Configuring Cisco MDS 9000 Series Switches (DCMDS)
Course Length: 5 Days
Course Content: Through hands-on labs, you will gain fundamental skills in configuring Cisco MDS 9000 Series
switches. You will cover setting up the switch, configuring interfaces, virtual SANs (VSANs), domains, zones,
PortChannels, management security, and Fibre Channel over IP (FCIP) tunnels.
Course Objectives: Upon completion of this course, the student should be able to:
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Components, services, and features of the Cisco MDS 9000 Series switch platform that can be used to
improve the availability, scalability, performance, and manageability of the SAN
Install and configure the Cisco MDS 9000 switch and perform the initial software configuration process
Implement the logical topology that is specified by a SAN design, so that connectivity between end
devices can be verified
Traffic management features associated with Intelligent Network Services for the Cisco MDS 9000
switches in order to configure basic traffic management services for the SAN
Configure Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE), modules on Cisco MDS 9500 Series switches
Implement security so that management access is secure, and that only trusted devices are allowed to
connect to the fabric.
Use FCIP to implement appropriate solutions for SAN extension solutions
Course Outline:
Cisco MDS 9000 Series Switch Platform
 Introducing the Cisco MDS 9000 Series Switch Platform
o Cisco MDS 9100, MDS 9200, and MDS 9500 Series fabric switches
o Cisco MDS 9000 Series line card modules
o Cisco MDS 9500 Series Supervisor Modules
o Cisco MDS 9500 Series Fabric Modules
 Implementing Integrated Management
o Architecture of Cisco NX-OS on the Cisco MDS 9000 Series and Cisco Nexus product lines
o Cisco NX-OS CLI and explain how it is used to configure the Cisco MDS 9000 Series switches and
obtain status information
o Installation, connectivity, functions, and capabilities of Cisco DCNM-SAN standalone
o Managing a Cisco MDS Series switch or director using the Cisco MDS management software tool
o Architecture and features of the Cisco DCNM-SAN Server
o Capabilities and applications of Cisco Performance Manager and Cisco Traffic Analyzer
System Installation and Initial Configuration
 Performing the Initial Switch Configuration
o Boot sequence and purpose of each of the system memory areas
o Steps necessary to complete the initial setup routine on a newly installed switch
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Purpose and settings of default values to manage the switch successfully
Process for completing the initial switch configuration and for creating a simple SAN using Cisco
DCNM-SAN and Cisco Device Manager
o Setting up the classroom lab environment
 Installing and Licensing Cisco NX-OS Software
o Software licensing practices for the Cisco MDS 9000 Series
o Guidelines for successful image installation and upgrade
o Mechanisms for upgrading the Cisco MDS 9000 Series switch software image
o Successfully downgrade a Cisco NX-OS version that is incompatible with the current configuration
Building a SAN Fabric
 Configuring Interfaces
o Basic interface configuration that is required on the switch
o Guidelines for configuring bandwidth
o Different BB_Credits available on the Cisco MDS 9000 Series switch and modules
o Ttrunking feature of the Cisco MDS 9000 Series switches
 Using FLOGI and FCNS Databases
o Device login sequence
o Using the FLOGI and FCNS database for device registration
o Function of Fibre Channel ID (FCID) persistence
 Configuring VSANs
o VSANs provide logical separation of Fabric Services in a unified physical infrastructure
o Process of creating VSANs and assigning interface members
o Process for displaying the attributes of configured VSANs
o Recommended practices for creating and managing VSANs
 Managing Domains
o Configuring domain IDs within a VSAN
o Configuring the principal switch priority
o Steps to manually configure domain ID settings
o Viewing configured and run-time fcdomain information from the CLI and Cisco Device Manager
o Configuring Cisco Fabric Services distribution of allowed domain ID lists
o Configuration settings that determine whether switches achieve adjacency or become isolated
during a fabric merge event
o Effects of configuring the auto-reconfigure, rcf-reject, and fcdomain options for fabric merge
options
 Configuring Cisco NPV and NPIV
o Benefits of Cisco NPV
o NPIV provides a means to assign multiple FCID to a single N Port
 Configuring PortChannels
o Purpose and use of PortChannel functionality on the Cisco MDS 9000 Series Multilayer Switches
o Configuring PortChannels
o Interface configuration for a PortChannel, including interface addition and deletion
o Configuring the PortChannel protocol
o Configuring F and TF PortChannels
o Verifying the PortChannel configuration
 Configuring Distributed Device Aliases
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o Function of distributed device aliases
o Function of existing zone aliases
o Configuring the distributed device alias database
o Configuring distributed device aliases in a multiswitch fabric
o Verifying the distributed device alias database configuration
 Lesson 8: Implementing Zoning
o Purpose and use of zoning within Fibre Channel SANs
o Zone configuration process
o Verifying the zone configuration
o Configuring zone set distribution
o Merging zones and zone configurations without causing fabric disruption
o Recovering from a zone merge failure
o Renaming, cloning, copying, backing up, and restoring a zone set
o Enhanced zoning feature and configuration requirements
o Process of committing configuration changes to the zone database in enhanced mode
o Configuring and use zone attribute groups
o Read-only zone features and configuration
o Recommended zoning practices
Intelligent SAN Fabric Services
 Implementing Cisco MDS Data MobilityManager
o Purpose of the Cisco DMM
o DMM SAN topologies
o Installing and configuring the Cisco DMM software and prepare for data migration
o Using the DMM GUI for data migration
 Implementing Cisco SANTap
o Deployment of Cisco SANTap Services
o Installing and configuring Cisco SANTap
 Monitoring Traffic Flow
o Configuring a SPAN session
o Capabilities and limitations of RSPAN sessions
o Installing and configuring the Cisco MDS 9000 Port Analyzer Adapter
o Using of the Cisco Fabric Analyzer feature
o Configuring Wireshark to capture and view protocol traces
Fibre Channel over Ethernet Implementation
 Fibre Channel over Ethernet
o Consolidation benefits of Unified I/O and the data center Ethernet enhancements that provide a
lossless fabric.
