FC Target WWPNs Not Detected on Cisco MDS Switches due to Disabled NPIV Feature

Symptom

During initial deployment or expansion of an NGX Storage array in a Fibre Channel (FC) SAN environment managed by Cisco MDS switches, the following symptom is observed:

NGX Storage FC Target Worldwide Port Names (WWPNs) are not visible in the switch’s FLOGI (Fabric Login) database.

Cause

NGX Storage controllers utilize N-Port ID Virtualization (NPIV) to advertise multiple virtual FC Target WWPNs over a single physical FC port/link. This allows high availability, multi-tenancy, and clean port abstraction.

By default, the NPIV feature is disabled globally on factory-default Cisco MDS switches with software prior to Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 8.4(2). With Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 8.4(2), NPIV is enabled by default.

Cisco MDS NX-OS Release Notes 8.4(2)

Solution

Step-by-Step Configuration

1. Log in to the Cisco MDS Switch CLI via SSH or console with administrator privileges.
2. Verify the current NPIV status by running the following command:

   MDS-Switch# show feature | include npiv

   If the output shows npiv disabled, proceed to the next steps.

3. Enter global configuration mode:

   MDS-Switch# configure terminal

4. Enable the NPIV feature:

   MDS-Switch(config)# feature npiv

5. Verify that NPIV is enabled:

   MDS-Switch(config)# end
   MDS-Switch# show feature | include npiv
   npiv                  1          enabled

6. Verify WWPN discovery and confirm that the NGX Storage target WWPNs are successfully logged into the fabric:

   MDS-Switch# show flogi database

   You should now see the multiple virtual WWPNs from the NGX Storage interfaces assigned to the respective physical interface.

7. Save the configuration to prevent losing changes after a switch reboot:

   MDS-Switch# copy running-config startup-config

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