Intel and VMware: Enabling Open FCoE in VMware vSphere 5

Intel and VMware: Enabling Native FCoE in VMware vSphere™ 5
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Intel and VMware are two companies
helping to advance the shift to 10GbE-
based unied networking in the data
center. e latest Intel® Ethernet 10
Gigabit controller and server adapters oer
virtualization optimizations and advanced
unied networking features. ese include
optimizations for lossless Ethernet;
intelligent, hardware-based accelerations
for FCoE and iSCSI; and support for Open
FCoE, which is discussed later in the paper.
VMware vSphere 5 is compatible with the
widest range of industry-standard x86
servers, storage solutions, and network
equipment so you can virtualize your
business critical applications with condence.
ese solutions help to simplify network
connectivity for today’s virtualized servers
and lay the foundation for the next-
generation data center.
The Promise of Ethernet Storage
New usage models and the explosive
growth of data in their organizations
have forced IT administrators to deal
with complicated technical and business
challenges. Today, most IT departments
deployseparateLANsandSANs,with
storage often divided between network-
attached storage (NAS) and SAN, which
require multiple data recovery solutions,
a variety of data manage¬ment models,
and, potentially, dierent support teams.
e goal of unied networking is to allow
a single fabric—Ethernet—to carry these
disparate trac types.
Ethernet has served as a unied data
centerfabricforyears,supportingLAN,
NAS (NFS, common Internet le system
(CIFS)) and iSCSI SAN trac. With
recent Ethernet enhancements and the
ratication of the FCoE specication,
standard Ethernet adapters can now
connect servers to Fibre Channel (FC)
SANs. Extending Ethernet’s inherent
advantages, including proven reliability,
ubiquity, and wide familiarity, to FC
SAN trac will help accelerate the move
to 10GbE-based I/O consolidation in
virtualized data centers, reduce costs, and
improve simplication and agility.
Given its exibility and long history, it
is not surprising that Ethernet storage
is the fastest growing segment of the
storage systems market. According to the
industry research rm IDC, Ethernet-
based storage unit shipments surpassed FC
storage shipments in 2008,
5
with growth
driven largely by broad iSCSI adoption in
Microsoft Windows*, virtual server, and
blade server environments. IDC projects
that in 2011, Ethernet-based storage will
represent the majority of all new external
storage capacity with 53 percent
6
of total
worldwide capacity.
As shown in gure 1, growth in Ethernet-
based storage capacity will continue to
increase, widening the gap between it and
FC storage. is growth will be due to
increasing deployment of “Ethernet only”
data centers (which use a unied
10 Gigabit Ethernet infrastructure for all
data and storage trac), the emergence
of cloud computing, and FCoE solutions
entering the mainstream.
Ethernet Enhancements for Storage
Data Center Bridging for Lossless Ethernet
To strengthen 10GbE as a unied data
center fabric, the IEEE has developed
and ratied standards for Ethernet
enhancements to support storage trac.
ese enhancements strengthen 10GbE
as a unied data center fabric for running
FC over Ethernet and iSCSI. Known
collectively as “Data Center Bridging”
(DCB), these extensions enable better
trac prioritization over a single interface
and an advanced means for shaping trac
on the network to decrease congestion.
In short, DCB provides the QoS that
delivers a lossless Ethernet fabric for
storage trac. For more information, see
the DCB white paper from the Ethernet
Alliance. (http://ethernetalliance.org/les/
static_page_les/83AD0BBC-C299-B906-
8F5985957E3327AA/Data%20Center%20
Bridging.pdf)
25,000
20,000
15,000
10,000
30,000
35,000
40,000
5,000
0
Worldwide External Storage Capacity by PB
Fibre Channel Ethernet (iSCSI, NAS & FCoE)
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Calendar Year
2012 2013 2014
Figure 1. Growth in Worldwide Storage Capacity of Ethernet-based Storage vs.
Fibre Channel