Deployment Guide: Network Convergence
with Emulex
®
OneConnect™ OCe10102-F
FCoE CNA and Windows Server Platform
How to deploy converged networking with a Windows Server platform using Emulex FCoE technology
Introduction
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. The
Emulex OneConnect Universal Converged Network
Adapters (CNAs) 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™ OCe10102-F FCoE CNA
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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
®
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 (CNA) 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 is
posing 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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Deployment Guide: Network Convergence with Emulex®
OneConnect™ OCe10102-F FCoE CNA and Windows Server Platform
The Data Center Networking Challenge
Data center managers are clearly in need of networking solutions
that contain the sprawl of network infrastructure and enable an
adaptive next-generation network. The solution for optimizing the
data center network must be capable of addressing the following
high level requirements:
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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.
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 2).
Figure 2 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.
Figure 3 shows how networking and Fibre Channel software
stacks use a common Ethernet infrastructure to achieve
convergence in the data center.
Figure 1 DCB enables multiple traffic type over a single link
Data Center Bridging:
The Foundation for Network Convergence
The IEEE Data Center Bridging (DCB) standard enables multiple
traffic types over a single link, or network convergence, as shown
in Figure 1 for FCoE.
The key DCB standards that enable network convergence are:
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Priority Flow Control (PFC)—Pause-based I/O management
between an initiator and target on a multi-protocol Ethernet link
that insures low latency and eliminates re-transmissions for lost
packets (referred to as “lossless” Ethernet)
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Quality of Service (QoS)—Support for 8 network
traffic priorities
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Enhanced Transmission Selection (ETS)—Bandwidth
allocation for multiple protocols
Figure 3 Networking and Fibre Channel stacks
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Deployment Guide: Network Convergence with Emulex®
OneConnect™ OCe10102-F FCoE CNA and Windows Server Platform
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 OCe10102-F FCoE CNA
The Emulex OneConnect OCe10102-F is a single-chip 10GbE
CNA that supports FCoE while leveraging mature Fibre Channel
management tools and processes (see Figure 4). The OCe10102-F
offloads 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 VMs per virtualized server.
Emulex FCoE CNAs leverage ten generations of advanced, fieldproven LightPulse™ Fibre Channel HBA technology, making them
ideal for server I/O consolidation.
Converged Network Deployment Models
The combination of DCB-enabled Ethernet switches and Emulex
CNAs has facilitated the adoption of FCoE and 10GbE as the
converged network fabric.
FCoE switches are typically provisioned at the edge of the
network. They detect Ethernet frames with encapsulated Fibre
Channel frames and supply the Fibre Channel Forwarding function
for communication to the SAN. Fibre Channel frames are routed
over a FC uplink port that can be connected to a Fibre Channel
switch (E-port or NPIV mode) or storage array (F-port)
Ethernet ports on the switch provide connectivity to the LAN.
Figure 4 Emulex OneConnect OCe10102-F FCoE CNA
Figure 5 Converged network deployment and access to SAN
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Deployment Guide: Network Convergence with Emulex®
OneConnect™ OCe10102-F FCoE CNA and Windows Server Platform
Converged Networking with FCoE in a Windows Environment
The following sections provide details on how to configure
an Emulex OneConnect OCe10102-F FCoE CNA and deploy
converged networking with FCoE in a Windows Server
environment.
CNA Installation
CNAs provide the same functionality as installing separate NICs
and Fibre Channel HBAs.
Figure 6 Each CNA port is represented as
an HBA and a NIC to Windows Server
There are three software components for installation of
OneConnect CNAs in a Windows environment:
Storport Miniport driver
Download update from
www.emulex.com
OneCommand™ Manager
Download from
www.emulex.com
AutoPilot Installer®
Included with the
OneCommand Manager
download
The Emulex Storport Miniport device
driver enables communication with the
adapter and a version of the driver is
included “in-box” in Windows Server
2003, 2008 and 2008 R2. The inbox
Storport Miniport device driver should
be updated with the version that is
downloaded from the Emulex web site.
The Emulex OneCommand Manager
application (previously called
HBAnyware®) provides comprehensive
management of Emulex adapters on
both local and remote servers.
The Emulex AutoPilot utility is used to
install the Storport Miniport driver, the
OneCommand Manager application and
other necessar y software.
OneCommand Manager
OneCommand Manager is the successor to the Emulex fieldproven HBAnyware management application, and provides
centralized management of Emulex fabric (Fibre Channel HBA)
and network (iSCSI, FCoE CNA, NIC) adapters in physical and
virtual server deployments. It provides powerful provisioning and
diagnostic capabilities through a graphical user interface (GUI) as
well as a fully scriptable command line user interface (CLI), helping
increase administration efficiency and business agility.
CNAs present both NIC and iSCSI or Fibre Channel functionality to
the operating system (OS) (see Figure 6). This level of transparency
ensures that the CNA configuration and management practices
are performed in the same manner as would be done with
separate NIC and HBA devices.
Once the Fibre Channel CNA has been installed in the host,
Windows Device Manager can be launched from Server Manager
to verify that the CNA is recognized by the host. The adapter is
visible in Windows Device Manager in the storage adapter view as
well as the network adapter view. When deploying multiple CNAs
for failover and load balancing, both Fibre Channel multipathing
and NIC teaming can be configured.
