Re: [PATCH] fc transport: new attributes for NPIV

[James Smart <James.Smart@Emulex.Com>]

> Problem is that on the mainframe I don't have access to the primary
> port. Virtualization is done in adapter microcode. I just have
> access to the virtual port.

I was afraid you'd say this... that was the other caveat.

OK - given that the primary port doesn't exist what you have makes
a lot of sense. I guess we have the 2 options:
- add the 2 attributes per host
- create a host and set the attributes  (and this is major overkill)

I have some reservations about the data passing that allows the virtual
port to get the physical port data, but it's probably manageable.

With this direction - your patch is fine, with the caveat that I want
to explore the most meaningful names for the attributes. Does port_name
and physical_port_name become odd to a user ? Is some script writer bound
to assume they always wanted the physical name as they would only see a
difference if on a mainframe ? What if we change the names to be more
npiv-centric.  What about ppn (for physical_port_name) and ppn_id (for
physical_port_id) ?

> Seems that requirements for workstations and mainframes are quite
> contrary.

Not really - just there are several different implementation models, both at
the adapter and at the OS side.

-- james