Brocade Communications Systems 53-1001761-01 User Manual

Page of 164
Converged Enhanced Ethernet Administrator’s Guide
1
53-1001761-01
DRAFT: BROCADE CONFIDENTIAL
Chapter
1
Introducing FCoE
In this chapter
FCoE terminology
 lists and describes the FCoE terminology used in this document.
FCoE overview
Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) enables you to transport FC protocols and frames over 
Converged Enhanced Ethernet (CEE) networks. CEE is an enhanced Ethernet that enables the 
convergence of various applications in data centers (LAN, SAN, and HPC) onto a single interconnect 
technology.
FCoE provides a method of encapsulating the Fibre Channel (FC) traffic over a physical Ethernet 
link. FCoE frames use a unique EtherType that enables FCoE traffic and standard Ethernet traffic to 
be carried on the same link. FC frames are encapsulated in an Ethernet frame and sent from one 
FCoE-aware device across an Ethernet network to a second FCoE-aware device. The FCoE-aware 
devices may be FCoE end nodes (ENodes) such as servers, storage arrays, or tape drives on one 
end and FCoE Forwarders on the other end. FCoE Forwarders (FCFs) are switches providing FC 
fabric services and FCoE-to-FC bridging. 
TABLE 1
FCoE terminology
Term
Description
FCoE
Fibre Channel over Ethernet
CEE
Converged Enhanced Ethernet
VN_port
FCoE equivalent of an FC N_port
VF_port 
FCoE equivalent of an FC F_port
ENode
An FCoE device that supports FCoE VN_ports 
(servers and target devices)
FCoE Forwarder (FCF)
An FCoE link end point that provides FC fabric 
services