Implementing Advanced Cisco Storage Networking Solutions (IASNS) v4.0 with NXOS version 5.x is a 5-day lecture/lab course that provides you with advanced skills in implementing and troubleshooting Cisco storage networks.
This course focuses on advanced storage networking topics for the Cisco MDS Family of switches, including building virtual SAN fabrics, building heterogeneous SAN fabrics, configuring management and security services, configuring iSCSI, and advanced troubleshooting skills. A significant portion of the course is devoted to troubleshooting.
Detailed Course Outline
Module 1: Building Enterprise SAN Fabrics
Given a detailed Fibre Channel SAN design specification, you will be able to implement a SAN with multiple virtual fabrics using the full range of features and capabilities provided by the Cisco MDS platform, so that the SAN demonstrates high availability, scalability, performance, and interoperability
Lesson 1: Implementing Inter-VSAN Routing
- Describe the purpose and implementation of IVR
- Describe the capabilities supported by IVR
- Explain IVR implementation details including AFID, NAT, service groups and auto topology
- Configure IVR with static domain IDs and manual topology creation
- Configure IVR using NAT and Auto Topology
- Configure IVR zones and zonesets
- Explain how to verify the IVR configuration
- Describe how to use the Fabric Manager IVR Zone Wizard
- Explain how IVR interacts with FSPF
- Identify recommended practices for implementing IVR
Lesson 2: Tuning Fabric Performance
- Configure VSANs, PortChannels, and FSPF to implement preferred and alternate routing paths
- Explain how virtual output queues are used in the MDS 9000 series
- Configure FCC to relieve congestion in a fabric
- Configure QoS parameters for control and data traffic
- Explain the different QoS capabilities between different Generations of Switching Modules
- Configure per-zone QoS priorities
- Configure Port Tracking
Lesson 3: Implementing Data Mobility Manager
- Describe the purpose of the Cisco MDS Data Mobility Manager (DMM)
- Describe how to install and configure the Cisco MDS DMM software
- Describe DMM SAN Topologies
- Describe how to prepare for data migration
- Describe how to use the DMM GUI for data migration
Lesson 4: Building Heterogeneous Fabrics
- Explain the concept of interoperability and the four interoperability modes supported by the Cisco MDS 9000 series switches
- Describe the capabilities and limitations of standard-mode interoperability
- Describe the capabilities and limitations of native Brocade interoperability
- Describe the capabilities and limitations of native McData interoperability
- Configure VSANs in heterogeneous fabrics
- Configure domain IDs in heterogeneous fabrics
Lesson 5: Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE)
- Explain the hardware features of the Cisco Nexus 5000 switch
- Describe the consolidation benefits of using the Cisco Nexus 5000 switch
- Describe the FCoE adapters and software stack, and explain their features and benefits
- Explain the FCoE Architecture
- Describe how an FCoE Enode can acquire a unique MAC address
- Describe the FCoE Initialization Protocol (FIP)
- Describe the Data Center Ethernet Enhancements and how they operate within an I/O Consolidation environment
- Explain the use of Priority Flow Control (PFC)
- Explain how bandwidth management works in an FCoE environment
- Explain Data Center Bridging and the DCBX protocol
- Describe the network topology enabled by Cisco Nexus 5000 switches
- Describe how the Cisco Nexus 5000 switch supports N_Port Virtualization (NPV) mode
- Describe how to configure FCoE on the Cisco Nexus 5000 switch
- Describe how to configure N_Port Virtualization (NPV) on the Cisco Nexus 5000 switch
Module 2: Implementing Management and Security Services**
Given a detailed set of Fibre Channel SAN management requirements, you will be able to configure and use fabric management, performance management, and security services on the Cisco MDS platform, so that the SAN can be effectively managed, tuned and secured.
Lesson 1: Implementing the Management Infrastructure
- Describe command line interface commands for management purposes
- Configure command line interface aliases for common commands
- Describe the architecture of the Cisco Fabric Manager Server
- Configure the Cisco Fabric Management Server
- Implement secure VSAN management interfaces
- Explain how to use the Cisco Fabric Device Management Interface (FDMI) support to view host bus adapter configuration parameters
- Explain how to use the Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP) to discover neighboring Cisco routers and switches
- Implement CiscoWorks Resource Manager Essentials to enable configuration management of Cisco MDS 9000 switches
Lesson 2: Monitoring Health and Performance
- Describe how to configure system message logging
- Explain how to schedule maintenance jobs
- Describe how to monitor the health of the switch
- Describe how to configure EEM to detect and handle critical events on a switch
- Describe how to use RMON alarms and events to monitor MDS 9000 series switches
- Describe how to use SNMP to modify roles and send Trap and Inform notifications to an SNMP Management Station
- Monitor SAN traffic with Performance Manager
- Monitor SAN traffic with the Cisco Traffic Analyzer
Lesson 3: Configuring AAA Services
- Describe the AAA solutions and services that are available on the Cisco MDS 9000 switch platform
- Describe the authentication process
- Describe how to implement AAA services
- Configure AAA service options for server monitoring and directed requests
- Explain the process of distributing AAA configurations when using CFS
- Configure NTP services
Lesson 4: Implementing Fabric and Port Security
- Describe the port security features available on the Cisco MDS 9000 switches
