For more information about supported hardware see the Cisco MDS 9000 Series Compatibility Matrix.

Note:      If you are downgrading from Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 9.2(1) or later releases to a release prior to Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 9.2(1), ensure that you use the clear logging onboard txwait command after downgrading. Otherwise, logging to the OBFL TxWait file may cease with an error. For more information, see the Cisco MDS 9000 Series Interfaces Configuration Guide, Release 9.x.

ISSD Guidelines for Cisco MDS 9396S Switch

●      Downgrading from Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 8.x to Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 7.3(0)D1(1) or Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 6.2(13a) is not supported on a Cisco MDS 9396S Switch which has DS-CAC-1200W as a power supply unit (PSU) and DS-C96S-FAN-I as port side intake fan tray.

●      Downgrading from Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 8.x to Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 6.2(13) is not supported on the Cisco MDS 9396S Multilayer Fabric Switch. The minimum recommended image for Cisco MDS 9396S Multilayer Fabric Switch is 6.2(13a).

ISSD Guidelines for Cisco MDS 9250i Switch

●      Downgrading from Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 8.x to Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 7.3(0)D1(1), or 6.2(13a) and lower is not supported on a Cisco MDS 9250i Switch which has only one online PSU.

●      Downgrading from Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 8.x to Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 7.3(0)D1(1), or 6.2(13a) and lower on a Cisco MDS 9250i Switch with two online PSUs results in loss of N:N grid redundancy. The switch will run in non-redundant mode.

●      Downgrading from Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 8.x to Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 7.3(0)D1(1), or 6.2(13a) and lower on a Cisco MDS 9250i Switch with three online PSUs results in loss of N:N grid redundancy. The switch will run in N+1 power redundant mode.

Open Systems Nondisruptive Downgrade Paths

●      Downgrading directly from Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 8.1(1) and Release 8.1(1b) to releases before Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 6.2(9) is not supported. In such a scenario, we recommend that you first downgrade to Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 6.2(13a) or higher and then downgrade to the required release.

●      Downgrading directly from Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 8.1(1) to Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 7.3(0)DY(1) is not supported. In such a scenario, we recommend that you first downgrade to Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 7.3(0)D1(1) and then upgrade to 7.3(0)DY(1).

●      Downgrading directly from Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 8.1(1) to Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 7.3(1)DY(1) is not supported. In such a scenario, we recommend that you first downgrade to Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 7.3(0)D1(1) and then upgrade to 7.3(1)DY(1).

●      Downgrading from Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 8.1(1) and Release 8.1(1b) is not supported if the FLOGI Scale Optimization feature is enabled on the Cisco MDS 9718 Switches.

Table 2.        Nondisruptive Downgrade Paths from NX-OS Release 8.5(1)

New Hardware and Software Features

●      New Hardware Features in Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 8.5(1)

●      New Software Features and Enhancements in Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 8.5(1)

New Hardware Features in Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 8.5(1)

Cisco MDS 9220i Fabric Switch

The Cisco MDS 9220i Fabric switch is a powerful and compact 1-rack unit (1RU) SAN fabric switch with SAN extension capabilities. For more information, see Cisco MDS 9220i Fabric Switch Hardware Installation Guide.

New Software Features and Enhancements in Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 8.5(1)

Congestion Isolation

This feature is now handled by Fabric Performance Monitor (FPM).

The following commands were introduced:

●      feature fpm

●      fpm congested-device {exclude | static} list

●      member pwwn pwwn vsan id [credit-stall]

The following commands were deprecated:

●      congestion-isolation {include | exclude} pwwn pwwn vsan vsan-id

●      feature congestion-isolation

●      show congestion-isolation {exclude-list | global-list | ifindex-list | include-list | pmon-list | remote–list | status}

For more information, see the “Congestion Management” section in Cisco MDS 9000 Series Interfaces Configuration Guide, Release 8.x.

Congestion Isolation Recovery

The Congestion Isolation Recovery feature automatically recovers flows, which were moved to the low priority virtual link, after they have not exhibited any slow indications for a specified time. The recovered flows are moved back to the normal virtual link.

