4-2 SilkWorm 4016 Hardware Reference Manual
Publication Number: 53-1000175-01
Accessing the SilkWorm 4016
4

Port Negotiation

The SilkWorm 4016 has been designed to be highly interoperable. It supports 1 Gbit/sec, 2 Gbit/sec,
and 4 Gbit/sec transmit and receive rates with autonegotiation. The actual data signaling rate used on a
port is automatically sensed and set to the rate supported by device or devices attached to the port.
If the SilkWorm 4016 is connected to a device but is unable to negotiate the signaling rate, the operator
can manually set the speed of each port through the management interfaces.
The SilkWorm 4016 is compliant with current Fibre Channel standards, including most current-
generation switch N_Ports, NL_Ports, and E_Ports as well as host adapters, Redundant Array of
Independent Disks (RAID) storage devices, hubs, Fibre-SCSI bridge devices, and older Brocade
SilkWorm switch families.

Operating System Support

Brocade Fabric OS has no specific host OS dependencies. The Fabric OS in the switches allows for any
Fibre Channel-compliant device to attach to the switches as long as it conforms to the standards for
device login, name service, and related F ibre Channel features. The operating systems listed in Tabl e 4-
2 are for the host machine running Brocade management applications outside the Fabric OS, such as
Fabric Manager.
Accessing the SilkWorm 4016
The SilkWorm 4016 is managed as a single element. It has a single IP address and appears as a separate
entity to the telnet protocol and the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP).
When SNMP devices send SNMP messages to a management console running SAN management
software, the information is stored in a Management Information Base (MIB). The SilkWorm 4016
Fabric OS 4.4.1 supports the FibreAlliance Fibre Channel Management (FCMGMT) MIBs, allowing
the provision of needed information to a SAN administrator.
In addition, the Brocade Fabric Access Layer (API) and the Storage Management Initiative (SMI)
provide facilities for the discovery and management of physical and logical elements in a SAN. Using
the Fabric Access interface to the Fabric OS, a client application can retrieve information and modify
the configuration of Brocade switches in the fabric.
Table 4-2 Supported Operating Systems
Operating System Version
AIX 4.3.3
Windows NT 4.0
Windows 2000 Initial Release
Solaris 2.5, 2.5.1, 2.6, 2.7, 2.8
HP UX 10.0, 11.0
Linux Red Hat versions 6.2 and 7.0