AutoPilot Installer
AutoPilot Installer supports a wide variety of installation options
from a basic installation on the local server to customizable,
automated installations on both local and remote servers. The
Storport Miniport User Manual provides details on all of the
options. All that is required for a basic installation on the local
server is to download and run the distribution kit. The AutoPilot
installation automatically installs or updates the driver for all of
the adapters on the server and also installs all of the components
needed for OneCommand Manager. There is minimal user input
and a reboot of Windows is usually not required.
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Deployment Guide: Network Convergence with Emulex®
OneConnect™ OCe10102-F FCoE CNA and Windows Server Platform
Driver Installation
To begin the driver installation, go to the Emulex website to
download the OneCommand Manager utility and driver package
(www.emulex.com).
1. From the Emulex web site click on Downloads. This opens the
Downloads page. For this example, select Emulex at the top of
the vendor list.
2. Under OneConnect UCNAs, click on “UCNA Downloads page”.
3. Within the OneConnect UCNA’s Downloads and Documentation
section there are a number of supported operating systems
listed. For this example, we will select “Drivers with the Enterprise
Management Application” in the Windows section. This download
includes the full OneCommand Manager (GUI and CLI).
The “Windows Downloads for Emulex OCe10102 UCNA” page is
displayed, which includes drivers, applications, firmware, boot code
and documentation for the Enterprise Application Kit (Figure 7).
To continue with the application, download from the “Windows
Downloads for Emulex OCe10102 UCNA” page and complete the
installation:
4. Scroll down to the Drivers and Applications section and click on
the Download icon for the driver kit.
5. Once the download has completed, click on AutoPilot Installer
to extract the contents of the kit.
6. Follow the series of prompts as the host recognizes the
installed adaptors.
7. Select “driver” in management application installation.
8. Select the OneCommand Manager application.
Note—Managing multiple adapters (NIC, FCoE and/or iSCSI) with
OneCommand Manager is very similar to managing Fibre Channel
HBAs in HBAnyware. OneCommand Manager streamlines adapter
administration for converged networking with centralized crossplatform, cross-protocol management capabilities.
Managing multiple adapters
Figure 8 shows a OneCommand Manager screen shot with the
adapter information.
Figure 7 The Windows Download page for
Emulex OCe10102 UCNA is available at
www.emulex.com/downloads/emulex/oneconnect-ucnas/oce10102-windows-ent.html
Note—The “Supported Protocol” section shows all of the drivers and
supported devices for each of the protocols. For FC and FCoE, this
includes multiple generations of LightPulse™ Fibre Channel HBAs,
OneConnect UCNAs and first-generation CNAs. The Emulex OneConnect
UCNA driver package for Windows Server is the same for all of these
adapters. This feature streamlines the driver qualification process, protects
previous investments and reduces TCO.
Figure 8 Managing multiple entities with
OneCommand Manager is straightforward
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Deployment Guide: Network Convergence with Emulex®
OneConnect™ OCe10102-F FCoE CNA and Windows Server Platform
The OneConnect OcE adapter icon is positioned under the
Windows Server icon in the top left:
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Click on the OneConnect OCe101000 icon to view Port 0 and Port 1
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Two entities are represented under each port:
- The NIC icon provides the MAC address
- The FCoE icon provides the worldwide port name
(Note—A red FCoE icon indicates a link-down status as show in
Figure 8; a green FCoE icon would indicate a link-up status.)
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Click on the FCoE icon and select the “Driver Parameters”
tab to the far right. For those familiar with managing Emulex
Fibre Channel adaptors, the same parameter capabilities and
management practices apply (see Figure 9).
Activating the SAN Component
Once you’ve configured the Emulex OneConnect FcoE adapter,
you must also ensure that the FCF port on the switch has been
configured to support FCoE.
Zoning, which provides isolation of sensitive data in a SAN,
is based on a World Wide Port Name (WWPN) that uniquely
identifies the adapter (either HBA or CNA) that is installed on
a server. Zoning practices and storage configuration practices
remain the same for CNAs as they are for HBAs. An IT
administrator can define relationships between WWPNs and
Logical Unit Numbers (LUNs) that restrict access to data. Once
access is gained to the LUNS, multi-path I/O components or
virtual disk services can be installed.
Conclusion
Network convergence is a critical opportunity for enterprise data
centers to achieve significant savings and efficiencies. FCoE
technology enables network convergence in enterprise data
centers and provides benefits such as infrastructure simplification,
investment protection and lowered TCO. FCoE provides these
benefits without disrupting existing architectures and operating
models. Emulex OneConnect FCoE CNAs are the right converged
network storage connectivity solution, fully compatible with
Windows Server 2003, 2008, and 2008 R2.
The streamlined configuration and management capabilities
of Emulex AutoPilot Manager and OneCommand Manager are
geared toward increasing overall productivity and efficiency for
networked storage administrators. This directly translates into
reduced operating costs and lower total cost of ownership.
Figure 9 IT administrators accustomed to
HBAnyware will find OneCommand Manager’s
management practices familiar and easy to use
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©2010 Emulex, Inc. All rights reserved. This document refers to various companies and products by their trade names. In most,
if not all cases, their respective companies claim these designations as trademarks or registered trademarks. This information
is provided for reference only. Although this information is believed to be accurate and reliable at the time of publication, Emulex
assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions. Emulex reserves the right to make changes or corrections without notice.
This report is the property of Emulex and may not be duplicated without permission from the Company.
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