The port-monitor cong-isolation-recover {recovery-interval seconds | isolate-duration hours num-occurrence number} command was introduced.

The counter port monitor command was modified to add the cong-isolate-recover portguard action.

For more information, see the “Congestion Management” section in Cisco MDS 9000 Series Interfaces Configuration Guide, Release 8.x.

Fabric Notifications

Note:      The Fabric Notification — FPIN and Congestion Signal feature is currently in preview (beta) status for use in non-production environment only. Contact your account teams or Cisco MDS marketing team to understand the use case before enabling this feature. This preview (beta) status and restriction will change to regular production status in an upcoming release.

Fabric Notifications are used to notify end devices of performance impacting conditions and behaviors that affect the normal flow of IO such as link integrity degradation and congestion.

The following commands were introduced:

●      feature fpm

●      fpm congested-device {exclude | static} list

●      member pwwn pwwn vsan id [credit-stall]

●      fpm congested-device recover pwwn pwwn vsan id

●      fpm fpin period seconds

●      fpm congestion-signal period seconds

●      show fpm {fpin | registration {congestion-signal | summary} | congested-device database {exclude | local | remote | static}} vsan id

●      The counter port monitor command was modified to add the FPIN portguard action.

For more information, see the “Congestion Management” section in Cisco MDS 9000 Series Interfaces Configuration Guide, Release 8.x.

Dynamic Ingress Rate Limiting (DIRL)

DIRL is a new congestion mitigation feature in MDS. It will incrementally limit the ingress rate of traffic on an interface that has been detected to cause congestion. By limiting the ingress rate of traffic, congestion will be reduced or eliminated in the fabric.
DIRL is supported on Cisco MDS 9132T, MDS 9148T, MDS 9220i, and MDS 9396T switches and is not supported on Cisco MDS 9250i, MDS 9148S, and MDS 9396S switches.

DIRL is supported on MDS 9706, MDS 9710, and MDS 9718 switches using 48-port 32-Gbps Fibre Channel Switch module and 48-port 64-Gbps Fibre Channel Switch module and is not supported on Cisco MDS 9700 48-Port 16-Gbps Fibre Channel Switching Module and Cisco MDS 9700 24/10-Port SAN Extension Module.

The following commands were introduced:

●      fpm dirl {exclude list | reduction percentage recovery percentage}

●      member {fc4-feature target | interface fc slot/port}

●      fpm dirl recover interface fc slot/port

●      show fpm {dirl exclude | fpin vsan id | ingress-rate-limit {events | status} interface fc slot/port}

●      The counter port monitor command was modified to add the DIRL portguard action.

For more information, see the “Congestion Management” section in Cisco MDS 9000 Series Interfaces Configuration Guide, Release 8.x.

Port Monitor Portguard Action for FPIN

Note:      The Fabric Notification—FPIN and Congestion Signal feature is currently in preview (beta) status for use in non-production environment only. Contact your account teams or Cisco MDS marketing team to understand the use case before enabling this feature. This preview (beta) status and restriction will change to regular production status in an upcoming release.

A new portguard action FPIN is introduced for fabric notifications.

The counter port monitor command was modified to add the FPIN portguard action.

Port Monitor Portguard Action for DIRL

A new portguard action DIRL is introduced to automatically limit the rate of ingress commands and other traffic to reduce or eliminate the congestion that is occurring in the egress direction.

The counter port monitor command was modified to add the DIRL portguard action.

Port Monitor TxWait Configuration for Congestion Signals

Note:      The Fabric Notification—FPIN and Congestion Signal feature is currently in preview (beta) status for use in non-production environment only. Contact your account teams or Cisco MDS marketing team to understand the use case before enabling this feature. This preview (beta) status and restriction will change to regular production status in an upcoming release.

End devices register with switches for receiving congestion signal primitives at specific interval. This interval is negotiated by the end device with the switch and cannot be configured. The congestion-signals portguard action is introduced to send alerts to the end devices at the specified interval.

