What is the effect of a non-graceful virtual machine shutdown on a virtualized server that is connected to a SAN with Fibre Channel interfaces?

Question

Options

• ANP Port reload connected to the upstream SAN switch
• Bout-of-service Fibre Channel interfaces on the SAN switch
• Cframes stuck in the storage system
• Dframes stuck in the HBA buffer of the server

• A
  5% (2)
• B
  60% (26)
• C
  14% (6)
• D
  21% (9)

Explanation

When a virtual machine shuts down non-gracefully, its Fibre Channel HBA never sends the proper fabric logout (LOGO) primitive to deregister from the SAN fabric. The SAN switch detects the link dropping abruptly without a clean protocol-level disconnection, causing its Fibre Channel interfaces (F_Ports facing the server) to enter an out-of-service or error recovery state - making B correct.

Why the distractors are wrong:

• A is wrong because NP_Ports are used in NPV (N_Port Virtualization) mode and do not reload in response to a host-side shutdown; that's a different failure scenario.
• C is wrong because the storage array has its own error recovery and doesn't indefinitely hold frames from a dropped initiator connection; the problem manifests at the switch layer, not the storage layer.
• D is wrong because the HBA powers down with the (non-graceful) shutdown - its buffers don't persist or "hold" frames after the host goes offline.

Memory tip: Think of Fibre Channel logout like checking out of a hotel. A graceful shutdown = proper checkout (switch cleans up the port). A non-graceful shutdown = skipping out without checking out - the front desk (SAN switch) marks that room's port as problematic until someone manually clears it.

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