Control Path

The FSPM control path to the Pilot of an Oracle FS System provides a separate path from the data path to the Controller of an Oracle FS System to manage multipathing and communication.

The Oracle FS Path Manager (FSPM) service assists with driver configuration and uses the control path to:

Get information from the Pilot management controller
Get FC and iSCSI port information from the HBA and CNA drivers and iSCSI initiator
Configure the FSPM Device-Specific Module (DSM)
Send information such as host attributes and statistics to the Pilot management controller and, if requested, collect logs from the host

The FSPM service sends a description of the host to the Pilot on each connected Oracle FS System. In the Oracle FS System Manager (GUI), this description creates a definition for the host that includes FC ports in the host and, if iSCSI is configured, the iSCSI initiator name.

The Oracle FS System Manager (GUI) and Oracle FS CLI list the World Wide Names (WWNs) of the FC ports and IP addresses from the host used to make iSCSI connections to the Oracle FS System.

If you use iSCSI on the host to connect to a Controller through an iSCSI-to-FC router, these connections are described as FC connections. Within Oracle FS System Manager (GUI) and Oracle FS CLI, the iSCSI connections are displayed as originating from the FC ports on the switch assigned to the host iSCSI initiator. The port WWNs are displayed as FC HBA ports on the host. The HBA model associated with these ports is displayed in the GUI as iSCSI-FC router.

You can configure the software for static or round-robin load balancing through the Oracle FS System Manager (GUI).

Note: A control path connection to the Pilot on an Oracle FS System is recommended but optional. If there is no control path connection, functionality provided by the control path is not available.