Solaris SAN Configuration and Multipathing Guide

Fabric Device Node Configuration

After you configure the hardware in your direct-attach system or SAN, you must ensure that the hosts recognize the devices. This section explains host recognition of fabric devices, also known as 24-bit FC addressing devices on the SAN. After configuring the devices, ports, and zones in your SAN, make sure that the host is aware of the devices. You can have up to 16 million fabric devices connected together on a SAN with FC support.

This section is limited to the operations required from the perspective of the Solaris 10 OS. It does not cover other aspects, such as device availability and device-specific management. If devices are managed by other software, such as a volume manager, refer to the volume manager product documentation for additional instructions.

Ensuring That LUN Level Information Is Visible

ProcedureTo Ensure LUN Level Information is Visible

  1. Use the cfgadm command to identify LUN level information.

    If you issue the cfgadm -al -o show_SCSI_LUN controller-ID command immediately after a system boots up, the output might not show the Fibre Channel Protocol (FCP) SCSI LUN level information. The information does not appear because the storage device drivers, such as the ssd and st driver, are not loaded on the running system.

  2. Use the modinfo command to check whether the drivers are loaded. After the drivers are loaded, the LUN level information is visible in the cfgadm output.

ProcedureTo Detect Fabric Devices Visible on a Host

This section provides an example of the procedure for detecting fabric devices using FC host ports c0 and c1. This procedure also shows the device configuration information that is displayed with the cfgadm(1M) command.


Note –

In the following examples, only failover path attachment point IDs (Ap_Ids) are listed. The Ap_Ids displayed on your system depend on your system configuration.


  1. Log in as root (su - root).

  2. Display the information about the attachment points on the system.


    # cfgadm -l
    Ap_Id                Type         Receptacle   Occupant     Condition
    c0                 fc-fabric      connected    unconfigured unknown
    c1                 fc-private     connected    configured   unknown

    In this example, c0 represents a fabric-connected host port, and c1 represents a private, loop-connected host port. Use the cfgadm(1M) command to manage the device configuration on fabric-connected host ports.

    By default, the device configuration on private, loop-connected host ports is managed by a host using the Solaris 10 OS.

  3. Display information about the host ports and their attached devices.


    # cfgadm -al
    Ap_Id                Type      Receptacle     Occupant   Condition
    c0                 fc-fabric   connected    unconfigured unknown
    c0::50020f2300006077 disk      connected    unconfigured unknown
    c0::50020f23000063a9 disk      connected    unconfigured unknown
    c0::50020f2300005f24 disk      connected    unconfigured unknown
    c0::50020f2300006107 disk      connected    unconfigured unknown
    c1                 fc-private  connected    configured   unknown
    c1::220203708b69c32b disk      connected    configured   unknown
    c1::220203708ba7d832 disk      connected    configured   unknown
    c1::220203708b8d45f2 disk      connected    configured   unknown
    c1::220203708b9b20b2 disk      connected    configured   unknown

    Note –

    The cfgadm -l command displays information about FC host ports. You can also use the cfgadm -al command to display information about FC devices. The lines that include a port world wide name (WWN) in the Ap_Id field associated with c0 represent a fabric device. Use the cfgadm configure and unconfigure commands to manage those devices and make them available to hosts using the Solaris 10 OS. The Ap_Id devices with port WWNs under c1 represent private-loop devices that are configured through the c1 host port.