Cisco Nexus 5000 Series Switch Fabric Manager Software Configuration Guide, NX-OS 4.0 (OL-16598-01, June 2008)

CHAPTER
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18-1
Nexus 5000 Series Switch Fabric Manager Software Configuration Guide
OL-16598-01
18
Configuring Fibre Channel Routing Services and
Protocols
Fabric Shortest Path First (FSPF) is the standard path selection protocol used by Fibre Channel fabrics.
The FSPF feature is enabled by default on the E mode and TE mode Fibre Channel interfaces on Nexus
5000 Series switches. Except in configurations that require special consideration, you do not need to
configure any FSPF services. FSPF automatically calculates the best path between any two switches in
a fabric. FSPF provides the following capabilities:
• Dynamically computes routes throughout a fabric by establishing the shortest and quickest path
between any two switches.
• Selects an alternative path in the event of the failure of a given path. FSPF supports multiple paths
and automatically computes an alternative path around a failed link. It provides a preferred route
when two equal paths are available.
This chapter provides details on Fibre Channel routing services and protocols. It includes the following
sections:
• Information About FSPF, page 18-1
• FSPF Global Configuration, page 18-3
• FSPF Interface Configuration, page 18-5
• FSPF Routes, page 18-11
• In-Order Delivery, page 18-12
• Default Settings, page 18-16
Information About FSPF
FSPF is the protocol currently standardized by the T11 committee for routing in Fibre Channel networks.
The FSPF protocol has the following characteristics and features:
• Supports multipath routing.
• Bases path status on a link state protocol.
• Routes hop by hop, based only on the domain ID.
• Runs only on E ports or TE ports and provides a loop free topology.
• Runs on a per VSAN basis. Connectivity in a given VSAN in a fabric is guaranteed only for the
switches configured in that VSAN.