Emulex OCE10102-F User Manual

WHITEPAPER

Deployment Guide:
Network Convergence

®

with Emulex
OneConnect™ FCoE

®

CNA and Windows
Server Platform

How to Deploy Converged
Networking with a Windows
Server Platform Using
Emulex OneConnect
OCe11102-F and
OCe10102-F FCoE CNAs

Advanced Management Solutions

Introduction

Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) is a standard developed by
INCITS T11 that fully leverages the enhanced features of 10 Gigabit
Ethernet (10GbE) for I/O consolidation in the data center. The Emulex
OneConnect Universal Converged Network Adapter (UCNA) is the first
adapter to provide protocol offloads for TCP/IP, FCoE and iSCSI with
a single product platform. It allows companies to wire once, creating a
seamless upgrade path to solidify the benefits of network convergence.

Emulex has a long and successful history of working closely with
Microsoft and other partners to leverage new technologies that evolve
in converged network environments. This deployment guide presents
information about network convergence and also provides an overview
of how to realize the maximum benefits when deploying OneConnect
FCoE technology with Windows Server 2003, 2008 and 2008 R2.

Network Convergence

The combination of high bandwidth demand, increasing network
sprawl and the growing need for more adaptive networking
infrastructure poses a major challenge for data center managers. Pain
points in today’s data center networks include:

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Multiple network fabrics, each dedicated to a specific type of traffic

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High numbers of adapters and switch ports

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Complicated cabling infrastructure

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Complex management of switch and adapter firmware and

associated service contracts

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How to maximize server virtualization return on investment (ROI)

Data Center Bridging and FCoE

At a Glance

Windows users look to Emulex for high
performance, scalable, reliable connectivity
solutions. With converged networking,
Windows users now have greater choices
when deploying a storage area network
(SAN) with iSCSI and Fibre Channel
over Ethernet (FCoE) protocols. Emulex
OneConnect Universal Converged Network
Adapters (UCNAs) leverage ten generations
of advanced, field-proven LightPulse

™

Fibre Channel Host Bus Adapter (HBA)
technology, making them ideal for server I/O
consolidation.

This deployment guide reviews Data Center
Bridging (DCB) as the foundation of network
convergence; includes a technology overview
of FCoE; and provides a detailed description
of how to configure an Emulex OneConnect
FCoE CNA and deploy converged networking
with FCoE in a Windows Server environment.

Products

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Emulex OneConnect OCe11102-F

and OCe10102-F FCoE CNAs

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Emulex OneCommand™ Manager

application

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Emulex AutoPilot Installer

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Windows Server 2003, 2008 and 2008 R2

®

The IEEE Data Center Bridging (DCB) standard enables multiple traffic
types over a single link, or network convergence, with FCoE and
Ethernet using the same cable. With DCB, data centers can achieve
the following:

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Consolidate—Replace multiple 1GbE links with a high-bandwidth

10GbE infrastructure, significantly reducing the number of switch
ports, adapter ports and cables.

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Converge—Unify networking and storage traffic to a single network,

eliminating the need for dedicated networks for each traffic type.

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Virtualize—Virtualize the underlying physical network infrastructure

and provide service level guarantees for each type of traffic. In
addition, the solution must be capable of responding to dynamic
changes in network services based on the business demands of
data center applications.

Emulex Whitepaper Network Convergence with Emulex and Windows2

Advanced Management Solutions

FCoE Technology Overview

The FCoE protocol specification provides for direct encapsulation of a complete Fibre Channel frame (including checksum and
framing bits) within an Ethernet frame and avoids the overhead of any intermediate protocols (see Figure 1).

Figure 1

FCoE encapsulation
in Ethernet

This lightweight encapsulation ensures that FCoE-capable Ethernet switches are less compute-intensive, providing high
performance that is typical of a Fibre Channel network. By retaining Fibre Channel as the upper layer protocol, FCoE fully
supports critical Fibre Channel capabilities, including fabric login, zoning and Logical Unit Number (LUN) masking.

Benefits of Network Convergence and FCoE

The combination of network convergence and FCoE provide the following key benefits to IT organizations:

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Infrastructure simplification—Network and storage I/O is converged over a single 10GbE infrastructure that supports SAN

and local area network (LAN) connectivity with common adapters, switch ports and cables.

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Protection for existing Fibre Channel investments—FCoE is designed to fully leverage existing Fibre Channel

investments. Deployments begin at the edge of the data center and storage traffic is routed by a Fibre Channel forwarding
switch into the existing Fibre Channel SAN. Full interoperability with installed Fibre Channel switches and arrays means
no need to “rip and replace”. Even more critical, there’s no requirement to move and potentially disrupt access to data.
A common management framework across Fibre Channel and FCoE connected servers protects existing investments in
management tools and processes and lowers long-term operating costs.

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Increased IT efficiency and business agility—A converged network streamlines and eliminates repeated administrative

tasks such as server and network provisioning with a “wire once” deployment model. The converged network also improves
business agility letting data centers dynamically and rapidly respond to requests for new or expanded services, new servers
and new configurations.

Emulex OneConnect FCoE CNA

Emulex OneConnect FCoE CNAs are single-chip 10GbE server adapters that support FCoE, while leveraging mature Fibre
Channel management tools and processes (see Figure 2). The OCe10102-F and OCe11102-F offload Fibre Channel protocol
processing from the CPU, providing high performance storage connectivity and optimized CPU utilization. The additional
processing power retained by CPUs provides more CPU bandwidth for enterprise applications and enables the deployment of
more virtual machines (VMs) per virtualized server.

Emulex FCoE CNAs leverage ten generations of advanced, field-proven LightPulse Fibre Channel HBA technology, making
them ideal for server I/O consolidation.

Emulex Whitepaper Network Convergence with Emulex and Windows3