FCoE as a technology, still has not taken significant adoption in industry, but experts expect a growing demand in this sector in years to come. Before you go for this technology, it is helpful for you to take a look at this technology and its multi aspects at large. This article provides you widen view of this technogy and industry.

In the SNW 2010, in the new technology area, FCoE has been on a high discussion. Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) may finally be coming of age, based on the traffic for a multi-vendor demonstration of 8Gbps Fibre Channel and FCoE in the Fibre Channel Industry Association (FCIA) booth, and the packed labs for FCoE and Converged Enhanced Ethernet (CEE), where users could get their hands on the technology.
Fibre Channel is powering a number of areas in the data center, said Tom Hammond-Doel, vice chair of the FCIA, including tiered storage and ILM, where it helps match data to the most appropriate storage type, and green storage, where it can offer effective performance to obtain the best efficiency. All FCoE milestones have been completed and the FCoE standard has been submitted to the INCITS committee, said Hammond-Doel. FCIA has developed recommendations for the minimum recommended 10GbE physical, Ethernet and FC logical protocol criteria for enterprise data center I/O unification.

Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) has been a much-hyped technology, but adoption rates haven't yet lived up to the propaganda. According to Seamus Crehan, an analyst at Dell'Oro Group, only about 10,000 FCoE ports shipped in 2008. While that number is predicted to reach 1 million in 2011, it will still be outgunned by Fibre Channel by a factor of 10 to one.

So what do users need to be doing to prepare for FCoE? Obviously, additional components are needed to set the stage for implementation. It doesn't necessarily make sense, though, to turn all applications over to FCoE. IT shops will have to evaluate which applications require the advantages of FCoE networks and which operating systems they will be running on. Server virtualization from the likes of Vmware appears to be a good candidate.

As FCoE carries similar cost as 8Gb FC today, it should be considered if the bandwidth can be shared and the performance requirements include low latency. For workloads that don't require heavy I/O, though, Reich feels it doesn't really make much sense to move to FCoE. For other applications, iSCSI or NAS protocols can be used at a much lower price point.

FCoE Encapsulation

FCoE is a new industry-standard protocol that enables the transport of Fibre Channel storage traffic over new enhanced lossless Ethernet links. To achieve that goal, FCoE simply encapsulates, or wraps, Fibre Channel frames into Ethernet frames (see Figure 1) and prepares them for transport over Converged Enhanced Ethernet (CEE) links. It is important to note that FCoE simply wraps the entire Fibre Channel frame as-is without any modifications.

The fact that the Fibre Channel payload remains intact throughout its FCoE journey means that FCoE preserves the Fibre Channel constructs and services and enables FCoE solutions to utilize existing management applications. As a result, FCoE solutions are designed to integrate seamlessly into existing Fibre Channel environments without introducing incompatibilities or disrupting existing infrastructures. Note, however, that FCoE will not alleviate existing incompatibilities in existing Fibre Channel products or environments.

As an encapsulation protocol, FCoE builds on the success of Fibre Channel in the data center and serves to extend its presence. Contrary to some beliefs, FCoE does not compete with Fibre Channel, as encapsulation protocols tend to supplement rather than compete with storage interface or networking protocols such as Fibre Channel.

The FCoE protocol stack (see Figure 2) is constructed by taking Fibre Channel upper services (Layers FC 2, FC 3, and FC 4) and placing them on top of Ethernet physical and Data Link layers (Layer 2). Note that the layer labeled CEE is the Ethernet Link Layer (Layer 2) where CEE enhancements aimed at making Ethernet lossless are being added. Sandwiched between the Fibre Channel and Ethernet layers is the FCoE layer. The FCoE layer encapsulates Fibre Channel to CEE traffic and performs the reverse function on CEE-to-Fibre Channel traffic. Ethernet frames carrying Fibre Channel traffic are assigned a new EtherType code to distinguish FCoE traffic. FCoE also requires a new larger Ethernet frame size called "baby jumbo frame" that accommodates the Fibre Channel frame and the associated Ethernet and FCoE headers.

