Cisco MDS 9000 Family Fabric Manager User Guide, Release 1.0(2a)
Managing Fibre Channel Routing and FSPF

Table Of Contents

Managing Fibre Channel Routing and FSPF

Configuring Fibre Channel Routing

Configuring Fibre Channel Routes

Configuring Fibre Channel Route Flows

Configuring FSPF

Managing FSPF General Attributes

Configuring FSPF Interfaces

Viewing FSPF Statistics

Viewing FSPF Interface Statistics

Viewing Link State Records

Viewing FSPF Links


Managing Fibre Channel Routing and FSPF


Fabric Shortest Path First (FSPF) is the standard path selection process used by Fibre Channel fabrics. FSPF automatically calculates the best path between any two switches in the fabric. All routes across the fabric are established when switches are powered up. These routes do not change unless there is a failure or unless a new ISL (or EISL) is created that offers a path equal to or better than an existing path.

The Fabric Manager allows you to configure and monitor these routing services on multiple Cisco 9000 switches. The Device Manager allows you to configure and monitor Fibre Channel routing and FSPF on a single Cisco 9000 switch. This chapter describes how to configure Fibre Channel routing and FSPF using the Fabric Manager and Device Manager. For information about Fibre Channel routing and how to configure routing and FSPF using the command line interface (CLI), refer to the Cisco 9000 Family Configuration Guide. This chapter includes the following information:

Configuring Fibre Channel Routing

Configuring FSPF

Configuring Fibre Channel Routing

This section describes how to configure Fibre Channel routing and includes the following topics:

Configuring Fibre Channel Routes

Configuring Fibre Channel Route Flows

Configuring Fibre Channel Routes

To configure Fibre Channel routes from the Device Manager, choose Routes from the FC menu. The dialog box displays routes for a single switch. Figure 10-1 shows the dialog box.

Figure 10-1 FC > Routes Dialog Box

The dialog box shows the display-only information described in Table 10-1.

Table 10-1 FC > Routes—Display-Only Attributes

Display-Only Attribute
Description

Vsan, Dest, Mask, Proto, Interface

Displays the VSAN ID, destination Fibre Channel address ID, and the mask for the destination Fibre Channel address ID.


Table 10-2 describes the configurable attributes for the route.

Table 10-2 FC > Routes—Configurable Attributes 

Configurable Attribute
Description

Interface

Specifies the local interface through which the next hop of this route should be reached. Only Fibre Channel interfaces and PortChannel interfaces are supported.

DomainId

Specifies the domain ID of next hop switch.

Metric

Specifies the routing metric for this route. This attribute is not relevant for multicast route entries.

Type

Specifies the type of route. Valid values are:

direct—A route for which the next hop is the final destination.

remote—A route for which the next hop is not the final destination.

This attribute is not relevent for multicast route entries.

Permanent

Click to select or deselect whether the route is to be removed from the forwarding information base (FIB) if the port is operationally down.

This attribute is not relevent for multicast route entries.


To add a route from Device Manager, click Create on the dialog box. You see the dialog box shown in Figure 10-2.

Figure 10-2 Create FC Route

Click the button to the right of the Interface field and select the interface on which to configure the Fibre Channel route. Complete the other fields on this window and click OK to add a route.

Configuring Fibre Channel Route Flows

To view Fibre Channel flows from the Fabric Manager, choose FC > Route Flow Statistics on the menu tree. To manage Fibre Channel route flows from the Device View, choose Routes from the FC menu and click the Flow Statistics tab.

The dialog box from Fabric Manager displays flows for multiple switches. The dialog box from the Device Manager displays flows for a single switch.

Figure 10-3 shows the dialog box from Device Manager.

Figure 10-3 FC > Route Flows Dialog Box

Both dialog boxes show the display-only information described in Table 10-3.

Table 10-3 The FC > Routes > Flows—Display-Only Attributes

Display-Only Attribute
Description

Switch

Displays the switch ID. This attribute is only displayed from the Fabric Manager.

