Brocade: Creating and configuring FICON virtual switch

The default switch cannot change type to FICON switch, so you need to enable and use the virtual factory. Before configuring, make sure that all switches that will be in the same fabric have the same Fabric OS firmware version.

To create a FICON-type switch, go through the following steps:

1. Check if the virtual factory is enabled: "fosconfig --show". If not, then enable the command: "fosconfig --enable vf". 

2. Create a switch with the command: "lscfg --create FabricID -ficon".

3. Change context to the created switch: "setcontext FabricID".

4. Use the "aptpolicy" command to check the current setting of the Routing Policy. If necessary, we switch to the Device Based Routing Policy mode with the "aptpolicy 2" command.

5. It is recommended to enable Lossless Dynamic Load Sharing with the command:
"dlsset --enable -lossless".

6. It is also recommended to set In-Order Delivery with the command: "iodset".

7. Change the switch name with the command: "switchname NewName".

8. Execute "configure" to change some parameters:
- set the required DomainID of the switch;
- Disable Device Probing is recommended to be set to one.
Change other parameters only if necessary.

9. Now you need to transfer the ports to the logical switch with the command:
"lscfg --config FabricID -port n1-n2".

10. Bind addresses to physical ports of the switch with the command
"portaddress --bind PortNumber PortAddress" (you can specify a range of ports, then the next port in turn will be assigned an address increased by one). For example, set the address 0x2800 for the physical port 40: "portaddress --bind 40 0x2800". You can unbind to ports with the command: "portaddress --unbind PortNumber". To view the current bindings, run: "portaddress --show". Before performing any action with bindings, make sure that the ports are in a disabled state.

11. For the switch to work correctly, you need to create an SCC policy and add the WWNs of the switches in the same factory to it. This can be done with the command:
"secpolicycreate SCC_POLICY "*"" or specify the WWN of each switch separately:
"secpolicycreate SCC_POLICY "WWN1;WWN2;WWN3"".

12. Set the switch and ports to the enabled state with the "switchenable" and
"portenable FirstPortNumber-EndPortNumber" commands.

13. Save policy settings: "secpolicysave".

14. Activate the policy: "secpolicyactivate".

15. Use the "fabricprincipal" command to set the Principal Switch role selection priority. For example, to specify the highest priority, run: "fabricprincipal --enable -p 0x01".

16. By default, the connection speed on the ports is set automatically, for manual settings, you can use the "portcfgspeed" command.

17. If the distance between fabric switches exceeds 10km, reconfigure your uplink ports accordingly using the "portcfglongdistance" command. 

18. Run the "defzone --noaccess" command to disable the default zone, and then configure the factory's own zones. After the changes have been made, save the configuration with the command: "cfgsave".

19. Clear statistics on ports: "statsclear".

20. We execute several commands to check the operation of the switch:
"switchshow" - make sure that the switch is online;
"ficonshow rnid" - check if FICON devices are registered
("ficonshow rnid port PortNumber" - for a specific port);
"ficonshow lirr" - make sure FICON host channels are registered to listen for communication incidents.