Figure 1. Ethernet frame with Fibre Channel frame insertion.

Figure 2. FCoE stack.

Downsides of FCoE

From the moment 10 Gigabit Ethernet became a reality to the mainstream, the emergence of FCoE was a mere formality. Encapsulating Fibre Channel frames over Ethernet networks, FCoE offered the possibility of allowing Fibre Channel to use Ethernet networks while preserving the Fibre Channel protocol. With speeds close to Fibre channel, FcoE now offers companies a tempting cost effective alternative which would support both FC and Ethernet traffic over a single physical infrastructure. Hence storage and network traffic over a single set of cables, switches, and adapters, thus saving in the complexity of managing two physical networks and consequently saving on energy consumption and heat generation.

But FCoE does come along with certain snags as well the obvious one of not being as secure as FC. Firstly load balancing and thus optimal resource utilisation is still an issue due to Ethernet being a Layer 2 protocol and thus leaving FCoE to be unroutable. Hence currently multipathing is still not an approved option. Ironically the problem arises from the advantage FCOE presents with the disbandment of using both Ethernet for TCP/IP networks and Fibre Channel for storage area networks, in favour of one unified network. With Fibre Channel running on Ethernet alongside traditional Internet Protocol (IP) traffic, thus becoming just another network protocol, FCoE operates directly above Ethernet in the network protocol stack, in contrast to iSCSI which runs on top of TCP and IP. Therefore as a result of this FCOE will fail to function across routed IP networks as it is unable to be routed at the IP layer.

Another concern is that once the marketing hyperbole of 10-Gbit is brushed away the truth that remains is that any storage traffic initialised at 10-Gbit will still get dropped onto an 8Gb native FC SAN or 4Gb in the case of most Cisco and Qlogic switches. This becomes more of a point to raise when put in the context that the Fibre Channel Industry Association (FCIA) are showcasing roadmaps for FC which designate that FC will advance from 4->8->16->32 gigabit.

Despite this in an economic climate in which consolidation and cost effectiveness have become keywords, FCOE may be the option that once developed, tested and proven in the mainstream; most customers will be looking to scale out to. With the ability to not only reduce the NICs needed to connect disparate storage and IP networks but also the number of cables and switches as well as the power and cooling costs, FCoE's benefits could well be an option that most companies will now find hard to ignore.

What happens to iSCSI?

Over the past few years, iSCSI has gained major traction and attention as organizations look for ways to lower costs or gain the benefits of robust shared storage technology. Now, companies are announcing a new wave of Fibre Channel products based on a new standard called Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) that, like iSCSI, rides on Ethernet, thus removing one of the major hurdles that keep organizations from adopting Fibre Channel: complexity.

While iSCSI is a fantastic solution for many organizations, when it comes to sheer throughout and performance, the technology does not match what can be accomplished with today’s Fibre Channel products. iSCSI is completely reliant on TCP/IP to handle transport needs, which introduces processing overhead into the storage equation. For environments in which throughput and low latency are absolutely critical — high-transaction environments, for example — iSCSI is probably not the best choice. However, I remain convinced, based both on my own experience and from my reading, that iSCSI is a great choice for a great many other kinds of environments.

FCoE aims to break the iSCSI adoption deluge by simplifying the infrastructure. iSCSI’s claim to fame is twofold: 1) It generally costs less, and 2) it costs less because it relies on existing protocols and infrastructure for the brunt of its work. With Ethernet as the underlying transport and TCP/IP used as the communications mechanism, iSCSI brings storage to the masses as most organizations have someone in house with requisite skills.

With an FCoE infrastructure in place, native Fibre Channel protocols will ride on an Ethernet-based transport mechanism, thus achieving speeds of, today, up to 10 Gbps.  Further, FCoE doesn’t use TCP/IP; the protocol continues to use native Fibre Channel to communicate, although some relatively minor tweaks have been made in order for Fibre Channel to support Ethernet. The advantage in this lies in the much lower encapsulation overhead; wrapping SCSI packets into a TCP/IP construct in order to crate iSCSI can be a processor-expensive task. However, iSCSI’s TCP/IP-based operation also gives it one key wide-area advantage: easy routing that won’t be available in FCoE without special hardware, thus keeping FCoE inside the data center walls for now.

