Ironically, in order to allow QLogic switches to work natively with Brocade switches, users must disable FC-SW-2 mode. FC-SW-2, which stands for "Fibre Channel Switched," is the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standard governing connectivity among nodes in a Fibre Channel fabric.
According to the release notes for QLogic's firmware version 2.0.0.03, made available on June 25: "QLogic switches have always been FC-SW-2 compliant; this is the default/enabled behavior. When FC-SW-2 Compliant mode is disabled, QLogic switches will interoperate with Brocade switches in their native mode."
QLogic, in the release notes, says it has tested native interoperability with Brocade's SilkWorm 2400, 2800, 3800, and 3900 switches. The document is available at http://download.qlogic.com/sf/11418/relnotes_fullimage_2.0.0.03.pdf.
The storage consultant suggests that QLogic is not widely publicizing the feature because it fears Brocade may quickly update its own code so those advanced functions don't work with QLogic's Brocade-native firmware. "They're keeping this low-profile because they don't want to piss off Brocade," he says. [Ed. note: Oops -- too late.]
QLogic and Brocade representatives did not respond to requests for comment by press time.
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