32 Brocade Adapters Administrator’s Guide
53-1001583-01
Virtual port configuration
3
Virtual port configuration
Virtual ports (V_Ports) appear to the hosts as physical ports in the data network. One or more
virtual ports are assigned to each host, and a host can access storage at a virtual port only if the
virtual port has been assigned to the host.

Virtual port restrictions

•You cannot create a V_Port that already exists in the Names dialog box. If you need to re-create
a V_Port that has been deleted through an interface other than the currently-managing HCM or
the V_Ports deleted on Linux servers reboot, you must first manually remove the V_Port’s WWN
from the Names dialog box in HCM. If you do not manually remove the V_Port from HCM, an
error message displays that the V_Port already exists. See “Removing a name entry” on
page40 for instructions on how to manually remove a V_Port.
•The HCM GUI should post an error message for duplicate VPorts (detected in the Vports.db file)
and prompt the user to remove the duplicate, but it does not. Duplicate world wide names are
not restricted when the BCU is used to create V_Ports. Do not use the BCU for virtual port
management, because it does not handle duplicate V_Port world wide names. Instead, use
only the HCM GUI to manage vPorts.

Creating a virtual port

You create virtual ports on HBA ports only; virtual ports are not supported on an adapter. Virtual
ports are not supported for VMware and Solaris agents.
1. Select a physical HBA port from the device tree.
2. Select Configure > Virtual Port > Create from the main menu.
OR
Right-click the physical port and select Virtual Port > Create from the list.
The Virtual Port Creation dialog box, shown in Figure10, displays. The following fields are
system-generated:
•Physical port world wide name.
•Virtual port world wide name - This WWN must be unique.
•Virtual node world wide name - The system returns the default node WWN, which is the
physical port node WWN.