NetApp will be participating in a multi-vendor demo sponsored by the Ethernet Alliance at SC09 the week of November 16, to demonstrate the performance and efficiency of a unified and converged data center fabric using 10Gb Ethernet. Specifically, NetApp will be showcasing file and “block” storage network protocols running on a single unified 10Gb Ethernet wire, including Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE), iSCSI, and NFS. NetApp is the only storage vendor offering FCoE storage in the market today, and also supports NFS, CIFS, iSCSI and FC SAN protocols, including FCoE, on the same unified storage platform.
Enhancements to the Ethernet specification, defined as Data Center Bridging (DCB) by IEEE or Converged Enhanced Ethernet by other hardware vendors, include features that enable lossless network characteristics. These lossless characteristics are necessary to support Fibre Channel traffic over an Ethernet physical transport. DCB allows for the prioritization of data traffic as well as congestion management to avoid the dropping of data packs over the network. DCB will also offer benefits to IP traffic by reducing congestion conflicts and supporting prioritized data traffic. As a result, DCB will offer the ability to share network bandwidth with multiple data types and protocols.
The focus of the NetApp demo is to show bandwidth allocation across multiple data types and protocols as well as show how the pause mechanism in DCB functions. NetApp will demonstrate iSCSI and NFS sharing bandwidth with FCoE traffic on the same wire using NetApp’s recently announced Unified Target Adapter configured in a FAS3000 storage system. iSCSI and NFS traffic will be set at priority 0 and FCoE traffic will be set at priority 3. Bandwidth at the target is set at 50/50 by default, but can be overridden by settings at the switch. The demonstration will show how modifying priority and bandwidth settings at the switch are reflected in settings changes at the storage system.
Moving to a unified 10Gb Ethernet fabric offers the ability to converge storage and data traffic on the same wire which reduces overall network infrastructure requirements, including cables and switch ports. FCoE compliments iSCSI to offer additional choice for “block” storage traffic. And because it doesn’t require tunneling, FCoE allows you to easily connect into your existing FC network to extend the life of your existing FC storage until you are ready to upgrade.
As IT departments look to improve the efficiency of their data centers, DCB with support for FCoE will offer improved efficiency by reducing the size of the network infrastructure. Moving traditional FC traffic off of a dedicated, parallel network to a shared 10Gb Ethernet network and unified storage system removes the requirement for single purpose switches, storage and redundant cabling for FC traffic alone. The reduction in switch infrastructure, storage and cabling not only lowers capital expenses, but reduces hardware foot print which results in lower power consumption and reduced airflow restrictions in order to improve overall data center efficiency.
For more information on the Ethernet Alliance demo, visit www.ethernetalliance.org.
For more information on FCoE and NetApp solutions, click here,or go to www.netapp.com.
-- Jason Blosil
Comments