- Explain how to enable port security on the Cisco MDS 9000 switch
- Explain the process of distributing and merging port security configurations when using CFS
- Explain the extension of FICON fabric binding to support Fibre Channel VSANs
- Explain how device-level authentication is implemented on the Cisco MDS 9000 switch
- Configure switch-to-switch and host-to–switch authentication
- Explain how IP ACLs control access to IP ports
- Implement IP ACLs to secure management data paths
- Explain the purpose of CAs and Digital Certificates and how to configure them on the Cisco MDS 9000 switches
- Describe IPsec and how to configure IPsec on the Cisco MDS 9000 switches
- Describe the Cisco TrustSec feature and its’ configuration
Lesson 5: Implementing Cisco Storage Media Encryption
- Explain the Cisco SME solution
- Discuss the Cisco SME installation requirements
- Describe the Cisco SME interface configuration
- Describe the Cisco SME Cluster Management
- Describe the Cisco SME tape configuration
- Describe the Cisco SME Key Management
- Discuss Cisco SME best practices
Describe the offline data recovery in Cisco SME
Module 3: Advanced Troubleshooting
Given a set of observable symptoms on a Fibre Channel SAN, you will be able to diagnose and correct software configuration issues and inoperable hardware components so that the problems are resolved with minimal disruption to the SAN
Lesson 1: Basic Troubleshooting Tools Review
- Describe the basic troubleshooting methodology
- Monitor ports using various Command Line Interface (CLI) and GUI features
- Use the Cisco Fabric Manager analysis tools to gather basic troubleshooting information
- Use FC Ping and FC Trace to gather basic troubleshooting information
- Use Cisco Device Manager to monitor switch processes and CPUs
Lesson 2: Capturing Protocol Traces
- SPAN session overview
- Explain the capabilities and limitations of RSPAN sessions
- Configure RSPAN
- Install and configure a Cisco PAA
- Troubleshoot the basic installation and configuration of a PAA
- Explain the uses of the Cisco Fabric Analyzer feature
- Configure Wireshark to capture and view protocol traces
- Configure Wireshark filters to selectively view captured protocol traces
Lesson 3: Using Physical Port Diagnostics
- Describe the high-level process for troubleshooting physical port issues
- Explain the meaning of different port states
- Troubleshoot a flapping port
- Enable beacon mode on a port
- Configure the Online Health Management System
- Diagnose SFP Issues
- Display diagnostic information about RIB and FIB
Lesson 4: Troubleshooting Combined Generation line cards and hardware components
- Verify port index allocation using Cisco Device Manager and the Command Line Interface (CLI) and list the steps to remedy port index allocation failures
- Identify and correct port group bandwidth utilization errors that prevent the enabling of a port or configuration of ports in dedicated rate mode, using Cisco Device Manager and the Command Line Interface (CLI)
- Identify correct supervisor image file usage, diagnose and resolve failed Supervisor-1 to Supervisor-2 migrations
Lesson 5: Troubleshooting FX Port Issues
- Identify symptoms of common Fx_Port issues
- Verify successful Nx_Port registration
- Diagnose and resolve issues with dynamic port VSAN membership
- Diagnose and resolve issues with FCID assignment and FCID persistence configuration
Lesson 6: Troubleshoot the Data Path
- Explain common xE_Port symptoms
- Diagnose and resolve xE_Port isolation issues
- Diagnose and resolve PortChannel configuration issues
- Diagnose and resolve VSAN and zoning issues
- Diagnose and resolve Domain Manager failures
- Diagnose and resolve FSPF routing protocol failures
- Diagnose and resolve interoperability mode configuration errors
- Explain basic troubleshooting techniques for FCIP links
Lesson 7: Troubleshooting Fabric Manager and Device Manager
- Diagnose and resolve Cisco Fabric Manager installation problems
- Diagnose and resolve Java installation issues
- Diagnose and resolve Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) configuration issues
- Clear the Cisco Fabric Manager database
Module 4: iSCSI Protocol Overview
Given a set of requirements for an iSCSI implementation, you will be able to identify and configure the appropriate iSCSI features to meet the requirements
Lesson 1: iSCSI Protocol Overview
- Explain the basic protocol architecture of the iSCSI protocol
- Describe the iSCSI specifications, including key terms and concepts of the IETF specifications
- Describe the iSCSI packet format
- Describe the SCSI Architectural Model and how it relates to the iSCSI protocol
- Explain the iSCSI naming schemes
- Describe iSCSI command sequences
- Describe the iSCSI login process
- Describe how Cisco has implemented iSCSI on the IPS modules with respect to the IETF specifications and unique Cisco features
Lesson 2: Basic iSCSI Configuration
- Describe how the Cisco IPS modules transparently route data between FC storage to iSCSI hosts
- Explain the high-level steps required for initial configuration of FC-to-iSCSI routing
- Configure Gigabit Ethernet interfaces
- Enable dynamic target importing
- Enable dynamic initiator discovery
- Install the Windows iSCSI Driver
- Verify the initial iSCSI configuration using GUI tools and show commands, and verify target visibility to the host
Lesson 3: iSCSI Implementation Options
- Explain how High Availability can be achieved by implementing transparent target failover, adapter teaming and VRRP
- Describe iSCSI security concerns
- Describe how static initiators and targets, zoning, ACLs, CHAP and IPSec can be used to secure an iSCSI environment
Lesson 4: iSLB
- Describe the iSLB configuration requirements
- Configure iSLB Initiators, targets and iSLB virtual-targets
- Configure iSLB load balancing
- Configure CFS distribution of iSLB configurations