Blade ICE G8124 Manuale Utente

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BMD00220, October 2010
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HAPTER
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FCoE and CEE
This chapter provides conceptual background and configuration examples for using Converged 
Enhanced Ethernet (CEE) features of the RackSwitch G8124, with an emphasis on Fibre Channel 
over Ethernet (FCoE) solutions. The following topics are addressed in this chapter:

Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) allows Fibre Channel traffic to be transported over 
Ethernet links. This provides an evolutionary approach toward network consolidation, allowing 
Fibre Channel equipment and tools to be retained, while leveraging cheap, ubiquitous Ethernet 
networks for growth.

Using FCoE Initialization Protocol (FIP) snooping, the G8124 examines the FIP frames 
exchanged between ENodes and FCFs. This information is used to dynamically determine 
the ACLs required to block certain types of undesired or unvalidated traffic on FCoE links.

Converged Enhanced Ethernet (CEE) refers to a set of IEEE standards developed primarily to 
enable FCoE, requiring enhancing the existing Ethernet standards to make them lossless on a 
per-priority traffic basis, and providing a mechanism to carry converged (LAN/SAN/IPC) 
traffic on a single physical link. CEE features can also be utilized in traditional LAN 
(non-FCoE) networks to provide lossless guarantees on a per-priority basis, and to provide 
efficient bandwidth allocation.

Priority-Based Flow Control (PFC) extends 802.3x standard flow control to allow the 
switch to pause traffic based on the 802.1p priority value in each packet’s VLAN tag. PFC 
is vital for FCoE environments, where SAN traffic must remain lossless and should be 
paused during congestion, while LAN traffic on the same links should be delivered with 
“best effort” characteristics.