Product specifications

Deploying a Converged Storage Network Using a Cisco FCoE Switch
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There are three ways to connect Fibre Channel storage to a unified fabric:
 Converged network adapter > FCoE switch > Fibre Channel switch > Fibre Channel storage:
The adapter connects to the FCoE switch with Ethernet infrastructure, and the FCoE switch
connects to storage through a Fibre Channel switch. This is the most common implementation in
today's data centers because the Fibre Channel switch and SAN storage are typically already in
place.
 Converged network adapter > DCB switch > FCF > Fibre Channel switch > Fibre Channel
storage:
The DCB switch requires an external device to provide the FCF function to the attached Fibre
Channel storage. This approach is not as common because most data centers do not have an FCF
device, and they will acquire an FCoE switch to connect to their Fibre Channel Infrastructure.
 Converged network adapter > FCoE switch > FCoE storage:
This implementation is not common because most data centers use Fibre Channel SAN storage. As
more storage vendors deliver FCoE storage, more pilot projects will support direct Ethernet
connection from the FCoE switch to FCoE-capable storage controllers.
In all cases, Ethernet LAN and iSCSI storage connect directly to Ethernet ports on the DCB or FCoE
switch.
The reference architecture, shown in Figure 2, uses Fibre Channel SAN storage. For information about
installing the reference architecture, see “Installation” on page 7.
Architecture
Process Summary
A converged network was installed in a validated Oracle environment. Screen shots and command line
interface (CLI) images were captured to show the installation process.
Reference Architecture Description
Architecture Overview
Figure 2 illustrates the converged infrastructure that was installed. FC storage traffic and LAN traffic,
which shared the unified 10 GbE bandwidth driven by converged network adapters, was installed.