This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
in 2013, the prevalent data center network architecture remains a parallel network architecture, including a mix of specialized NIC, iSCSI, and
Fibre Channel host adapters, as well as Ethernet and Fibre Channel switched fabrics. Cisco UCS blade servers support only Ethernet
connectivity. Adoption of FCoE technology is required to access installed Fibre Channel resources.
Document # APP2013011 v16 August, 2013 Page 9 of 12
HP ProLiant Gen8 Blade Server The Ultimate in I/O Flexibility
HP ProLiant Gen8 blade servers are designed for I/O flexibility with a choice of FlexFabric converged
networking or parallel Ethernet and Fibre Channel networks. The ProLiant Gen8 blade servers are also fully
compliant with Windows Server 2012 Virtual Fibre Channel—an innovation that will play an important role in
the virtualization of Tier-1 workloads with Microsoft Hyper-V.
Choice of I/O Convergence or Divergence meets the needs of
heterogeneous workloads on a single blade platform. Flexibility
HP BladeSystem c7000 enclosure with ProLiant Gen8 blade servers
HP Virtual Connect FlexFabric
10Gb/24-port module supports
connectivity to native Fibre Channel 3PAR
storage at a lower cost than using Fibre
Channel switches
HP Virtual Connect FlexFabric 10Gb/24-port module supports LAN, NAS, iSCSI and FCoE connectivity
Native Fibre Channel server adapter
Over 12 million ports shipped on this stack
Complete enterprise OS support including Solaris
Ethernet LAN on Motherboard (LOM)
Supports LAN, NAS, iSCSI and FCoE connectivity
HP FlexFabric Ready
HP 659818-B21 Mezzanine
FC Adapter
HP FlexFabric 10Gb 2-port 554FLB Adapter
Document # APP2013011 v16 August, 2013 Page 10 of 12
Fibre Channel without Switches
Direct Attached Storage Reduces CAPEX and OPEX
Complementing the HP ProLiant blade server’s flexibility of Fibre Channel (FC) connectivity capability, HP’s
Flat SAN technology enables enterprise class direct attached storage to HP 3PAR Storage Systems without
requiring a Storage Area Network (SAN) fabric. This scalable solution provides connectivity for up to 192 FC
ports and 192 Petabytes of storage capacity. Benefits of this architecture include:
Reduced CAPEX on SAN fabric switches and associated software licenses
Reduced ongoing management and support OPEX of multiple touch points
Latency reduction of up to 55% by removing the fabric switching layer
Up to 2.5x faster Fibre Channel storage provisioning
These benefits accrue while maintaining the flexibility to simultaneously include fabric-attached storage for
traditional SAN connectivity from the same Virtual Connect module.
Simultaneous Direct Attached & SAN-Attached Fibre Channel Storage
HP 3PAR Storage
FC Switch
HP ProLiant Gen8 Blade Servers in a C7000 Enclosure
HP StorageWorks EVA Storage
Choice of Direct-Attached or Fabric-Attached or Simultaneous
Direct and Fabric-Attached Fibre Channel Storage Connectivity Flexibility
Document # APP2013011 v16 August, 2013 Page 11 of 12
Advantage — HP ProLiant Gen8
Emulex Fibre Channel technology is proven with a 15 year history of Emulex Fibre Channel technology is proven with a 15 year history of
deployment of 12 million ports in missiondeployment of 12 million ports in mission--critical environments.critical environments. Proven
Conclusions
For IT organizations who want to scale-up the density of their heterogeneous VM workloads, HP ProLiant
Gen8 blade servers offer more useable bandwidth and superior I/O flexibility.
Feature HP BL460C blade server
with 554FLB or 554M Cisco B200 M3 blade
server with VIC1240
Servers per Chassis 16 8
Servers per Zero Over subscription Traffic Domain 16 0
Over subscription None to 2:1 over subscrip-
tion 4:1 to 10:1 over subscrip-
tion
Single System Latencies 1.5 to 3.0 µsec 3.2 to 7.4 µsec
Support for native Fibre Channel & 10GbE Yes No
Hardware offload
Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) Yes Yes
iSCSI Yes No – software only
TCP offload engine (TOE) Yes Yes
Document # APP2013011 v16 August, 2013 Page 12 of 12
Resources
Related Links To learn more about the companies, technologies and products mentioned in this report, visit the following web pages:
HP FlexFabric Adapters Provided by Emulex HP BladeSystem HP Virtual Connect Technology HP Virtual Connect Traffic Flow HP BladeSystem and Cisco UCS Comparison Cisco Fabric Extender Cisco UCS Adapters Cisco UCS Ethernet Switching Modes HP Direct Connection Flat SAN Storage IT Brand Pulse
About the Author
Rahul Shah, Director, IT Brand Pulse Labs Rahul Shah has over 20 years of experience in senior engineering and product manage-ment positions with semiconductor, storage networking and IP networking manufacturers including QLogic and Lantronix. At IT Brand Pulse, Rahul is responsible for managing the delivery of technical services ranging from hands-on testing to product launch collateral. You can contact Rahul at [email protected].