o FCoE protocol and how Fibre Channel frames are encapsulated in Ethernet frames.
o FCoE adapters and software stack, and explain their features and benefits.
o FCoE addressing scheme and how an FCoE node can acquire a unique MAC address from the
FCoE Forwarder (FCF).
o FCoE Initialization Protocol (FIP)
 Configuring Multihop FCoE on the MDS 9500
o Using FCoE modules on the Cisco MDS 9500 Series directors
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o Configuring MDS 9500 Series to enable multihop FCoE frames to traverse a Unified Fabric
Security Implementation
 Improving Management Security
o Secure protocols employed to provide secure access to Cisco MDS 9000 Series management
ports
o Configuring SSH services, including how digital certificates can be used to enhance scalability and
management of SSH
o Using RBAC for secure SAN management and the RBAC configuration steps
 Configuring AAA Services
o AAA solutions and services that are available on the Cisco MDS 9000 Series switch platform
o Authentication process and how to implement AAA services
o Configuring AAA service options for server monitoring and directed requests
o Process of distributing AAA configurations when using Cisco Fabric Services
o Configuring NTP services
 Implementing Port and Fabric Security
o Configuring port security on the Cisco MDS 9000 Series Switches
o Process of distributing and merging port security configurations when using Cisco Fabric Services
o Fabric binding feature to support Cisco Fibre Connection (FICON) and Fibre Channel virtual
storage networks (VSANs)
 Configuring FC-SP
o Implementing switch-to-switch and host-to-switch authentication on the Cisco MDS 9000 Series
switch
o Purpose of CAs and digital certificates and how to configure them on the Cisco MDS 9000 Series
switches
 Implementing Link Encryption
o IPsec and how to configure IPsec on the Cisco MDS 9000 Series Switches
o Cisco LinkSec Encryption feature and its configuration
 Lesson 6: Implementing Cisco Storage Media Encryption
o Cisco SME solution
o Cisco SME installation requirements
o Cisco SME interface configuration
o Cisco SME cluster management
o Cisco SME tape configuration
o Cisco SME key management
o Cisco SME best practices
o Offline data recovery in Cisco SME
FCIP Implementation
 Creating an FCIP Tunnel
o Process of configuring FCIP
o Process of configuring Gigabit Ethernet interfaces and static IP routes
o Process of enabling FCIP and configuring the FCIP profiles and interfaces that define the FCIP
tunnel
o Using the Cisco DCNM-SAN FCIP wizard
o VLAN subinterface configuration requirements
 Configuring FCIP High Availability
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o Guidelines for using PortChannels with FCIP links
o Steps to configure PortChannels with FCIP tunnels
o Using the CLI or Cisco DCNM-SAN to verify that the PortChannels are operational
Implementing IVR for SAN Extension
o Purpose and use of IVR
o Using IVR zones and IVR zone sets
o Process of configuring IVR
o IVR verification commands and tools
o Recommended practices for using and configuring IVR
Tuning FCIP Performance
o Parameters of an FCIP configuration that are tuned to improve performance
o Configuring TCP timeout and retransmit and Selective Acknowledgment (SACK) parameters
o Configuring the IP MTU size and PMTU discovery
o Flow control process on an FCIP link
o TCP packet shaping improves the performance of storage traffic on an IP network
o Process of configuring FCIP compression
o FCIP write acceleration and FCIP tape acceleration improve performance of storage traffic over
the WAN
o Deployment and configuration requirements for using Cisco IOA
o Configuring IP QoS parameters to prioritize FCIP control and data traffic
o Using SAN Extension Turner to generate test workloads and measure performance
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