The following command was introduced:

counter txwait warning-signal-threshold count1 alarm-signal-threshold count2 portguard congestion-signals

Port Monitor Early Warning

Port monitor counters are monitored every second so that port monitor can detect errors and send alerts as soon as a rising threshold is detected. There is no change in the falling threshold behavior.

For more information on port monitor counters and portguard feature, see the “Port Monitor” section in Cisco MDS 9000 Series Interfaces Configuration Guide, Release 8.x.

Port Monitor Alerts

Port monitor allows you to configure alerts for each counter so that you can prioritize the alerts that you want to monitor. You can configure syslog, RMON, OBFL, or none alert types.

You can also configure an event ID (severity-level) for the syslogs that are generated when a rising or falling threshold is detected so that you can filter the logs using the severity level.

For more information, see the “Port Monitor” section in Cisco MDS 9000 Series Interfaces Configuration Guide, Release 8.x.

Port Monitor Input Errors Counter

A new input errors counter is introduced to detect and alert input frame errors, including non CRC errors. For more information, see the “Port Monitor” section in Cisco MDS 9000 Series Interfaces Configuration Guide, Release 8.x.

Port Monitor SFP Counters

The port monitor SFP counters allow you to configure the low-warning thresholds for Tx Power and Rx Power for SFPs so that you receive an alert when these values drop below the configured values.

The following are the SFP counters:

●      sfp-rx-power-low-warn

●      sfp-tx-power-low-warn

For more information, see the “Port Monitor” section in Cisco MDS 9000 Series Interfaces Configuration Guide, Release 8.x.

Port Monitor Datarate Burst Counters

The port monitor datarate burst counters monitor the number of times the datarate crosses the configured threshold datarate. If the number crosses the configured number for raising threshold, alerts are generated as the condition is met. Datarate burst counters are polled every second.

The following are the datarate burst counters:

●      rx-datarate-burst

●      tx-datarate-burst

For more information, see the “Port Monitor” section in Cisco MDS 9000 Series Interfaces Configuration Guide, Release 8.x.

License for Cisco MDS 9220i Fabric Switch

Default license for IPS ports is available only in the 1-Gbps speed mode. In any other speed mode (10 Gbps or 40 Gbps), ports need additional port activation license. For more information, see Cisco MDS 9000 Series Licensing Guide, Release 8.x.

Configuring IPS Ports on Cisco MDS 9220i Switch

You can configure 1 or 10 Gbps IPS ports and one 40 Gbps IPS port on Cisco MDS 9220i switch. For more information, see the “Configuring IP Storage Services” section in Cisco MDS 9000 Series IP Services Configuration Guide, Release 8.x.

Configuring 40 Gbps Speed on Cisco MDS 24/10 port SAN Extension Module

You can configure 40 Gbps on the IPS ports of Cisco MDS 24/10 port SAN Extension Module. For more information, see the “Configuring IP Storage Services” section in Cisco MDS 9000 Series IP Services Configuration Guide, Release 8.x.

SPAN for IPS Source Ports

Traffic that is sent to a Fibre Channel port that is configured as an SD port can be spanned on the ingress of FCIP interfaces. For more information, see the “IPS Source Ports” section in Cisco MDS 9000 Series System Management Configuration Guide, Release 8.x.

Cisco NPV Load Balancing

The Cisco NPV load balancing scheme is enhanced to propose a mapping of server interfaces to external interfaces based on the throughput value so that the traffic can be evenly distributed on the external interfaces.

The following commands were introduced:

●      show npv traffic-map proposed

●      npv traffic-map analysis clear

For more information, see Cisco MDS 9000 Series Interfaces Configuration Guide, Release 8.x.

Autozone

Autozone can now be enabled on VSANs different from VSAN 1.

The maximum number of devices supported by zones in Autozone is increased to 250.

The autozone --enable --vsan id command was modified.

