Addendum
39
Fibre Channel over Ethernet for FC Flex
IO Modules
FCoE provides a converged Ethernet network that allows the combination of storage-area network (SAN)
and LAN traffic on a Layer 2 link by encapsulating Fibre Channel data into Ethernet frames.
The Fibre Channel (FC) Flex IO module is supported on Dell Networking MXL 10/40GbE Switch and Dell
PowerEdge IO Aggregator (IOA). The MXL and IOA switch installed with the FC Flex IO module functions
as a top-of-rack edge switch that supports converged enhanced ethernet (CEE) traffic — Fibre channel
over Ethernet (FCoE) for storage, inter-process communication (IPC) for servers, and Ethernet local area
network (LAN) (IP cloud) for data — as well as FC links to one or more storage area network (SAN) fabrics.
FCoE works with the Ethernet enhancements provided in data center bridging (DCB) to support lossless
(no-drop) SAN and LAN traffic. In addition, DCB provides flexible bandwidth sharing for different traffic
types, such as LAN and SAN, according to 802.1p priority classes of service. DCBx should be enabled on
the system before the FIP snooping feature is enabled.
All of the commands that are supported for FCoE on the MXL and I/O Aggregator apply to the FC Flex IO
modules. Similarly, all of the configuration procedures and the settings that are applicable for FCoE on
the MXL and I/O Aggregator are valid for the FC Flex IO modules.
Legacy FIP snooping-related commands are supported on 10G optional modules when the Fiber channel
capability is disabled (by using the no feature fc command). If the FC capability is enabled, only the
fip-snooping max-sessions-per-enodemac command is supported and the remaining FIP
snooping commands are not supported.
For details on the command syntaxes and the keywords, refer the FCoE chapter of the MXL and I/O
Aggregator Command Reference Guides of Release 9.2.0.0. For details on the step-wise instructions to
enable and configure FCoE settings, refer the FCoE chapter of the MXL and I/O Aggregator Configuration
Guides of Release 9.2.0.0.
Fibre Channel over Ethernet for FC Flex IO Modules
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