298 Fabric OS Administrator’s Guide
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Connectivity solutions
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•InteropMode 2 for McDATA Fabric mode, which supports M-EOS switches running in McDATA
Fabric mode.
•InteropMode 3 for McDATA Open Fabric mode, which supports M-EOS switches running in
Open Fabric mode.
McDATA Open Fabric mode is intended specifically for adding Fabric OS-based products to M-EOS
fabrics that are already using Open Fabric mode. Fabrics containing only Fabric OS switches in
Open Fabric mode are not supported.
M-EOS products must operate with the most recent version of M-EOS supported for interoperability.
M-EOS v9.7.2 is the minimum version of firmware that is fully qualified to interoperate with Fabric
OS v6.2.0 or later. For support of Frame Redirection in McDATA Fabric Mode (interopmode 2),
M-EOS products must use v9.8 or later. For support of Frame Redirection in McDATA Open Fabric
Mode (interopmode 3), M-EOS products must use v9.9 or later. Only the ES-4400, ES-4700,
M6140, and Mi10k switches can have devices directly attached that are having data encrypted or
unencrypted.
For a list of the additional switches and backbone platforms that have interoperability built into
them, see the section, “Supported hardware in an interoperable environment” on page 329.

Connectivity solutions

Although this chapter discusses the mixed fabric interoperability solution using direct E_Port
connectivity, you can use other connectivity solutions. Depending on the requirements for either
temporary or permanent fabric interoperability, you can implement the following connectivity
solutions:
•Direct E_Port connectivity
Use direct E_Port connections when a SAN already has Fabric OS and M-EOS switches and you
want to create a single fabric. Direct E_Port connectivity enables the exchange of fabric
parameters, allowing switches to merge into one fabric with one principal switch with each
switch having a unique domain ID.
•Brocade Fibre Channel Routing connectivity
Use Fibre Channel Routing for connectivity between host and storage in different fabrics while
keeping the fabrics separate or unmerged. The Brocade 7500 and 7500E Extension switches
and the Brocade FR4-18i blade can connect to a Fabric OS switch for routing between fabrics.
The Brocade 5100, 5300, 7800, VA-40FC, DCX, DCX-4S, and Brocade Encryption Switch can
also be used for FC routing with the Integrated Routing license. For more information, see
Chapter 21, “Using the FC-FC Routing Service”.
•Access Gateway connectivity
Use Access Gateway (AG) when you have switches from different vendors. AG uses N_Port
Virtualization (NPIV) functionality in Brocade embedded switches in AG mode. NPIV enables
multiple hosts to connect through one port to any fabric switch that supports NPIV. AG
connectivity allows the mapping of multiple virtual nodes to a single physical node or port. For
more information, see the Access Gateway Administrator’s Guide.
Figure 50 shows fabric interoperability with switch-to-switch connectivity between different
hardware, for example, Mi10K, M6140, M6064, and the DCX Backbone platform. This connectivity
is established using direct E_Port connections using ISLs.