brocade fabric switches zoning concept

HI,
 today i am going to explain about zoning in fabric switches.zoning means a group can not communicate with the other group.simply we can say that restrict the user to access only allocated resources.based on the WWNN(world wide node name) and WWPN(world wide port name) the zoning are divided into below types.   
Type of Zoning (Hard zoning, Soft zoning, Hardware Enforced, Soft Porting) – Most of the organize will put the priority on security. Hence the hard zone-base architecture is one of the best solutions.
         The Aliases – In SAN fabric, Aliases is optional with zoning. The good thing about aliases feature is: Aliases will force the structure when defining the zones. Aliases will also aid future administrators of the zoned fabric. Structure is the word that comes to mind here
   The host needs an extra level of security that Secure Fabric OS provides? – In Brocade Fibre Channel switch  ( FC-SW) , you can enable the secure Fabric OS into the Zone Architecture if extra security is required.

 Interoperability Fabric – if the users need to include third-party Fibre Channel  ( FC ) switch product, as simple, the storage administrator just need to do the WWN zoning, and doesn’t required Quickloop and etc.

  Testing a (new) zone configuration. – Before implementing a zone the Storage administrator should run the Zone Analyzer and isolate any possible problems. This is best practice as it can help to prevent of the fabrics increase in size.Is the fabric going to have QLFA or QL in it? – If the user is running Brocade Fabric OS v4.0 or lower, then there are a couple things to consider before creating and setting up QLFA zones:

• QuickLoop Fabric Assist
Brocade Fabric OS v4.0 cannot have a Fabric Assist host directly connected to it.
However, in Brocade Fabric OS v4.0, it still allows the fabric assist host that connected to a non v4.0 fibre channel switch.
• QuickLoop Zoning
Brocade Fabric OS v4.0 can still manage (create, remove, update) QL zones on any non-v4.0 switch. However, QL/QL zones cannot run on switches running Brocade Fabric OS v4.0.
 Note, storage administrator should always ensure there is no one is issuing I/O in the zone that going to enable or making the fabric configuration. Prep work needed before enabling/changing a zone configuration.  Storage administrator should always allocate the “maintenance timeframe” for those zoning activity. For example, after the office hour, the network or Data I/O will become in idle mode. This is the best timing to perform the storage administration task. Failing to do so will cause the serious impact within the fabric like databases breaking, node panics etc. This goes the same for disk(s) that are mounted. If the user changes a zone, and a node is mounting the storage in question, it may “vanish” due to the zone change. This may cause the application down or panic.

 Potential post work requirements after enabling/changing a zone configuration. – After enabling a zone configuration, the Storage administrator should always verify that nodes and storage are able to see and access one another. Depending on the platform, the Storage administrator may need to reboot the Host in the fabric in order to take the system effect and presence the new changes to the zone.

LUN masking in general – For the LUN Masking, storage administrator must ensure that the conjunction with fabric zoning for maximum effectiveness.
                                         
                                     thanks for reading
comments are welcome

NFC- NEAR FILED COMMUNICATION- A PATH BREAKING TECHNOLOGY

Hi friends ,

 

Last week I saw an Nokia Ad in the TV showing two friends sharing music,picture and playing games simply by tapping their phones against each other , something like in sci-fi movie.It got me intrigued and i found out  that the technology behind  this was "NFC -near field communication".

Co-invented by NXP Semiconductors and Sony in 2002, Near Field Communication, or NFC, allows you to share, interconnect many devices, make mobile payments, read NFC-enabled tags and even do multi-player gaming by tapping your device against your friends' cool isn't :) . 

Well you may now ask that , why on earth do i need NFC when we have the Blue-tooth technology that allow you to do exactly the same things like NFC.Well then here's some fact :

1) NFC is  a gesture based (touch-tap ) process which makes it easier than the two to three step process for Bluetooth.

2)For it to work, both the interacting devices need to be embedded with NFC chips. These chips operate in a short range, generally around 4 cm or less. The speed of data transfer is around 440 kilobits per second which is more than enough for applications like reading card information or connecting devices.Well this speed is at least 10-20 times faster than bluetooth transfer rate.

3)NFC enabled phones which have your credit card information stored enables you to make mobile payments by tapping against the credit card reader without physically swapping the card , so you no longer need your credit cards.