Card, Index

Displays the card ID.

CreationTime

Displays the time the row was created or modified.


Table 10-4 describes the configurable flow attributes for the route.

Table 10-4 FC > Routes > Flows—Configurable Attributes 

Configurable Attribute
Description

Type

Specifies the flow type being used to set up the ingress traffic counters. Valid values are:

aggregated—The VSAN ID is required when creating an entry. The following attributes are ignored (even if they are provided):

DestId

SrcId

Mask (if not provided, the default value 0xffffff is used)

Port

exact—The following attributes are required when creating an entry:

VsanId

DestId

SrcId

Port

Mask (optional)

This attribute cannot be modified while the corresponding value of fcRouteFlowRowStatus is equal to active.

VsanId

Specifies the VSAN ID.

This attribute cannot be modified while the corresponding value of fcRouteFlowRowStatus is equal to active.

DestId

Specifies the destination Fibre Channel address ID.

This attribute cannot be modified while the corresponding value of fcRouteFlowRowStatus is equal to active.

SrcId

Specifies the source Fibre Channel address ID.

This attribute cannot be modified while the corresponding value of fcRouteFlowRowStatus is equal to active.

Mask

Specifies the mask for source and destination Fibre Channel address ID.

This attribute cannot be modified while the flow is active.

Port

Specifies the physical ingress port to which this counter applies.

This attribute cannot be modified while the flow is active.

Frames

Specifies the number of received frames for the flow.

Bytes

Specifies the number of received frame bytes for the flow.


To add a route flow from Fabric Manager, click Create Row on the toolbar. To add a route flow from Device Manager, click Create on the dialog box. You see the dialog box shown in Figure 10-4.

Figure 10-4 Insert Route Flow

Complete the fields on this window and click Create to add a route flow.

Configuring FSPF

This section describes how to configure FSPF and includes the following topics:

Managing FSPF General Attributes

Configuring FSPF Interfaces

Viewing FSPF Statistics

Viewing FSPF Interface Statistics

Viewing Link State Records

Viewing FSPF Links

Managing FSPF General Attributes

To manage FSPF general attributes from the Fabric Manager, choose FC > FSPF > General on the menu tree. To manage FSPF general attributes from the Device Manager, choose FSPF from the FC menu and click the General tab.

The dialog box from the Fabric Manager displays information for multiple switches. The dialog box from the Device Manager displays FSPF information for a single switch.

Figure 10-5 shows the dialog box from Device Manager.

Figure 10-5 FC > FSPF > General Dialog Box

Both dialog boxes show the display-only information described in Table 10-5.

Table 10-5 FC > FSPF > General—Display-Only Attributes 

Display-Only Attribute
Description

Switch

Displays the switch ID. This attribute is only displayed from the Fabric Manager.

Vsan

Displays the VSAN ID.

Status—Oper

Displays the operational state of FSPF on this VSAN. Valid values are up and down.

DomainId

Displays the domain ID of the local switch on this VSAN.

SpfComputation—Delay

Displays the time between when FSPF receives topology updates and when it starts the Shortest Path First (SPF) computation on this VSAN.

Displays a smaller value if routing reacts to the changes faster, but CPU usage is greater.

LinkStateRecord—MinArrival

Displays the minimum time between accepting a link state record (LSR) on this VSAN and accepting another update of the same LSR on the same VSAN.

An LSR update that is not accepted because of this time interval is discarded.

LinkStateRecord—MinInterval

Displays the minimum time after this switch sends an LSR on this VSAN before it sends another update of the same LSR on the same VSAN.

LinkStateRecord—RefreshTime

Displays the time interval between refreshes of link state records (LSRs) on this VSAN.

LinkStateRecord—MaxAge

Displays the maximum time an LSR is retained in the FSPF database on this VSAN. The LSR is removed from the database after the MaxAge is reached.

CreateTime

Displays the time this entry was last created.


