Deployment Guide: Network Convergence with Emulex LP21000 CNA and VMware® ESX Server How to deploy Converged Networking with VMware ESX Server Using Emulex FCoE Technology
Table of Contents Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 3 Drivers of Network Convergence ..................................................................................................... 3 Benefits of FCoE Enabled Network Convergence ........................................................................... 4 FCoE Technology Overview ..........................................................
Introduction Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) technology enables convergence of storage and LAN networks in enterprise data centers. The key benefits of FCoE include cost savings and improved operating efficiencies, but the technology is new and deployment configurations are less well understood than proven Fibre Channel solutions. Server virtualization using VMware ESX enables consolidation of server resources by allowing multiple virtual machines to exist on a single physical server.
Figure 1: Key factors driving network convergence. Network convergence, enabled by FCoE, helps address the network infrastructure sprawl while fully complementing server consolidation efforts and improving the efficiency of the enterprise data center.
• Increased IT efficiency and business agility A converged network streamlines and eliminates repeated administrative tasks such as server and network provisioning with a “wire once” deployment model. The converged network also improves business agility letting data centers dynamically and rapidly respond to requests for new or expanded services, new servers and new configurations.
Applications Networking SCSI FCP TCP IP FC-2 FCoE E Mapping Lo ossless Ethern net Figure 3: Netw working and Fibre Channeel stacks leverrage a commo on Enhan nced Ethernett infrastructurre to achieve convergencee in the data center c u layer protocol, the FCoE F technology also fullyy employs By continuing to mainttain Fibre Chaannel as the upper n Fibre Channnel infrastructture. existing innvestments in Introd duction to t Emulex LP21 1000 CN NA ogy.
Servers supporting PCI Express (x8 or higher) will be able to utilize the full potential of the Emulex LP21000’s 2x10Gb/s Ethernet interfaces, balancing both storage and networking I/O requirements. The priority flow control prevents degradation of traffic delivery and enhanced transmission selection enables partitioning and guaranteed service levels for different traffic types.
Converged Networking with FCoE in an ESX Environment Server virtualization is one of the key drivers of FCoE deployment. FCoE enabled network convergence significantly reduces the number of cables, switch ports and adapters as show in Figure 6.
machines hosted on the ESX server. The configuration and manageability of the ESX server is performed by VMware vCenter® Server (typically residing on a separate management server). Figure 7: The hypervisor/VMKernel views the CNA as an HBA and a NIC When an Emulex LP21000 CNA is installed on an ESX server, the adapter is visible in the vCenter Configuration Tab in the storage adapter view as well as the network adapter view.
Figure 8: Two LP21000 CNAs appear as Fibre Channel storage adapters By selecting storage from within the configuration tab (see Figure 9), the Add Storage Wizard can be used to create the data stores and select either the Virtual Machine File System (VMFS), or Raw Device Mapping (RDM) access method (for more information refer to the VMware ESX configuration guide). Both access methods can be used in parallel by the same ESX server using the same physical HBA or CNA.
IT organizations can also leverage the Emulex Virtual HBA technology, based on the ANSI T11 N_Port ID Virtualization (NPIV) standard. This virtualization technology allows a single physical CNA or HBA port to function as multiple virtual ports (VPorts), with each VPort having a separate identity in the Fabric. NPIV support began with ESX Server 3.5 and requires use of RDM.
SAN A Server w/ FCoE Enabled Switch LP21000 FCoE Enabled Switch SAN B Figure 11: CNA level redundancy using two Single-Ported CNAs In this configuration, even in the extreme case of a CNA failure, the links for storage and networking can be immediately failed over with no interruption to applications. Within ESX, multipathing can be configured from the configuration tab by selecting storage, followed by selecting properties for the appropriate data store.
Configuring the LP21000 as a Network Adapter Upon installation, the LP21000 appears as a 10 Gigabit NIC in the Configuration Tab’s network adapter view, as shown in Figure 13 where two LP21000s appears as two 10 Gigabit network adapters (also shown are two 100 Mbps NICs which are built into the server motherboard.). Figure 13: Two LP21000 CNAs appear as two 10 Gigabit network adapters It is recommended that the service console traffic be on a separate physical network, using the 100 Mbps links.
Configuring the LP21000 for NIC Teaming in ESX NIC teaming occurs when multiple uplink adapters are associated with a single vSwitch to form a team. A team can share the load of traffic between physical and virtual networks or provide passive failover in the event of a hardware failure or network outage. Figure 14 shows the configuration of two vSwitches within an ESX server. The service console traffic is assigned to a vSwitch that in turn is connected to a 100 Mbps NIC.
Unified management of Emulex Fibre Channel HBAs and CNAs • VPort monitoring and configuration • Online boot from SAN configuration • On-line WWN management • Flexible, customizable reporting capability The availability of graphical user interface (GUI) and command line interface (CLI) options provides greater flexibility with HBAnyware. The application is available for a broad set of operating systems including Linux, Windows, Solaris and VMware ESX platforms and supports cross-platform SANs.
Conclusion Server virtualization has been one of the key drivers of converged networks in the data center. A converged network fully complements server virtualization and enables the roll out of on-demand services where applications and network services are provisioned on the fly. Fibre Channel over Ethernet technology enables network convergence in enterprise data centers and provides benefits such as infrastructure simplification, investment protection and lowered total cost of ownership.
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