143-130 · Question #58
You want to implement NPIV for your Linux for System z environment to solve scalability concerns. Which statement is true about the implementation?
The correct answer is D. NPIV implementation requires a Fibre Channel switching device that supports the NPIV standard. See the full explanation below for the reasoning.
Question
You want to implement NPIV for your Linux for System z environment to solve scalability concerns. Which statement is true about the implementation?
Options
- ANPIV implementation requires FICON Express8 channels.
- BNPIV supports attachment only to tape devices.
- CNPIV functions only when a System z is direct attached to storage.
- DNPIV implementation requires a Fibre Channel switching device that supports the NPIV standard.
How the community answered
(33 responses)- A18% (6)
- B3% (1)
- C9% (3)
- D70% (23)
Community Discussion
6
Samuel O.Jun 27, 2026D is your answer. NPIV creates virtual HBAs over a physical Fibre Channel port, and that only works when the FC switch in the fabric understands and supports the NPIV standard, because the switch is what handles the virtual port login (FDISC) process between the logical partition and the storage array.
Luis F.Jun 13, 2026I kept thinking A but then remembered NPIV needs an FC switch, not a specific channel type, so D.
Lena V.Jun 15, 2026D is the one, the FC switch must support NPIV, full stop. Saw this exact wording on my exam last spring, almost second-guessed myself on A because we had just ordered Express8 cards, but channel type is irrelevant here, the switch is the gating requirement.
Hiroshi T.Jun 27, 2026I initially flagged A because FICON Express8 kept coming up in my z/OS storage notes and I conflated the channel hardware requirement with NPIV specifically. The IBM Redbook on Linux on System z FCP support is explicit that NPIV is a fabric-level feature requiring a Fibre Channel switch that implements the NPIV standard, so without that switching device in the SAN topology the virtual N_Ports simply cannot be registered with the fabric, which kills D as anything other than the correct answer.
Imani T.Jun 29, 2026NPIV also needs the HBA and the z/OS or z/VM driver stack to have NPIV enabled end to end, so the switch being NPIV-capable is necessary but not the only place the feature can fail to come up.
Imani T.Jun 27, 2026D is right, and it makes sense once you think about what NPIV actually does. The whole point of N_Port ID Virtualization is that a single physical HBA port gets carved up into multiple virtual ports, each with its own WWPN, and the Fibre Channel switch has to be the one brokering those virtual port logins to the fabric. If your switch does not support NPIV, it simply will not forward those FLOGI requests correctly and the whole thing falls apart. A trips up a lot of people because FICON Express8 is a real channel type for z Systems, so it sounds plausible, but NPIV over FCP does not have a hard dependency on that specific channel generation. C is backwards from reality since NPIV is specifically useful in switched fabric environments, not direct-attach, and B is just wrong because NPIV works with disk targets just as well as tape. Go with D.