Brocade 8Gb Setting Results In Mod

Asset ID:	1-72-1947806.1
Update Date:	2014-11-27
Keywords:

Solution Type Problem Resolution Sure

Solution 1947806.1 : Brocade 8Gb Setting Results In Mod_Inv

Applies to:

Brocade 300 Switch - Version All Versions to All Versions [Release All Releases]
Information in this document applies to any platform.

Symptoms

customer is trying to setup 8Gb port and results in Mod_Inv

Cause

.Customer is running with FOS Version 6.1.0c , and trys to use Ports with 8GB.

.Setting the ports to 8GB, results in port status "Mod_Inv"

.Mod_Inv --> Module speed mismatch or incompatible SFP.

Solution

As per BROCADE FABRIC OS: LINK INITIALIZATION AND FILL WORD PRIMITIVE CONFIGURATION ON 8G FC PLATFORMS Document

Up through the FOS v6.1.1 release, Brocade Fibre Channel switches used IDLE primitives both during link
initialization and for fill words (denoted as “IDLE/IDLE”). This ensured successful link initialization between
Brocade switch ports and end devices operating at 1G/2G/4G speeds.
With the introduction of 8G Fibre Channel, FC-PI-4 and FC-FS-3 standards stated that ARB should be used as
fill words for lowering emission. To comply with the published FC standards, Brocade introduced options for
ARB/ARB and IDLE/ARB link initialization/fill word support.
However, some 8G devices are not capable of properly establishing links with Brocade 8G Fibre Channel
switches when ARB/ARB or IDLE/ARB primitives are used. These 8G devices require the legacy IDLE/IDLE
sequence to achieve successful link initialization. To address this issue, Brocade has provided the ability to
configure any of the three possible combinations (IDLE/IDLE, ARB/ARB, or IDLE/ARB) for link initialization and
fill words. Any of these modes can be configured on an individual port basis using the CLI portcfgfillword. This
CLI also provides an option to automatically switch from ARB/ARB to IDLE/ARB if the former is not able to
successfully establish a link. (Please see the CLI documentation in the Appendix or in the FOS Command
Reference Manual for further details). This capability is available in FOS v6.3.1 and later versions of firmware.

In summary, FOS v6.3.1 and later versions support the following modes for 8G F_Ports as a per port configuration.

References

<NOTE:1117643.1> - Brocade 8Gb Switches may experience high er_bad_os counts

Attachments

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