Experts don’t see FCoE as the end for iSCSI by any stretch of the imagination; in fact, they see iSCSI products hitting the market that can take advantage of this Enhanced Ethernet being created to support FCoE. Regardless of what transport it rides on, Fibre Channel is still more complex than TCP/IP and requires a different skill set to manage. However, FCoE doesn’t mean the end of the road for iSCSI development. In fact, experts believe to see a whole host of new iSCSI gear designed to make native use of 10 Gbps Ethernet or Enhanced Ethernet that will give FCoE a major run for its money.

Is FCoE Poised to rule tomoeeow’s data center networks?

Now Ethernet is being promoted as the latest converged data transport, with vendors touting the benefits of a new technology —Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE). Some see this as an attempt to save Fibre Channel by moving it to Ethernet. However, FCoE is not about standardizing storage on Fibre Channel; it is about standardizing on Ethernet as a data center network transport.

Some data center managers are skeptical about transitioning from the proven dual network strategy to a combined infrastructure, and for good reason. In order to be successful, the costs and benefits of FCoE will have to surpass that of existing technologies.

Data center IT managers are wondering if FCoE will become important. The answer is almost certainly "Yes." The more difficult question to answer is, "When will FCoE overtake standard Fibre Channel, and will it replace Fibre Channel and iSCSI storage?" The answer to these questions depends on several factors, including how large your company and IT budget are.

Initially, FCoE will be most appropriate for larger organizations that have a need for 10Gbps speeds, and are able to afford continual infrastructure investments and have the IT expertise necessary to address deployment issues. Currently, iSCSI-connected storage is used by smaller organizations, or for specific deployments that don't require the highest levels of storage performance. Over time, FCoE will move down market as costs fall and deployment issues are refined. With the help of enhanced Ethernet and 10Gbps speeds, iSCSI will overcome performance issues and find a place in larger enterprise environments.

Ultimately, the deployment of CEE will enable FCoE, while enhancing the performance of iSCSI and NAS-connected storage performance as well. Thus, CEE will become the predominate transport for all LAN and SAN protocols in the near future.

In the case of FCoE, there is a change to equipment required, along with an increase in performance to 10Gbps. Companies that are in the process of upgrading to 8Gbps Fibre Channel equipment are unlikely candidates to move quickly to FCoE. However, environments using 4Gbps or even 2Gbps equipment are more likely to make the move soon.

There were many skeptics when FCoE was first announced, because the last thing most IT environments needed was another set of transports and protocols. There are already two well-established networks: Fibre Channel SANs for storage and Ethernet LANs for everything, including storage. Despite recent interest, InfiniBand is unlikely to overtake Ethernet as the common data transport for LAN and SAN traffic.
The issue that will help push the adoption of CNA cards past HBAs is the addition of a virtual I/O layer.

irtualization is a key enabler for dynamic IT, information lifecycle management, cloud computing, and many other efforts. However, the existing LAN and SAN protocols in use do not lend themselves to port virtualization. The addition of virtual I/O will help the argument for using a CEE data transport and help drive converged host adapters for virtual I/O.

As many vendors are shipping, or planning to ship, products supporting CEE and FCoE (although there are no native FCoE storage targets yet). And vendors such as JDS Uniphase have for some time been shipping FCoE test equipment. (JDS Uniphase recently acquired the Network Tools division of Finisar.)
One reason why FCoE will be successful is the number of vendors entering the market. Traditional Fibre Channel vendors are bringing out FCoE products, as are Ethernet vendors and even the existing InfiniBand vendors are offering CEE equipment. InfiniBand vendors Voltaire and Mellanox, for example, have both announced 10Gbps CEE equipment, following products from Cisco and Brocade. Current pricing for CEE equipment is running around $1,000 per port, which is nearly double the cost of standard 10Gbps Ethernet port costs.

