Reference Architecture

Reference Architecture for Active System 800m with Hyper-V:
Dell Inc. 8
6 Architecture
One of the key attributes of the Dell Active System 800m is the convergence of SAN and LAN over the
same network infrastructure. LAN and iSCSI SAN traffic share the same physical connections from
servers to storage. The converged network is designed using Data Center Bridging (DCB) (IEEE 802.1)
and Data Center Bridging Exchange (DCBX) (IEEE 802.1AB) technologies and features. The converged
network design drastically reduces cost and complexity by reducing the components and physical
connections and the associated efforts in deploying, configuring, and managing the infrastructure.
Data Center Bridging is a set of related standards to achieve enhanced Ethernet capabilities, especially
in datacenter environments, through converge network connectivity. The functionalities provided by
DCB and DCBX are:
· Priority Flow Control (PFC): This capability provides zero packet loss under congestion by
providing a link-level flow control mechanism that can be controlled independently for each
priority.
· Enhanced Transmission Selection (ETS): This capability provides a framework and mechanism
for bandwidth management for different traffic types by assigning bandwidth to different
frame priorities.
· Data Center Bridging Exchange (DCBX): This functionality is used for conveying the
capabilities and configuration of the above features between neighbors to ensure consistent
configuration across the network.
Dell Force10 S4810 switches, Dell PowerEdge M I/O Aggregator modules, Broadcom 57810-k Dual port
10GbE KR Blade NDCs, and Dell EqualLogic PS6110 iSCSI SAN arrays enable Dell Active System 800m to
utilize these technologies, features, and capabilities to support converged network architecture.
This solution consists of a Dell PowerEdge M1000e chassis populated with Dell PowerEdge M620 blade
servers running Windows Server 2012 Data Center Edition. Figure 2 below depicts the high-level
reference architecture for the solution, including solution components and redundant connectivity for
each I/O fabric.