Adding a preferred secondary N_Port (optional)

F_Ports automatically fail over to any available N_Port. Alternatively, you can specify a preferred
secondary N_Port in case the primary N_Port fails. If the primary N_Port goes offline, the F_Ports fail
over to the preferred secondary N_Port (if it is online), then re-enable. If the secondary N_Port is offline,
the F_Ports will disable. Define the preferred secondary N_Ports per F_Port. For example, if two
F_Ports are mapped to a primary N_Port, you can define a secondary N_Port for one of those F_Ports
and not define a secondary N_Port for the other F_Port. F_Ports must have a primary N_Port mapped
before a secondary N_Port can be configured.
1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account assigned to the admin role.
2. Enter the ag --prefset command with the "F_Port1;F_Port2; ..." N_Port options to add the preferred
secondary F_Ports to the specified N_Port.
The F_Ports must be enclosed in quotation marks and the port numbers must be separated by a
semicolon, as shown in the following example.
switch:admin> ag --prefset "3;9" 4
Preferred N_Port is set successfully for the F_Port[s]
NOTE
Preferred mapping is not allowed when Automatic Login Balancing mode is enabled for a port group.
All N_Ports are the same when Automatic Login Balancing mode is enabled.

Deleting F_Ports from a preferred secondary N_Port

1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account assigned to the admin role.
2. Enter the ag --prefdel command with the "F_Port1 ;F_Port2 ;... " N_Port options to delete F_Ports
from an N_Port.
The list of F_Ports must be enclosed in quotation marks. Port numbers must be separated by a
semicolon. In the following example, F_Ports 3 and 9 are deleted from preferred secondary N_Port 4.
switch:admin> ag --prefdel "3;9" 4
Preferred N_Port is deleted successfully for the F_Port[s]
Failover with device mapping
Failover is handled similarly for port mapping and device mapping if devices are mapped to N_Port
groups. If a device is mapped to an N_Port in a group, and an N_Port goes offline, the devices mapped
to that N_Port will reconnect on the least-loaded online N_Ports in the group.
Enabling or disabling the Failover or Failback policies for N_Ports has no effect on device mapping. A
device will always fail over to an online N_Port in the port group, regardless of whether the Failback
policy is enabled for an N_Port or not. Whereas, with port mapping, if you disable the Failover or
Failback policy on an N_Port, the F_Port will not fail over or fail back to other N_Ports.
Failover behavior is different if a device is mapped to a specific N_Port instead of to an N_Port group. If
mapping a device to a specific N_Port, you can define a secondary N_Port that will be used if the
primary N_Port is offline. To maximize the device uptime, it is recommended to map the device to a port
group rather than to specific N_Ports.

Adding a preferred secondary N_Port (optional)

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