Table 10-6 describes the configurable FSPF general attributes.

Table 10-6 FC > FSPF > General—Configurable Attributes 

Configurable Attribute
Description

Status—Admin

Enables or disables FSPF on this VSAN. Valid values are up and down.

RegionId

Specifies the autonomous region of the local switch on this VSAN.

SpfComputation—HoldTime

Specifies the minimum time between two consecutive SPF computations on this VSAN.

The smaller value indicates that routing reacts to the changes faster, but CPU usage is greater.


Configuring FSPF Interfaces

To configure FSPF interfaces from the Fabric Manager, choose FC > FSPF > Interfaces on the menu tree. To configure FSPF interfaces from the Device Manager, choose FSPF from the FC menu and click the Interfaces tab.

Both dialog boxes show the display-only information described in Table 10-7.

Table 10-7 FC > FSPF > Interfaces—Display-Only Attributes

Display-Only Attribute
Description

Switch

Displays the switch ID. This attribute is only displayed from the Fabric Manager.

Vsan, Port

Displays the VSAN ID and port ID.

Neighbors—State

Displays the state of the FSPF neighbor interface that is connected to this interface.

Neighbors—DomainId

Displays the domain ID of the neighbor on this VSAN.

Neighbors—PortIndex

Displays the port ID of the neighbor interface.

CreateTime

Displays the time this interface was created.


Table 10-8 describes the configurable attributes for FSPF interfaces.

Table 10-8 FC > FSPF > Interfaces—Configurable Attributes

Configurable Attribute
Description

Cost

Specifies the administrative cost of sending a frame on this interface on this VSAN; the lower the cost, the better.

AdminStatus

Enables or disables FSPF on this interface on the VSAN. Valid values are up and down.

Intervals (sec)—Hello

Specifies the interval between the HELLO messages sent on this interface on this VSAN to verify the link health.

Note This value must be same on both of the interfaces on each end of the link on this VSAN.

Intervals (sec)—Dead

Specifies the maximum time for which no HELLO messages can be received on this interface on this VSAN. After this time, the interface is assumed to be broken and removed from the database.

This attribute's value must be greater than the HELLO interval specified on this interface on this VSAN.

Intervals (sec)—Retransmit

Specifies the time after which an unacknowledged link update is retransmitted on this interface on this VSAN.


Viewing FSPF Statistics

To monitor FSPF statistics from the Fabric Manager, choose FC > FSPF > Statistics on the menu tree. To monitor FSPF statistics from the Device Manager, choose FSPF from the FC menu and click the Statistics tab. Both dialog boxes show the display-only information described in Table 10-9.

Table 10-9 FC > FSPF > Statistics—Display-Only Attributes 

Display-Only Attribute
Description

Switch

Displays the switch ID. This attribute is only displayed from the Fabric Manager.

Vsan

Displays the VSAN ID.

SpfComputations

Displays the number of times the SPF computation has been done on this VSAN since the creation of the entry.

ErrorRxPkts

Displays the number of invalid FSPF control packets received on all the interfaces on this VSAN since the creation of the entry.

ChecksumErrors

Displays the number of FSPF checksum errors that occurred on this VSAN since the creation of the entry.

LinkStateUpdates—RxPkts

Displays the total number of link state update (LSU) packets received on all the interfaces on this VSAN since the creation of the entry.

LinkStateUpdates—TxPkts

Displays the total number of LSU packets transmitted on all the interfaces on this VSAN since the creation of the entry.

LinkStateUpdates—RetranTxPkts

Displays the total number of LSU packets retransmitted on all the interfaces on this VSAN since the creation of the entry.

LinkStateAcks—RxPkts

Displays the total number of link state acknowledgment (LSA) packets received on all the interfaces on this VSAN since the creation of the entry.

LinkStateAcks—TxPkts

Displays the total number of LSA packets transmitted on all the interfaces on this VSAN since the creation of the entry.

