Converged Enhanced Ethernet Administrator’s Guide 9
53-1001761-01
FCoE Initialization Protocol 1
DRAFT: BROCADE CONFIDENTIAL
•The Brocade FCoE hardware uses the FCoE Initialization Protocol (FIP). Enodes discover FCFs
and initialize the FCoE connection through the FIP.
•VF_port configuration—An FCoE port accepts Enode requests when it is configured as a
VF_port and enabled. An FCoE port does not accept ENode requests when disabled.
•Solicited advertisements—A typical scenario is where a Brocade FCoE hardware receives a FIP
solicitation from an ENode. Replies to the original FIP solicitation are sent to the MAC address
embedded in the original FIP solicitation. After being accepted, the ENode is added to the
VN_port table.
•Login group—When enabled, replies to solicitations are sent only by Brocade FCoE hardware
that have the ENode in the login group.
•FCF forwarding—The Brocade FCoE hardware forwards FIP frames only when the VLAN is set to
FCF forwarding mode.
•VLAN 1—The Brocade FCoE hardware should not forward FIP frames on VLAN 1 because it is
reserved for management traffic only.
•A fabric-provided MAC address is supported. A server-provided MAC-address is not supported
in the Fabric OS v6.4.0 release.
NOTE
In the fabric-provided MAC address format, VN_port MAC addresses are based on a 24-bit
fabric-supplied value. The first three bytes of this value is referred to as the FCMAP. The next
three bytes are the FC ID, which is assigned by the switch when the ENode logs in to the switch.
FIP login
FIP login operates as follows:
•ENodes can log in to the Brocade FCoE hardware using FIP. Fabric login (FLOGI) and fabric
discovery (FDISC) are accepted. Brocade FCoE hardware in the fabric maintain the MAC
address, World Wide Name (WWN), and PID mappings per login. Each ENode port should have
a unique MAC address and WWN.
•FIP FLOGI—The Brocade FCoE hardware accepts the FIP FLOGI from the ENode. The FIP FLOGI
acceptance (ACC) is sent to the ENode if the ENode MAC address or WWN matches the
VN_port table on the Brocade FCoE hardware. The FIP FLOGI request is rejected if the ENode
MAC address or WWN does not match. The ENode login is added to the VN_port table. Fabric
Provided MAC addressing (FPMA) is supported.
•FIP FDISC—The Brocade FCoE hardware accepts FIP FDISC from the ENode. FIP FDISC
acceptance (ACC) is sent to the ENode if the ENode MAC address or WWN matches the
VN_port table on the Brocade FCoE hardware. The FIP FDISC request is rejected if the ENode
MAC address or WWN does not match. The ENode login is added to the VN_port table. FPMA is
supported.
•Maximum logins per VF_port—The Brocade FCoE hardware supports a maximum of 255 logins
per VF_port. The VF_port rejects further logins after the maximum is reached.
•Maximum logins per switch—The Brocade FCoE hardware accepts a maximum of 1024 logins
per switch. Note that the Brocade FCoE hardware does not reject further logins after the
maximum is reached.