SAN Analytics

Virtual Machine Identifier (VMID) Analytics

The VMID Analytics feature was introduced to monitor, analyze, identify, and troubleshoot performance issues at VM level and not just at the host level.

The analytics vm-tag veid command was introduced.

ShowAnalyticsOverlay CLI

Added the --outfile option to copy the command output to a file and the --appendfile option to append the command output to a file for the ShowAnalytics command.

The ShowAnalytics --help command output was modified.

ShowAnalyticsConsistency

The ShowAnalyticsConsistency command is introduced to identify inconsistencies in SAN analytics components such as NPU, modules, queries, database, port-sampling configuration and so on.

For more information, see Cisco MDS 9000 Series SAN Analytics and SAN Telemetry Streaming Configuration Guide, Release 8.x.

Device Aliases

The default device alias mode is changed to enhanced mode. For more information, see the “Distributing Device Alias Services” section in Cisco MDS 9000 Series Fabric Configuration Guide, Release 8.x.

The following syslog was introduced to alert when the device alias mode is changed to enhanced mode:

%DEVICE-ALIAS-2-DDAS_DEFAULT_MODE: Device alias mode has been set to enhanced mode

For more information, see Cisco MDS 9000 Family and Nexus 7000 Series NX-OS System Messages Reference.

NX-API

Certificates for NX-API can now be installed with encrypted private keys and imported via trust point.

The nx-api certificate certfile key keyfile password passphrase command was modified to add a password option.

The nxapi trustpoint label command was introduced.

For more information, see the “NX-API” chapter in the Cisco MDS 9000 Series Programmability Guide, Release 8.x.

Zone Member Ratio Threshold

Fan-out ratio is the number of target ports zoned to a single initiator. Fan-in ratio is the number of initiators zoned to a single target port. Zone member ratio is a superset of fan-out and fan-in ratios. The zone member ratio threshold can now be configured to trigger an Embedded Event Manager (EEM) event. The show zone analysis active command was modified to display the zone member ratio after the threshold has been configured in EEM.

The following commands were modified:

●      event zone {zones max-per-switch | zonesets max-per-switch | zonemembers max-per-switch | dbsize max-per-vsan | zone-member-ratio} count

●      show zone analysis [pending] {active {member-ratio [detail] vsan id | vsan id} | vsan id | zoneset name vsan id}

For more information, see Cisco MDS 9000 Series Command Reference, Release 8.x.

The following syslog was introduced to alert when the zone member ratio is exceeded:

SCRIPT-INFO: ZONE-2-SWITCH_ZONE_MEMBER_RATIO: VSAN-[dec]: Zoneset [char] has [dec] devices that exceed the zone member ratio of 1:[dec].

For more information, see Cisco MDS 9000 Family and Nexus 7000 Series NX-OS System Messages Reference.

Copy Running Configuration to Startup Configuration

A warning is added in the copy startup-config running config command to alert users about overwriting the running configuration with startup configuration. For more information, see Cisco MDS 9000 Series Command Reference, Release 8.x.

Call Home

The ability to control which RMON alerts generate Call Home events by filtering on the RMON alert's event id was added.

The following command was modified:

alert-group {All | Cisco-TAC | Crash | Environmental | Inventory | License | Linecard-Hardware | RMON permit event-id id | Supervisor-Hardware | Syslog-group-port | System | Test} {script-name script.tar | user-def-cmd commands}

For more information, see Cisco MDS 9000 Series Command Reference, Release 8.x.

Unsupported Features

Data Mobility Manager

From Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 8.1(1), the Cisco MDS Data Mobility Manager is not supported on Cisco MDS 9000 Series Switches.

Zoning Features

LUN zoning, read-only zones, and broadcast zones are no longer supported.

If these features are already configured, completely remove all the configurations that include these features before attempting to bring up these modules. In addition, you cannot configure these features after you bring up these modules.

Slow Drain Detection and Congestion Isolation Enhancements

ER_RDY is not supported on FC interfaces running at 10 Gbps.