Hellos—RxPkts

Displays the total number of HELLO packets received on all the interfaces on this VSAN since the creation of the entry.

Hellos—TxPkts

Displays the total number of HELLO packets transmitted on all interfaces on this VSAN since the creation of the entry.

MaxAgeCount

Displays the number of times any LSR reached the maximum age in this VSAN since the creation of the entry.


Viewing FSPF Interface Statistics

To monitor FSPF interface statistics from the Fabric Manager, choose FC > FSPF > Statistics > Interface on the menu tree. To monitor FSPF interface statistics from the Device Manager, choose FSPF from the FC menu and click the Interface Stats tab. Both dialog boxes show the display-only information described in Table 10-10.

Table 10-10 FC > FSPF > Interface Stats—Display-Only Attributes 

Display-Only Attribute
Description

Switch

Displays the switch ID. This attribute is only displayed from the Fabric Manager.

Vsan, Port

Displays the VSAN ID and port ID.

CreateTime

Displays the time this interface was created.

ErrorRxPkts

Displays the number of invalid FSPF control packets received on this interface on this VSAN since the creation of the interface.

InactivityExpirations

Displays the number of times the inactivity timer has expired on this interface on this VSAN since the creation of the interface.

LinkStateUpdates—RxPkts

Displays the number of link state update (LSU) packets received on this interface on this VSAN since the creation of the interface.

LinkStateUpdates—TxPkts

Displays the number of LSU packets transmitted on this interface on this VSAN since the creation of the interface.

LinkStateUpdates—RetranTxPkts

Displays the number of LSU packets retransmitted on this interface on this VSAN since the creation of the interface.

LinkStateAcks—RxPkts

Displays the number of link state acknowledgment (LSA) packets received on this interface on this VSAN since the creation of the interface.

LinkStateAcks—TxPkts

Displays the number of LSA packets transmitted on this interface on this VSAN since the creation of the interface.

Hellos—RxPkts

Displays the number of HELLO packets received on this interface on this VSAN since the creation of the interface.

Hellos—TxPkts

Displays the number of HELLO packets transmitted on this interface on this VSAN since the creation of the interface.


Viewing Link State Records

To monitor FSPF LSRs from the Device Manager, choose FSPF from the FC menu and click the LSDB LSRs tab. The dialog box shows the display-only information described in Table 10-11.

Table 10-11 FC > FSPF > LSDB LSRs—Display-Only Attributes 

Display-Only Attribute
Description

Switch

Displays the switch ID. This attribute is only displayed from the Fabric Manager.

Vsan, DomainId

Displays the VSAN ID and the domain ID of the local switch on this VSAN.

AdvDomainId

Displays the domain ID of the switch that is advertising the LSR on behalf of the switch that owns it.

Age

Displays the time since this LSR was inserted into the database.

IncarnationNumber

Displays the link state incarnation number of this LSR.

This number identifies the most recent instance of an LSR, while updating the topology database when an LSR is received.

Displays when an LSR is updated and increments its incarnation number before the updated LSR is transmitted. The most recent LSR is the one with the larger incarnation number.

CheckSum

Displays the checksum of the LSR.

Links

Displays the number of links associated with this LSR.


Viewing FSPF Links

To view FSPF links from the Device Manager, choose FSPF from the FC menu and click the LSDB Links tab. The dialog box shows the display-only information described in Table 10-12.

Table 10-12 FC > FSPF > LSDB Links—Display-Only Attributes

Display-Only Attribute
Description

Switch

Displays the switch ID. This attribute is only displayed from the Fabric Manager.

Vsan, DomainId

Displays the VSAN ID and the domain ID of the local switch on this VSAN.

NbrDomainId

Displays the domain ID of the neighbor on the other end of this link on this VSAN.

PortIndex

Displays the source E_port of this link.

NbrPortIndex

Displays the destination E_port of this link.

Cost

Displays the cost of sending a frame on this link on this VSAN.