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Cisco DCID 300-610 study materials
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Cisco DCID 300-610: Data Center Storage Network Design

Cisco DCID 300-610 · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.

All guide sections

Data Center Storage Network Design

Storage Network Design tests SAN design on Cisco MDS and Nexus: VSANs, zoning, NPV/NPIV, SAN port channels, FCoE with DCB, and how FC or iSCSI connectivity maps into the compute design.

Rules

  • VSANs are separate fabrics. VSAN IDs must match on both ends of an ISL or trunk; production traffic should not ride VSAN 1. Domain IDs must be unique within a VSAN-set them statically on core switches and allow dynamic assignment at the edge.
  • Zoning. Use single-initiator, single-target (or single-initiator, multiple-target) zones; never put multiple initiators in one zone. Build zones from device aliases, then activate the zone set per VSAN. Only one zone set is active per VSAN.
  • NPV vs NPIV. NPV on the edge MDS aggregates FLOGI from servers to the core without consuming domain IDs; NPIV on the core provides the actual fabric login. NPV ports cannot be ISL ports.
  • SAN port channels. ISL port channels must have matching speed and identical VSAN trunking; use active mode on both sides. FCoE over a port channel is not supported on all platforms-verify before designing.
  • FCoE. Requires lossless Ethernet: DCB with PFC for COS 3, jumbo MTU, and consistent configuration on every hop. FCoE is not supported over vPC on Nexus 5000/6000/7000.
  • Oversubscription. Size ISLs to peak fan-in from hosts to storage; FC arrays typically expose far fewer target ports than there are host initiators, so the ISL ratio follows the array port count.

Worked example

Two hosts, each with dual HBAs, and one array with four target ports (two per fabric). Design fabric A on VSAN 10 and fabric B on VSAN 20. For each host HBA and each target port, create one zone: host1-hba0 to array-t0 and host1-hba0 to array-t1, and likewise for the second HBA. With 2 hosts x 2 HBAs x 2 targets, that is 8 single-initiator/single-target zones per fabric. Activate the zone set; the OS multipath driver then sees two paths per fabric.

Traps

  • Mismatched VSAN IDs across an ISL, which silently breaks the trunk.
  • Duplicate domain IDs after merging fabrics.
  • Zoning with multiple initiators, causing RSCN storms and LUN masking confusion.
  • Forgetting to activate the zone set-zones alone do nothing.
  • Designing FCoE without PFC, or assuming a vPC can carry FCoE.