XRC Acceleration License

From Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 8.1(1a), the Cisco Extended Remote Copy (XRC) acceleration license is obsoleted on Cisco MDS 9000 Series Switches due to improvements in the mainframe XRC feature.

Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP)

From Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 8.3(1) and later, the VRRP feature is not supported on Cisco MDS 9000 Series Switches.

Data Encryption Standard (DES) Encryption for SNMP

From Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 8.5(1), AES-128 is the default encryption mechanism for SNMPv3. DES encryption for SNMP is supported only for DES users who upgrade from previous releases to Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 8.5(1). Ensure that you delete all the SNMPv3 users configured with DES encryption before upgrading to Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 8.5(1) and later releases. Any downgrades from Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 8.5(1) will be restricted if any of the SNMPv3 users have DES encryption configured as the privacy protocol. All such users will either need to be deleted or reconfigured to use no privacy protocol or AES128 encryption before downgrading.

For more information, see Cisco MDS 9000 Series System Management Configuration Guide, Release 8.x.

Deprecated Hardware

From Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 8.1(1), the following hardware models are not supported:

●      Cisco MDS 9513

●      Cisco MDS 9509

●      Cisco MDS 9506

●      Cisco MDS 9500 Series Supervisor-2A Module

●      Cisco MDS 24-Port 8-Gbps Fibre Channel Switching Module

●      Cisco MDS 48-Port 8-Gbps Fibre Channel Switching Module

●      Cisco MDS 32-Port 8-Gbps Advanced Fibre Channel Switching Module

●      Cisco MDS 48-Port 8-Gbps Advanced Fibre Channel Switching Module

●      Cisco MDS 10 Gbps 8-Port FCoE Module

●      Cisco MDS 16-Port Storage Services Node (SSN-16)

●      Cisco MDS 18/4-Port Multiservice Module (MSM)

Limitations and Restrictions

SAN Extension Tuner

SAN Extension Tuner (SET) is not supported on Cisco MDS 9220i switches in Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 8.5(1).

Fibre Channel Read Diagnostic Parameters

Fibre Channel RDP querying is not supported on NPV, Port Channel, or FCoE links.

DIRL and FPIN

DIRL and FPIN are not supported on switches that are operating in the Cisco NPV mode.

DIRL and FPIN are not supported on the following switches:

●      Cisco MDS 9250i Switches

●      Cisco MDS 9148S Switches

FPIN Notifications

FPIN Notification for oversubscription-based congestion is not supported.

FCIP Support

●      In Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 8.1(1) or later, FCIP Write Acceleration is not supported between 24/10 San Extension Module and Cisco 18+4 MSM module and between 24/10 San Extension Module and Cisco SSN16 module.

●      In Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 8.1(1) or later, FCIP Write Acceleration along with IVR is not supported on FCIP tunnels configured on Cisco MDS 9700 Series switches.

●      FCIP tunnels using Cisco MDS 24/10 Port SAN Extension Module cannot be used across FSPF equal cost paths.

●      On Cisco MDS 9220i switches, the maximum throughput on a single FCIP tunnel is 7 Gbps. On the 40 Gbps IPS port, the maximum throughput is 28.5 Gbps when 4 FCIP tunnels are created on separate VLAN interfaces.

●      On Cisco MDS 24/10 Port SAN Extension Module, configuring multiple ECMP port channels with FCIP members in the same VSAN is not a valid configuration. If this is configured, then the traffic will flow through only one of the port channels.

iSCSI Support

iSCSI is not supported on Cisco MDS 9700 Directors with Cisco MDS 24/10 port SAN Extension Modules and Cisco MDS 9220i Fabric Switch.

HVDC PSU Support

The Cisco MDS 9700 HVDC PSU (DS-CHV-3.5KW) is not supported in Cisco MDS NX-OS Releases 8.1(1) and 8.1(1a). Do not attempt to load these releases on devices equipped with these PSUs or the systems will fail to power up.

