5.2.1 FC direct attachment to host systems 5.2.2 FC direct attachment between nodes in a Storwize V5000 system 5.3 Preparing the host operating system 5.3.1 Windows 2008 R2 and 2012 R2: Preparing for FC attachment 2. Use the current firmware and driver levels on your host system. 1. Ensure that the current operating system service pack and test fixes are applied to your  server. 10.Configure SAN Boot (optional). 9. Configure the switches, if applicable. 8. Connect the HBA ports to switches by using the correct cables, or directly attach to the  ports on the IBM Storwize V5000. 7. Determine the host worldwide port names (WWPNs). 6. Install and configure multipath software. 5. Configure the host I/O parameters, such as the disk I/O timeout value. 4. Configure the HBA parameters. Although settings are provided for each host operating  system in the following sections, review the Storwize V5000 IBM Knowledge Center to  obtain the latest supported settings. 3. Ensure that the latest supported HBA firmware and driver levels are installed in your host. 2. Ensure that the HBAs are physically installed in the host. 1. Ensure that the latest supported system updates are applied to your host operating  system. The Storwize V5000 supports direct attachment connectivity between its FC ports and host  ports. Host systems can connect to 16 Gb FC ports on the Storwize V5000. No special  configuration is required for host systems that use this configuration. Direct connection of the Storwize V5000 FC ports without the use of an FC switch is  supported. Such connections between the Storwize V5000 nodes might be useful in small  configurations where no FC switch exists. It can also be used to connect nodes in the same  input/output (I/O) group to provide a dedicated connection for mirroring the fast write cache  data. Ensure that sufficient bandwidth is provisioned between nodes to accommodate all of  the intra-node traffic. The Storwize V5000 Gen2 supports 16 Gb Fibre Channel ports and FC direct attachment on  all 16 Gb ports. Note:  Be careful about the maximum length of the FC links in this configuration. The following steps are required to prepare a host to connect to the Storwize V5000: Complete the following steps to prepare a Windows 2008 R2 or Windows 2012 R2 host to  connect to an IBM Storwize V5000 by using FC: Chapter 5. Host configuration  219