Specifications

Best Practices for Virtualizing and Managing Exchange 2013

Internet SCSI

The Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI) protocol is based on a storage networking standard

that facilitates data transfers over the Internet and manages storage over long distances, all while

enabling hosts to operate as if the disks were attached locally.

An iSCSI target is available as a built-in option in Windows Server 2012; it allows sharing block storage

remotely by using the Ethernet network without any specialized hardware. It also provides support for

diskless network boot capabilities and continuous availability configurations.

Fibre Channel

Fibre Channel (FC) is a data transmitting technology that enables server-to-storage connectivity at 16 GB

and is well suited for connecting storage controllers and drives. Fibre Channel offers point-to-point,

switched, and loop interfaces. It is designed to interoperate with SCSI, the Internet Protocol (IP), and other

protocols. With the new 16 GB FC, a bi-directional throughput of 3,200 MB/sec can deliver over 1 million

IOPS. This enhancement supports deployments of densely virtualized servers, increases scalability, and

matches the performance of multicore processors and SSD-based storage infrastructure. 16 GB FC is

backward compatible with 8/4 GB FC, allowing them to be seamlessly integrated into expansion segments

of existing FC networks.

Windows Server 2012 fully supports FC connectivity for storage of virtual machine files. In addition,

Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V provides a new capability for the virtual machines themselves, known as

Hyper-V Virtual Fibre Channel (VFC). This capability enables connecting to FC storage directly from within

virtual machines, opening up new scenarios around guest clustering and providing a more direct path to

the underlying FC fabric from within the virtual infrastructure.

Fibre Channel over Ethernet

Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) offers the benefits of using an Ethernet transport while retaining the

advantages of the FC protocol and the ability to use FC storage arrays. This solution helps to reduce costs

in several ways, including the elimination of dedicated FC switches and a reduction in cabling (which can

be a significant cost in large data center environments). For higher performance and availability, FCoE

provides direct connections to the FC host bus adapter (HBA) and SAN fabric from Hyper-V virtual

machines.

Best Practices and Recommendations

Some of the vendors supporting FCoE hardware include NetApp, Brocade, Cisco, Intel, QLogic,

EMC, and Emulex.

FCoE requires switches that have Data Center Bridging (DCB), which provides the extensions to

traditional Ethernet that make it suitable for transporting storage traffic in a lossless way. The DCB

capability is available in some 10 GbE switches. Adapters that work with FCoE are known as

converged network adapters (CNAs). Traditional Ethernet and FC host bus adapter (HBA) vendors

provide CNAs and support Ethernet and FC simultaneously over the same wire. These CNAs run at

10 Gbps for both Ethernet and FC.