Cisco TrustSec FC Link Encryption

Cisco TrustSec FC Link Encryption support is available only on certain ports for the following modules:

●      48-port 2/4/8/16-Gbps Fibre Channel switching module (DS-X9448-768K9)

●      48-port 4/8/16/32-Gbps Fibre Channel switching module (DS-X9648-1536K9)

●      48-port 32-Gbps Fibre Channel Switching Module (DS-X9648-1536K9)

●      Cisco MDS 9000 24/10-Port SAN Extension Module (DS-X9334-K9)

●      Cisco MDS 9132T 32-Gbps 32-Port Fibre Channel Fabric Switch

●      Cisco MDS 9148T 32-Gbps 48-Port Fibre Channel Fabric Switch

●      Cisco MDS 9396T 32-Gbps 96-Port Fibre Channel Fabric Switch

●      Cisco MDS 9396S 16-Gbps 96-Port Fibre Channel Fabric Switch

●      Cisco MDS 9220i Fabric Switch

Caveats

●      Subscribing for Important Product Update Notifications

●      Resolved Caveats in Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 8.5(1)

●      Open Caveats in Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 8.5(1)

Subscribing for Important Product Update Notifications

Cisco provides a subscription service to notify of important events related to the Cisco MDS software and hardware for the following categories:

●      Cisco Security Advisories

●      Field Notices

●      End-of-Sale, End-of-Life, and End-of-Support Announcements

●      Software Updates [New, Certified, Software Advisories, Deferred, Obsoleted]

●      Updates to Known Bugs

We recommend that you at least subscribe to the Field Notices, Security Advisories, and Software Updates [New, Certified, Software Advisories, Deferred, Obsoleted] categories, if not all categories, so that you can receive notifications about any critical product issues.

To subscribe to a category for receiving notifications of important updates:

1.     Go to https://cway.cisco.com/mynotifications, and log in to your account.

2.     Click Create Subscription.

3.     Follow the onscreen instructions.

Note:      You must renew your notification subscriptions annually.

Resolved Caveats in Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 8.5(1)

Open Caveats in Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 8.5(1)

Related Documentation

The documentation set for the Cisco MDS 9000 Series includes the documents listed in this section. To find a document online, access the following URL:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps5989/tsd_products_support_series_home.html

The documentation set for Cisco Prime Data Center Network Manager is available from the following URL:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps9369/tsd_products_support_series_home.html

Release Notes

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/storage-networking/mds-9000-nx-os-san-os-software/products-release-notes-list.html

Licensing Information

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/datacenter/mds9000/sw/8_x/config/licensing/cisco_mds9000_licensing_guide_8x.html

Regulatory Compliance and Safety Information

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/datacenter/mds9000/hw/regulatory/compliance/RCSI.html

Compatibility Information

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/storage-networking/mds-9000-nx-os-san-os-software/products-device-support-tables-list.html

Installation and Upgrade

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/storage-networking/mds-9000-nx-os-san-os-software/products-installation-guides-list.html

Configuration Guides

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/storage-networking/mds-9000-nx-os-san-os-software/products-installation-and-configuration-guides-list.html

Command-Line Interface

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/storage-networking/mds-9000-nx-os-san-os-software/products-command-reference-list.html

Troubleshooting and Reference

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/storage-networking/mds-9000-nx-os-san-os-software/tsd-products-support-troubleshoot-and-alerts.html

Documentation Feedback

To provide technical feedback on this document, or to report an error or omission, send your comments to mds-docfeedback@cisco.com. We appreciate your feedback.

Legal Information

Cisco and the Cisco logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cisco and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. To view a list of Cisco trademarks, go to this URL: www.cisco.com/go/trademarks. Third-party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word partner does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company. (1721R)

Any Internet Protocol (IP) addresses and phone numbers used in this document are not intended to be actual addresses and phone numbers. Any examples, command display output, network topology diagrams, and other figures included in the document are shown for illustrative purposes only. Any use of actual IP addresses or phone numbers in illustrative content is unintentional and coincidental.

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