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State of the Union for Fibre Channel and Fibre Channel over Ethernet StandardsJ Metz, Ph.D – Sr. Product Manager
@drjmetz
2© 2013 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public
What's New in the Fibre Channel and FCoE WorldAgenda
New ways to connect devices together
New ways to zone
New ways to architect topologies
State of the Standards
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First Things First!How to Use Standards
Standards are designed to solve a particular problem
If you don't have that problem, you don't need a standard way to solve it!
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Where Are We Now?What's Already Been Done?
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The Grand-daddy of FCoE StandardsFC-BB-5
Allows you to put Fibre Channel frames onto Ethernet topologies
Can duplicate Fibre Channel topologies
Requires a "Fibre Channel Forwarder" (FCF) somewhere-Devices need to be connected either directly or indirectly through a FIP-Snooping Bridge
State of the Standards
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Adding more tools to the toolboxFC-BB-6
"How do you connect an initiator and a target without using an FCF?"
-BB6 Answer: PT2PT; VN2VN
"How do you address scalability questions of Domain ID sprawl"
-BB6 Answer: FCoE Data-Plane Forwarder (FDFs)
State of the Standards
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New Ways to Connect with FCoEVN2VN and PT2PT
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How do you connect an initiator directly to a target?PT2PT
If you want to connect two devices-And only two!
Like Fibre Channel, can connect directly together
-Same thing as FC point-to-point
Unlike Fibre Channel, can be connected through a (lossless DCB Ethernet) bridge
DCB Cloud
State of the Standards
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Plusses and MinusesPT2PT
Plus:-No switch needed-Very fast initialization-Useful for Mainframe environments-Designed to support any two ports in a L2 segment-Can operate independently of the type of Link Aggregation used
Minus:-No protection provided by zoning-No notification via RSCN if other devices should disappear or re-appear-Dependent on Link Keepalives (LKAs) and Advertisements for discovery
DCB Cloud
State of the Standards
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© 2013 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public
Loopy loopyVN2VN
Similar to Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop (FC-AL)
Allows for multiple ports to communicate in a peer-to-peer manner
Can connect through a lossless DCB Ethernet Layer 2 network/cloud
FCoE Initiators
FCoE Targets
State of the Standards
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Plusses and MinusesVN2VN
Plusses-No switch needed-Designed to support any two ports in a L2 segment-Can operate independently of the type of Link Aggregation used
Minuses-Same limitations as PT2PT, plus...-Each VN_Port needs to keep track of all logins
•I.e., each node keeps a copy of the entire name server
-Each login takes time•"Multiple" devices doesn't mean "many" devices
FCoE Initiators
FCoE Targets
State of the Standards
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New TopologiesIntroducing the FCoE Data Forwarder (FDF)
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How do you handle Domain ID sprawl?FDF
Each switch has a Domain ID-You can only have 239 per fabric!
FCF
FCF
FCF
FCF
FCF
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How do you handle Domain ID sprawl?FDF
Each switch has a Domain ID-You can only have 239 per fabric!
This can be a problem in blade systems which have their own switches
FCF
FCF
FCF
FCF
FCF
FCF
FCFFCF
FCF
FCF
FCF
FCF
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How do you handle Domain ID sprawl?FDF
Instead, you have a "FCoE Data Forwarder" instead of a full switch in the blades
FCF
FCF
State of the Standards
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How do you handle Domain ID sprawl?FDF
Instead, you have a "FCoE Data Forwarder" instead of a full switch in the blades
There are two "Controlling FCFs"-So only two DomainIDs
These are the "brains" of the fabric-Instructs the FDFs how to behave
Full FC visibility throughout fabric
FDF
FDF
FDF
FDF
FDF
SAN A
SAN B
FCF
FCF
State of the Standards
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Similar method to avoiding DomainID sprawlFCoE NPV
Mechanisms are different, but end result is the same
Upstream NPIV "Controlling FCFs"-So only two DomainIDs
These are the "brains" of the fabric-Maintain zoning, fabric logins, etc
Full FC visibility throughout fabric
FCoE NPV
FCoE NPV
FCoE NPV
FCoE NPV
FCoE NPV
SAN A
SAN B
FCF NPIV
FCF NPIV
State of the Standards
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New Ways to ZonePeer-Based Zoning
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Targeting the Stress ZonePeer Based Zoning/Target Driven Zoning
Written by Cisco and EMC in the T11 Committee
Effort to eliminate the manual task of zoning
State of the Standards
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Registered State Change Notifications (RCSNs)Problems with Open Zones (i.e., No Zones)
Any time a device is added to a fabric, everyone gets notified
State of the Standards
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Registered State Change Notifications (RCSNs)Problems with Open Zones (i.e., No Zones)
Any time a device is added to a fabric, everyone gets notified
Likewise, any time a device leaves a fabric, everyone gets notified
State of the Standards
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Registered State Change Notifications (RCSNs)Problems with Open Zones (i.e., No Zones)
Any time a device is added to a fabric, everyone gets notified
Likewise, any time a device leaves a fabric, everyone gets notified
Too many devices mean that everyone keeps hitting the Name Server, effectively creating a Denial of Service attack
State of the Standards
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Segmentation and IsolationA-Zoning We Will Go
Zoning isolates these notifications to only those members
But... it is painstaking work
Zone 1
Zone 2
State of the Standards
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What If...
We only had RSCNs communicated between the host and the target it's logged into?
The target told the switch to only send RSCNs to its logged-in hosts?
Come to think of it...– The target has a list of approved hosts anyway– Why not have it tell the switch to create a zone based on that info?
It's so crazy it might just work!– ... and it does!
Zoneset:
WWN1
WWN2
WWN3...
WWN1
WWN2
WWN3
Zone "TDZ"
State of the Standards
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Always improving capabilitiesSummary
New ways to connect-Direct attached-Loops
New Topologies-Scaling out FCoE fabrics
New Zoning-Target drives the zones
Watch the Law of the Hammer-Not everything is a nail
State of the Standards
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