H41BPS - Managing HPE B-series Fibre Channel Switches

Overview

This course is designed for current and future HPE B-series SAN administrators. It introduces necessary FC theory such as routing, trunking, addressing, and services, as well as B-Series associated topics such as proprietary features, HPE B-series SAN management and monitoring options, SAN extension technologies, advanced SAN security, and hardware installation. NVME-oF theory is also presented. All practical parts are based on HPE B-series SAN devices. This course helps students gain the experience needed to tackle the challenges of working in medium-sized and enterprise-class HPE B-series SAN environments.

Audience

This course is ideal for intermediate to advanced IT professionals seeking a learning path that includes knowledge of FC-SAN technologies and experience in HPE B-series SAN environments.

Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites for this course, but we recommend you have the following before attending:
A good technical understanding of networking and storage concepts
Basic experience in managing Windows systems

Objectives

After completing this course, you should be able to:
Perform initial installation and configuration
Explain Fibre Channel theory including Fibre Channel Protocol (FCP) routing and trunking
List Fibre Channel services
Discuss NVMe-oF technology
Configure long distance connectivity including Fibre Channel over IP (FCIP)
Configure Fibre Channel-to-Fibre Channel routing (FC-FC routing) and Virtual Fabrics
Implement Fibre Channel security
List B-Series management and monitoring options
Perform maintenance and troubleshooting
Design a SAN network

Course outline

Module 1: Installation and Configuration

HPE B-series SAN portfolio
Installation and configuration of a new switch
Switch configuration procedure
Activate a license feature
Setting names
Configuring syslog support
Checking switch status
Configuring 10 Gb/s Fibre Channel on supported platforms
Taking a configuration backup
Booting a switch

Module 2: Fiber Channel Theory

Describe the Fibre Channel networking model
Different class of service
FC frame structure
Flow control
Recall the format of a WWN
Fibre Channel topologies
Port types
Fibre Channel addressing
NPIV technology and use-cases

Module 3: FCP Routing and Trunking

Fabric terminology
Principal switch
Fabric initialization
Frame routing—FSPF (Layer 2 routing)
Exchange-based routing
ISL Trunking
Inter-chassis links
Routing over trunks
Trunks monitoring
Deskew parameter

Module 4: Fibre Channel Services

Link services
Fabric services
Well-known addresses
Simple Name Service
Fabric login sequence
Zoning overview and types
Zoning management and administration
Default zoning
Zone fabric locking
Zoning granularity
Adding a new B-series switch to a zoned fabric
Zoning best practices
Peer Zoning
Target-driven peer zoning
QoS zoning

Module 5: NVMe-oF

What is NVME?
Why NVMe over fabrics
HPE Storage Networking—how NVMe improves performance
NVMe over fabrics (NVMe-oF) summary
NVMe over FC (FC-NVMe)
NVMe over Ethernet

Module 6: Long Distance Connectivity

SAN extension technologies and implementations
Wave Division Multiplexing (WDM) overview
CWDM
DWDM
FC over SONET/SDH
Fabric OS Extended Fabrics
Buffer to buffer flow control
Configuring Extended Fabrics
Trunking over long distance fabrics
Protective switching
Buffer-to-buffer credit allocation and management

Module 7: FCIP

Fibre Channel over IP (FCIP) and its role in SAN extension
FCIP circuits, trunking, and tunnels
FCIP performance
FCIP compression
FCIP selective acknowledgement
FastWrite and Open Systems Tape Pipelining
Adaptive rate limiting and FCIP QoS
FCIP best practices
FCIP advantages and disadvantages
Configure and verify a VE_port-to-VE_Port connection
FCIP performance and security
FCIP analysis
B-Series distance extension product lines

Module 8: FC-FC Routing and Virtual Fabrics

Fibre Channel-to-Fibre Channel routing (FC-FC routing)
SAN scaling
LSAN zones
Fabrics and EX_Port
EX_port trunking
Integration of Fibre Channel routing and FCIP
Logical fabrics and ISLs
Virtual fabrics theory
Fabric and Domain ID
Virtual fabric configuration

