IBM System Storage Ideas Portal


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Status Submitted
Workspace IBM Storage Virtualize / FlashSystem
Created by Guest
Created on Sep 29, 2026

RELATED IDEAS

Property for direct connected servers

Problem Statement:
Customers using IBM i systems are one example of environments where direct Fibre Channel (FC) connections are deployed. When such a server reboots, the FC connection is temporarily lost. In a SAN fabric environment, this is a normal and expected condition, and the storage system does not treat it as an error. However, with a direct FC connection, the storage system currently raises error 1061 ("Port Down") instead of reporting an informational or warning event.

This behaviour differs from the suppressOfflineAlert scenario. In that case, the host itself goes offline, but the FC port remains electrically and logically online because it is connected to a switch that continues to provide link connectivity. As a result, the storage system does not detect a port-down condition.

Error 1061 was originally designed to indicate a SAN fabric or physical connectivity problem. A host reboot on a directly attached FC connection is a normal operational event and should not be reported in the same way as an actual fabric failure.

Suggested solution:
Introduce a mechanism to identify hosts that are directly attached via Fibre Channel rather than connected through a SAN fabric.

For such hosts, the storage system should distinguish between an expected host reboot and an actual connectivity or fabric failure. Possible implementations could include:

  • A host-level setting that marks a connection as direct-attached.
  • Suppression or delayed generation of error 1061 ("Port Down") for direct-attached hosts.
  • Integration with the existing suppressOfflineAlert functionality, so that when both settings are enabled, a temporary loss of connectivity caused by a host reboot does not generate error 1061.
  • Reclassification of error 1061 from an error to an informational or warning event for direct-attached hosts.

The specific implementation is less important than the desired behaviour: routine host reboot operations on directly attached FC connections should not be reported as storage or fabric errors.

Idea priority Medium

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