FCoE vs iSCSI

Transition to 10 Gigabit Ethernet is Now

Multi-Core CPU architectures allowing bigger
and multiple workloads on the same machine
Server virtualization driving the need for more
I/O bandwidth per server
Growing need for network storage driving the
demand for higher network bandwidth to the
server
10GE LAN on server Motherboards (LoM) in
Q1CY09

Cisco Data Center Ethernet:

What and Why
Cisco Data Center Ethernet
(DCE) is a Cisco toolbox of
Ethernet enhancements.
Cisco DCE enhancements are
standards-based.
Cisco DCE enhancements are
supported by ecosystem
partners.
Benefits of Cisco DCE:
Enables the Unified Fabric to
accommodate LAN, storage, and
clustering applications
High speed, Lossless transport
Congestion management
Possibility of larger Layer 2
domains

Mgmt
Network
Cluster
1

Backup
Network

Storage
Network
Un
ifi
ed

Cluster
2

Fa
br
ic

an
d

I/O

Unified
Fabric

Data Center Ethernet

Feature / Standard

Benefit

Priority Flow Control (PFC)

IEEE 802.1Qbb

Enable multiple traffic types to share a common

Ethernet link without interfering with each other

Bandwidth Management
IEEE 802.1Qaz

Enable consistent management of QoS at the

network level by providing consistent scheduling

Congestion Management
IEEE 802.1Qau

End-to-end congestion management for

L2 network

Data Center Bridging

Exchange Protocol (DCBX)

Management protocol for enhanced Ethernet

capabilities

L2 Multipath for
Unicast and Multicast

Increase bandwidth, multiple active paths.

No spanning tree, larger L2 domain for modern

FC over Ethernet (FCoE)

FCoE

Benefits

Mapping of FC frames
over Ethernet
Enables FC to run
on a lossless Data Center
Ethernet network
Ethernet
Fibre
Channel

Wire Server Once

Fewer cables and adapters
Software Provisioning of I/O
Interoperates with
existing SANs
No gatewaystateless

iSCSI and FCoE an aside

iSCSI

iSCSI packet =
SCSI cmds +
data in TCP/IP
packet
Up to 9180 B

FCoE
EnetHeader

EnetHeader

IP

FCoEHeader

TCP

FCFrame

iSCSIHeader

(variable)
Upto2112

iSCSIDATA
(variable)

EOF
FCS

FCS

FCoE Frame
Up to 2180 B
Encapsulated
FC Frame

Network Stack Comparison

SCSI
FCP

Less Overhead
than
FCIP or iSCSI

iSCSI
FCIP

FC

TCP
IP

FCoE
Ethernet

Physical Wire
SCSI

iSCSI

FCIP

FCoE

FC

iSCSI

Standard
Ethernet NIC

Software Initiator

FCoE

Ethernet NIC

Host Bus Adapter

iSCSI and FCoE

iSCSI

Block level storage protocol

Routable Uses TCP/IP
Software Driver/Initiator available
CPU Intensive CPU & software
Primarily 1GE
Primarily used for lower-speed I/O
Usually cheaper than FCP or FCoE
Off the shelf NICs
TCP/IP Offload Engine (TOE) cards
for higher performance
Works with DCE
Scaling issue at 10G and beyond
NOTHING WRONG with iSCSI**

FCoE

Block level storage protocol

Not routable
Requires a CNA (today)
L2 only protocol
Requires 10G DCE
DCE allows for differentiated class
of service
Adoption rapidly increasing
Built for Hardware integration
More Efficient protocol
High-performance investment
protection option for existing FC
environments
Where larger hardware vendors are
concentrating efforts**

FCoE enabler: MDS

Critical Element of Real World VM Deployment
NPIV

Fabric Scalability and Performance

Resilient, high performance fabric to support
large, dense VM environments

V
VV V
V
VV V

V
VV V
V
VV V

V
VV V
V
VV V

Performance Monitoring and

Trending

VM-granular management and troubleshooting

VSAN Tier 2
VSAN Tier 1
VSAN Tier 3

SAN
Fabric

Quality of Service (QoS)

VM-granular policy provisioning

VSANs Isolate Fault Domains

Increase availability, simplify troubleshooting,

improve security & compliance
Tier 1

Tier 3
Tier 2

Mobility with Security

Wire-speed encryption protects data in

transit and VMs during migration