Module 9: Security

Connection control (SCC) policy
Device connection control (DCC) policy
Fabric configuration server (FCS) policy
Authentication policy for fabric elements
Security policy distribution and consistency
Identify IP filter policies (IPFILTER)
B-series role-based access control (RBAC)
Predefined and user-defined roles
Setting password rules
Authentication options and multi-factor authentication
Authentication policy for fabric elements
Switch and device authentication policy modes
Setting up the authentication protocol (FCAP)
Security and encryption
In-flight compression and encryption

Module 10: Management

Technologies driving SAN management
B-series SAN management interfaces and tools
Web tools
SANnav management software
Simple network management protocol (SNMP) overview
B-series SNMP Fabric OS commands
REST(ful) API theory and usage

Module 11: B-series Performance Monitoring

Fabric Vision technologies
Flow Vision overview
Flow definition and monitoring and management
SIM port concept
IO insight and VM Insight
Monitoring and alerting policy suite (MAPS) introduction
MAPS rules, policies, and dashboard
Fabric performance impact (FPI) monitoring
Configuration and operational monitoring policy automation services suite (COMPASS)
Other features
Discuss Fabric Vision licensing

Module 12: Maintenance and Troubleshooting

Back up and manage configuration files
Firmware upgrade
Troubleshooting techniques
Common troubleshooting problems and tools
End-to-end troubleshooting – SAN analytics
Features and capabilities
Traffic optimizer
Self-healing
Use cases
Instant visibility of SAN health

Module 13: SAN Design

Topology choices and design considerations
HPE standard supported SAN topologies
Single-switch fabric
Cascaded fabric
Ring fabric
Meshed fabrics
Core-edge fabric
Initial cost of deployment
SAN performance factors
Topology data access usage
ISL oversubscription
Hop latency
Device attachment points
Data locality
Performance guidelines within the SAN
Recommendations for switch ISL connectivity
Levels of high availability in SAN architecture
Single point of connectivity knowledge
HPE SAN Design Reference Guide
Infrastructure documentation

Lab outline

Lab 0: HPE vLabs Access

Access HPE vLabs

Lab 1: Switch Exploration

Connecting to a fabric switch using web tools
Exploring main web tools sections
CLI basics
Basic switch status commands
Viewing port status
Enabling/disabling the switch
Enabling/disabling a port
Changing the switch domain ID
Backing up system configuration settings

Lab 2: Administration and Configuration

Fibre Channel theory (optional)
Fibre Channel levels
Class of Service
Identify the frame format
Port types
Well known addresses
24-bit addressing
Configuring ports
Port types
Viewing the port configuration
Persistent portdisable
Configuring a port name
Configuring a port speed
Deny F-port
Fabric name

Lab 3: FC – Routing

Preparation
Preparation and locating the principal switch in a fabric
Enabling and disabling trunking on switches

Lab 4: Fabric Zoning

Verifying storage presentation
Clearing the zoning configurations
Setting default zone and Configuring
WWN zoning
Adding a second Windows zone using Web Tools

Lab 5: SANnav Preparation

Preparation
Starting the SANnav
Setting up discovery

Lab 6: Long Distance

Working with Long Distance settings from the CLI
Working with Long Distance settings from Web Tools

Lab 7: Configuring FCIP

Initial configuration tasks—Working with switches
Initial configuration tasks—Connectivity and domain IDs
Assigning IP addresses to ethernet ports
Creating an FCIP tunnel
Verification of FCIP configuration
Deleting FCIP Configuration

Lab 8: FC-FC routing and Virtual Fabrics

Preparation—Fabric and services
Results verification
Working with FC-FC routing (READ-ONLY LAB)
Working with Virtual Fabrics
Cleaning

Lab 9: Security Administration and Configuration

Connection control policies
Switch Connection Control (SCC)
Device Connection Control (DCC)
Testing DCC policy
Fabric Configuration Server (FCS)
DH-CHAP authentication
IP Filter Policy
Creating users for SANnav
Creating a new user account in Web Tools and CLI

Lab 11: Monitoring

Checking external storage
Configuring Iometer
Real time performance monitoring
Flow monitoring
Setting threshold policies (MAPS)
Reports

Lab 12: Troubleshooting

Using CLI to obtain information about different switch health aspects
Using D_port functionality