Specifications

DATA CENTER BEST PRACTICES
SAN Design and Best Practices 33 of 84
Use Case: FICON and Open Systems (Intermix)
Virtual Fabrics enable customers to share FICON and FCP trafc on the same physical platform. As chassis
densities increase, this is a viable option for improved hardware utilization while maintaining director class
availability. The primary reasons for moving to an Intermix environment are the following:
•Array-to-array RDR of FICON volumes (uses FCP)
•ESCON-FICON migration
•Sharing of infrastructure in a non-production environment
•Reduced TCO
•Growth of zLinux on the mainframe
From a SAN design perspective, the following guidelines are recommended when considering FICON Intermix:
•Connect devices across port blades (connectivity from the same device should be spread over multiple
blades).
•One-hop count still applies (there are “Hops of No Concern” in some cases).
For details, see the Best Practices Guide: Brocade FICON/FCP Intermix.
INTELLIGENT SERVICES
In-Flight Encryption and Compression—Gen 5 Fibre Channel Platforms Only
Brocade Gen 5 Fibre Channel platforms support both in-ight compression and/or encryption at a port level for
both local and long-distance ISL links. In-ight data compression is a useful tool for saving money when either
bandwidth caps or bandwidth usage charges are in place for transferring data between fabrics. Similarly, in-ight
encryption enables a further layer of security with no key management overhead when transferring data between
local and long-distance data centers besides the initial setup.
fig21_SAN_Design
Total Time is ~6µs/ASIC
Brocade
6510 Switch
Brocade DCX 8510-8
Decompression &
Decryption
~6µs
Brocade DCX 8510-4
Compression &
Encryption
~6µs
Compression
~6µs
Decompression
~6µs
Decryption
~6µs
Encryption
~6µs
Figure 20: Latency for encryption and compression.
Enabling in-ight ISL data compression and/or encryption increases the latency as the ASIC processes the
frame compression and/or encryption. Approximate latency at each stage (encryption and compression) is 6.2
microseconds. For example (see Figure 20), compressing and then encrypting a 2KB frame incurs approximately
6.2 microseconds of latency on the sending Condor3-based switch and incurs approximately 6.2 microseconds