Brocade Communications Systems 53-1003126-02 AG mode without all POD licenses, Password distribution support

For more information, refer to the Fabric OS Command Reference .

• Authentication policy is not supported on cascaded AG switch configurations.

• Authentication is not supported between an AG switch running Fabric OS v7.1.0 or later and a fabric

running Fabric OS earlier than v7.1.0. If the AG switch is connected to fabric switch running Fabric

OS earlier than v7.1.0, the AG switch N_Ports will disable if authentication is enabled on both

switches. Devices mapped to N_Ports connected to fabrics operating with Fabric OS before v7.1.0

will also disable.

• If authentication is disabled on the Fabric Switch, the AG switch N_Port will come online without

authentication policy.

• Device and switch policies must be disabled on the AG before converting the switch to Native mode.

• Device and switch policies must be disabled on the switch in Native mode before converting it to AG

mode.

• Authentication policy is disabled by default on all ports in AG mode.

• High availability (HA) reboots are supported.

AG mode without all POD licenses

Prior to Fabric OS 7.3.0, the Brocade non-embedded switches (Brocade 300, 5100, 6505, and 6510)

require all POD licenses to run in Access Gateway mode. However, starting with Fabric OS release

7.3.0, all POD licenses are not required to run these switches in AG mode.

The following points need to be considered while running the switches in AG mode without all POD

licenses:

• By default, configured N_Ports will come up as disabled because a POD license is not installed for

those ports.

• All F_Ports mapped to the default N-port will come up as disabled with the following reason N-Port

Offline for F-Port

• You must manually configure N_Ports in the switch using the portcfgnport command, and move the

cable connections accordingly.

• You can update the N_Port-to-F_Port mapping using the mapdel and mapadd commands.

• You must install all POD licenses to downgrade from Fabric OS 7.3.0 to any previous release.

Password distribution support

Prior to Fabric OS 7.3.0, user account and password database can only be managed locally on the

switches in AG mode. You had to either manually populate the password database in the AG mode or

change the switch to native mode and then back to AG mode to populate the password database.

Starting with Fabric OS 7.3.0, running the distribute command on any of the switches in native mode,

will distribute the password database to all AGs and switches connected to the same fabric. You can

distribute using the AG name or use *.* to distribute to all switches and AGs.

Consider the following points regarding password distribution:

• The fddCfg command in the AG can only be used to configure to either accept or reject the

password database coming from any of the switches in the same fabric.

• To accept the password database from any switch, the AG must be loaded with Fabric OS 7.3.0, and

at least one of the switches in native mode within the same fabric must be loaded with Fabric OS

7.3.0.

• Other databases supported by fddCfg are not supported on AGs.

Access Gateway Administrator's Guide 23

53-1003126-02