Market

FCoE has benefits for both large enterprises and SMBs. Large IT organizations will benefit by having a way to consolidate server I/O traffic onto a flexible, virtual data transport with less space, heat and cabling. Additionally, these organizations will be moving to a higher speed connection in most cases, providing increased bandwidth. All of these benefits will occur with a high degree of backward compatibility with existing Fibre Channel networks, and the ability to transport other storage protocols over the new high-speed network.

Vendors are rapidly adding support for CEE and FCoE, although the transition to FCoE will not be as easy as the transition from 100Mbps to1Gbps Ethernet, or from 4Gbps to 8Gbps Fibre Channel. The convergence of SAN and LAN traffic onto a common infrastructure will require an upgrade of existing Ethernet infrastructure to new, low-latency Ethernet equipment.

NetApp became the first data storage vendor to offer native FCoE connectivity in its storage systems with the addition of QLogic CNAs into its FAS and V-Series devices. NetApp sees Fibre Channel over Ethernet as a way for Fibre Channel users to build out Ethernet infrastructures while preserving their FC investments — and the company sees itself as well-positioned for the trend with its IP-based storage pedigree. NetApp and its FCoE partners — a list that also includes Brocade and Cisco— see FCoE beginning to catch on with storage users.

NetApp noted one early sign of SAN-LAN network convergence: The company's 10GbE target port shipments have more than doubled in the last year, from 3,000 to more than 7,500.

Patrick Rogers, NetApp's vice president of solutions marketing, sees that number doubling again over the next year — and he sees Ethernet-based storage eventually overtaking Fibre Channel. Rogers said customers are "in the early stages of adoption" with FCoE, and he expects the market to pick up over the next year. Native storage support for FCoE was "the missing piece of the convergence puzzle," he said, and he expects other vendors to follow with end-to-end FCoE solutions. NetApp also plans to add NAS and iSCSI to the convergence picture eventually.

Rogers said that cloud computing and virtualization are driving the trend toward network convergence. On a report by Stifel Nicolaus analyst Aaron Rakers that NetApp's Data ONTAP 8.0 operating system and a FAS6000 refresh are coming soon, Rogers confirmed that the new operating system is on its way, but he declined to confirm the FAS6000 report. "Stay tuned for the briefing," he said. The Brocade 8000 FCoE switch and the Brocade CNAs have been already available from NetApp since last year along with new Brocade FCoE blade for the DCX and DCX-4S.

Further solidifying its position as the premier supplier of single-chip-based Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) converged network adapters (CNAs), QLogic Corp. announced that its award-winning 8100 Series CNAs are now embedded within a broad range of Dell PowerEdge servers, including the new Intel Xeon 5500 "Nehalem"-powered PowerEdge R610 and R710 rack servers, T610 and T710 tower servers and the M610 and M710 blade servers.

"We see Ethernet as the best way to create a single enterprise fabric. QLogic's CNAs help us offer customers a high-performance, energy-efficient path from legacy Fibre Channel SANs into a next-generation environment built on 10 gigabit Ethernet," said Larry Hart, senior manager, Dell Networking.

"By 2013, we expect 70 percent of IT organizations will have virtualized IO for new deployments of virtualized servers. A critical portion of this will come from what we refer to as VCNAs (virtual converged network adapters)," said David Vellante, chief research advocate, Wikibon.org. "VCNA technology, which is enabled by QLogic's 8100 Series, will allow single configuration servers to adapt to the workload they are asked to perform, essential in a highly virtualized environment. This will enable better server utilization, less rack cabling and more efficient energy consumption. It will also enable automatic reconfiguration and drive down CAPEX and management costs."

Conclusion

As FCoE is gaining momentum in market, it is expected to see more availablity of FCoE based products in market in this year. Experts believe that by 2011, market for FCoE will be significantly high as compared to today’s market and thus eventually it will create open competition among vendors

-By: 'InfoStore' Bureau