Support for Cisco Director-Class Multihop FCoE & New Ethernet Advantage Program

NetApp is one of the first storage vendors to support director-class multihop Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) with Cisco data center switches, allowing customers to create larger data center network fabrics and drive IT efficiency by connecting multiple cost-effective FCoE switches. Support for director-class multihop FCoE gives customers the ability to expand their FCoE footprint over greater distances with Ethernet and expand their network into the core of data centers more cost effectively than with traditional methods.  Prior to multihop support, the configuration for end-to-end FCoE was a single FCoE switch top-of-rack configuration connected to FCoE storage.  

Figure 1) Transition to FCoE/DCB at the edge/switch. Single FCoE hop from edge switch to FCoE storage.

Figure 2) Transition to FCoE/DCB at the core.  FCoE from edge switch to core/director-class switch to FCoE storage.

  

NetApp will resell the Cisco Nexus 5548 PU Switch and will support multihop with the Cisco Nexus 5000 Series, the Nexus 7000 Series , and MDS 9500 Series Multilayer Directors with the addition of an FCoE module. The Cisco Nexus 5548P is currently available worldwide and the Nexus 7000 Series Switch and MDS 9500 Series Multilayer Directors with an FCoE module are scheduled to be supported worldwide in May 2011.

NetApp Ethernet Advantage Program

Cisco solutions are also part of the new NetApp Ethernet Advantage Program. The program provides technology partners such as Broadcom, Cisco, Chelsio and Intel with standards by which they can qualify new and updated solutions.  The program has more than 200 configurations and allows customers to quickly identify and deploy the right solution for their data center.  NetApp also supports end-to-end FCoE solutions with Windows^® Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL)–certified converged network adapters (CNA).

Support for FCoE multihop, the NetApp Ethernet Advantage Program and WHQL-certified CNAs provides NetApp customers with more choice and flexibility when deploying FCoE and will help to increase FCoE adoption.  

Mike McNamara 

 

Comments

[terracotta warriors]

Don‘t waste your time on a man/woman, who isn‘t willing to

waste their time on you.

[Maddenca]

Can you explain or provide a link to "how" multi-hop FCoE is enabled? My memory is that there are several technical features, or combination of features, that could enable multi-hop FCoE and I'm curious which road was taken for this solution.

Also, several Cisco hw models are listed. Is a specific model required to be in the solution or is it just a list of models that [will] support multi-hop? So for example in the multi-hop diagram above could both be Cisco 5548P?

Lastly, is there a specific firmware level requirement from Cisco & NetApp for multi-hop support?

Answers, or a link to a more detailed whitepaper about the solution, would be great.

Thanks,
Chris

[Jason Blosil]

@Maddenca
As a strategic partner of Cisco, NetApp engages at a technical level to qualify and certify solutions for our customers. We have announced support for the enhancements Cisco has made to their Nexus 5000 and the soon to be released enhancements to the Nexus 7000 and MDS 9500 switches to enable multi-hop for FCoE. Multi-hop can be deployed with tiered Nexus 5000 switches or by connecting Nexus 5000 switches to the data center core using a Nexus 7000 or MDS 9500. No modifications were necessary to support multi-hop for FCoE on the NetApp storage products.

If you are interested in learning more about Cisco FCoE solutions, I would start with the Cisco resources below. They also have best practice guides describing how to deploy FCoE in a tiered network environment.

Blog entry on FCoE Multi-hop:
http://blogs.cisco.com/datacenter/to-tell-the-truth-multihop-fcoe/

Director-Class FCoE Guide: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/solutions/collateral/ns340/ns517/ns224/ns945/ns1060/guide_c07-648629.html

Multihop Fibre Channel over Ethernet Designs:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/modules/ps5991/ps11581/at_a_glance_c45-648467.pdf