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IBM System Storage DS8000 Release 4.1 delivers new
capabilities to support High Performance FICON for
System z, which can improve FICON I/O throughput on a
DS8000 port by up to 100%. The DS8000 series Licensed
Machine Code (LMC) level 5.4.2xx.xx (bundle version
64.2.xx.xx), or later, is required.
Platform and name server registration in FICON channel
The FICON channel now provides the same information
to the fabric as is commonly provided by open systems,
registering with the name server in the attached FICON
directors. With this information, your storage area network
(SAN) can be more easily and effi ciently managed,
enhancing your ability to perform problem determination
and analysis.
Registration allows other nodes and/or SAN managers to
query the name server to determine what is connected
to the fabric, what protocols are supported (FICON, FCP)
and to gain information about the System z10 using the
attributes that are registered. The FICON channel is now
designed to perform registration with the fi bre channel’s
Management Service and Directory Service.
It will register:
• Platform’s:
– Worldwide node name (node name for the platform –
same for all channels)
– Platform type (host computer)
– Platform name (includes vendor ID, product ID, and
vendor specifi c data from the node descriptor)
• Channel’s:
– Worldwide port name (WWPN)
– Node port identifi cation (N_PORT ID)
– FC-4 types supported (always 0x1B and additionally
0x1C if any Channel-to-Channel (CTC) control units
are defi ned on that channel)
– Classes of service support by the channel
Platform registration is a service defi ned in the Fibre Chan-
nel – Generic Services 4 (FC-GS-4) standard (INCITS
(ANSI) T11 group).
Platform and name server registration applies to all of the
FICON Express4, FICON Express2, and FICON Express
features (CHPID type FC). This support is exclusive to
System z10 and is transparent to operating systems.
Preplanning and setup of SAN for a System z10 environment
The worldwide port name (WWPN) prediction tool is now
available to assist you with preplanning of your Storage
Area Network (SAN) environment prior to the installation of
your System z10 server.
This standalone tool is designed to allow you to setup
your SAN in advance, so that you can be up and running
much faster once the server is installed. The tool assigns
WWPNs to each virtual Fibre Channel Protocol (FCP)
channel/port using the same WWPN assignment algo-
rithms a system uses when assigning WWPNs for channels
utilizing N_Port Identifi er Virtualization (NPIV).
The tool needs to know the FCP-specifi c I/O device defi ni-
tions in the form of a .csv fi le. This fi le can either be cre-
ated manually, or exported from Hardware Confi guration
Defi nition/Hardware Confi guration Manager (HCD/HCM).
The tool will then create the WWPN assignments, which
are required to set up your SAN. The tool will also create
a binary confi guration fi le that can later on be imported by
your system.
The WWPN prediction tool can be downloaded from
Resource Link and is applicable to all FICON channels
defi ned as CHPID type FCP (for communication with SCSI
devices). Check Preventive Service Planning (PSP) buck-
ets for required maintenance.
http://www.ibm.com/servers/resourcelink/
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