292 Fabric OS Administrator’s Guide
53-1001763-02
NPIV overview
13
==============================================
0 0 010000 id N4 Online FC F-Port 20:0c:00:05:1e:05:de:e4 0xa06601
1 1 010100 id N4 Online FC F-Port 1 N Port + 4 NPIV public
2 2 010200 id N4 Online FC F-Port 1 N Port + 119 NPIV public
3 3 010300 id N4 Online FC F-Port 1 N Port + 221 NPIV public
On the Brocade DCX and DCX-4S with the FC8-64 blade, the base port is not included in the NPIV
device count. The following example shows only 63 NPIV devices total.
Index Slot Port Address Media Speed State Proto
==================================================
127 12 15 a07f40 id N4 Online FC F-Port 1 N Port + 63 NPIV public
(AoQ)

Upgrade considerations

The maximum login per switch has decreased with Fabric OS v6.4.0. When upgrading from Fabric
OS pre-v6.4.0, the configured maximum is carried forward and may exceed the v6.4.0 limit. It is
recommended to reconfigure this parameter to be within the range permitted in Fabric OS v6.4.0.

Fixed addressing mode

Fixed addressing mode is the default addressing mode used in all platforms that do not have
Virtual Fabrics enabled. When Virtual Fabrics is enabled on the Brocade DCX and DCX-4S, fixed
addressing mode is used only on the default partition. The number of NPIV devices supported on
shared area ports (48-port blades) is reduced to 64 from 128 when Virtual Fabrics mode is
enabled.

10-bit addressing mode

The 10-bit addressing mode is the default mode for all the logical switches created in the Brocade
DCX and DCX-4S enterprise-class platform. The number of NPIV or loop devices supported on a
port is 64.
Table 53 shows the number of NPIV devices supported on the Brocade DCX and DCX-4S
enterprise-class platform.
TABLE 53 Number of supported NPIV devices
Platform Virtual Fabric Logical switch type NPIV support
DCX Disabled N/A Yes, 127 virtual device limit.1
DCX Enabled Default switch Yes, 63 virtual device limit.1
DCX Enabled Logical switch Yes, 255 virtual device limit.2, 3
DCX Enabled Base switch No.
DCX-4S Disabled N/A Yes, 255 virtual device limit.
DCX-4S Enabled Default switch Yes, 255 virtual device limit.