4)On your way back from office, the hit song of the latest Bollywood blockbuster catches your attention. Loving the tune, you walk into a nearby music store. You reach for the film's poster, touch your phone against it and tap it.
It downloads the song and even makes the payment. You share it with friends by 'touch-tap' again and, finally, you reach home and 'touch-tap' the phone with your home entertainment system to listen to the music in all its glory. This may seem like sci-fi but the technology behind it is already here.ALL this is possible with NFC.

So whats your take Bluetooth or NFC ?

In India, Apple and Samsung have launched NFC enabled phones on iOS and Android respectively . Nokia has also launched six NFC phones and Blackberry-maker RIM two phones. This means that a NFC handset is available for as low as Rs 11,000 today.

Tivoli Storage Manager Commands (TSM)

q sess   To see currently working sessions

can sess  ( sess no)  To cancel a session

q eve domainname schedulename    To see schedule time,nodename, scgedule name and progress of the scheeduled backup. ( q eve * * to see all scheduled backups)

q proc    To see currently running background processes 


cancel process (process no)    To cancel a process

q node   To view assigned nodes in a Tivoli server 


q filespace   To check backup space utilized for each file system of a server, filesystem type...
q actlog  To view activity log


q act begind=mm/dd/yyyy begint=hh:mm:ss  endd=mm/dd/yyyy endt=hh:mm:ss     To view activity log for a specified period by begining date and end date


q act begind=today-1 begint=00:00   To view activity log from yesterday 12:00 am


q act search=transferred begint=00:00   To see all completed backup size of servers from 12:00 am


q act search=nodename     To view activity log for a node

q drive f=d   To get detailed report of drive, it's status ... 

q library f=d    To get detailed information about tape library  

q libvol    To see volumes in the tape library and it's status

q vol   To see volumes and it's storage pool name, capacity, status 

q req     To see requests 

reply (request no)  To continue request 

q sched     To show schedule name domain, action , start date & time 

q sched f=d   To show detailed report about schedules including schedule backup path

UPDATE LIBVOLUME TS3200 L41117L4  STATUS=SCRATCH    To change a library volume ( L41117L4 ) status to scratch from private 

update node nodename "admin" domain=domainname forcepwreset=Yes    To change a tivoli login password of a node

define vol storagepoolname L41116L4    Add new tape L41116L4 to a storagepool


delete volume L41116L4 discarddata=yes    To delete data inside a tape media L41116L4

To create a new schedule backup (incremental ) for a node

UPDATE SCHEDULE domainname nodename desc="daily incremental backup for a server" action=Incremental options=-subdir=yes objects=""/fs1/*" "/fs2/*" "/home/user1/*"" priority=5startdate=mm/dd/yyyy starttime=hh:mm duration=1 duru=Houperiod=1 perunits=Day dayofweek=Any expiration=never

To start tivoli services in an AIX client

#cd /usr/tivoli/tsm/client/ba/bin

nohup dsmc sched &     To start scheduled backup service

nohup dsmcad &   To start BA client ( webmode backup i.e. http://ip.address.of.server>:1581)
#cd /usr/tivoli/tsm/StorageAgent/bin

nohup ./dsmsta &        To start storage agent ( LANFREE BACKUP= backup directly from SAN to Tape library )  

#ps -ef | grep dsm     To view currently running Tivoli services in server


To update drive status of a server to online

update path sourceservername TAPE0 srct=server destt=drive libr=ts3200 online=yes  
To set serial number of a drive in tape library

UPDATE DRIVE TS3200 TAPE0 ELEMENT=autodetect ONLINE=Yes WWN="2002000E11107B6C" SERIAL=autodetect


To detect label of a tape in tape library

label libvol t3200 checkin=scratch labelsource=barcode search=bulk waittime=0
 

To remove tape media from tape library

checkout libvol ts3200 VOLLIST=A00015L3,A00019L3 CHECKLABEL=YES REMOVE=YES


To add and label new tapes into library
LABEL libvol TS3200 search=yes labelsource=barcode overwrite=NO checkin=SCRATCH WAITTIME=0
 

To take full backup of Tivoli database manually to a file in local disk

backup db dev=FILECLASS type=full


to assign a tape drive to a server
=======================

UPDATE PATH servername TAPE0 SRCTYPE=SERVER DESTTYPE=DRIVE LIBRARY=TS3200 DEVICE=\\.\Tape0 ONLINE=YES AUTODETECT=no

Important
If you are not able to take backup through any of Tivoli backup methods ( BA client, dsmc , schedule ) then check any NFS mounted filesystems are there in the server and that server is available or not. If that server is not powered on, either unmount the NFS filesyatem or make that server available...