Chapter 5. Configuring a Fibre Channel System

The information in this chapter presumes that your fibre channel option(s) and any fibre channel storage has been set up and initially configured by a qualified and trained installer.

XIO Interface Configurations

The maximum supported number of XIO fibre channel interfaces in an Origin2000 multi-rack system is 44. Technically, you may configure up to 12 fibre channel XIO boards in a single module. Note that this may not always be practical as other XIO boards may be needed in the module. These maximums are a function of software support and do not reflect the number of XIO fibre boards that will physically fit in a system. The OCTANE workstation supports up to three optional fibre XIO boards.

Future product releases may support a different number of boards; consult your product release notes.

Table 5-1. Configuration Maximums

Maximums

Maximum Value

Fibre channel XIO boards in an Origin2000 multi-rack system

44

Initiators on an FC-AL loop

1 standard (multiple initiators only with optional FailSafe configurations)

Maximum disks on each FC-AL loop

110 non-RAID or 100 RAID

RAID storage systems on an FC-AL loop

1 RAID enclosure plus 9 RAID expansion enclosures


Getting System Status

You can use three methods to obtain system status information from a host controlling a fibre disk array:

  • Use the command line interfaces (also known as the fccli and ssmcli) to get fibre system status

  • Use the graphical user interface (also known as the ssmgui) to get RAID array status

  • Use the IRIX command line to obtain hardware graph or hardware inventory information

These methods are explained in the Origin FibreVault and Fibre Channel RAID Administrator's Guide .