To Create an NPIV Port

Before You Begin

Each virtual port must have a port and node name. The port name must be unique on the SAN. You can assign names manually or use the built-in random WWN generator. If you attempt to register duplicate names, most switches will report an error status on the newly registered WWN, and the switch will not register the new WWN.

For more information on acceptable name formats, refer to the T11 standard: Fibre Channel Framing and Signaling (FC-FS 2).

If you try to create an NPIV port on an HBA that does not support NPIV, an error will occur. If you try to create an NPIV port on an HBA that supports NPIV, but it is attached to a switch which does not support NPIV, the port will be created with an offline status. The status will be reported in the fcinfo(1M) output.

1. Become superuser.

2. Create an NPIV port:

   # fcadm create-npiv-port -p Virtual_Port_WWN -n Virtual_Node_WWN PhysicalPort_port_WWN

   Without the -p and -n options, a random WWN will be assigned for the virtual port and virtual node, respectively.

Example 6–1 Creating an NPIV Port

The following example creates an NPIV port on a physical HBA port with a WWN of 210000e08b170f1c, a virtual port WWN set to 2000000000000001, and a virtual node WWN set to 2100000000000001.

# fcadm create-npiv-port -p 2000000000000001 -n 2100000000000001 210000e08b170f1c