Technical data

VSPEX Configuration Guidelines
VMware Horizon View 5.3 and VMware vSphere for up to 2,000 Virtual
Desktops Enabled by Brocade Network Fabrics, EMC VNX, and EMC Next-
Generation Backup
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Configure Brocade VDX 6740 Switch (File Storage)
This section describes Brocade VDX switch configuration procedures for file
storage provisioning with VMware. The Brocade VDX switches provide for
infrastructure connectivity between ESXi servers, existing customer network,
and NFS attached VNX storage as described in the following sections for
this VSPEX solution. In this deployment, it is assumed that this new
equipment is being connected to the existing customer network and
potentially existing compute servers with either 1 GbE or 10 GbE attached
NICs.
VSPEX with the Brocade VDX 6740 switches for 10GbE attached ESXi servers
are enabled with VCS Fabric Technology which has the following salient
features:
 It is an Ethernet fabric switched network. The Ethernet fabric
utilizes an emerging standard called Transparent Interconnection
of Lots of Links (TRILL) as the underlying technology.
 All switches automatically know about each other and all
connected physical and logical devices.
 All paths in the fabric are available. Traffic is always distributed
across equal-cost paths. Traffic from the source to the
destination can travel across multiple equal cost paths.
 Traffic always travels across the shortest path in the fabric.
 If a single link fails, traffic is automatically switched to other
available paths. If one of the links in Active Path #1 goes down,
traffic is seamlessly switched across Active Path #2.
 Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) is not necessary because the
Ethernet fabric itself is loop free and to connected servers,
devices, and the rest of the network appears as a single logical
switch.
 The fabric is self-forming. When two Brocade VCS Fabric mode-
enabled switches are connected, the fabric is automatically
created and the switches discover the common fabric
configuration.
 The fabric is masterless. No single switch stores configuration
information or controls fabric operations. Any switch can fail or
be removed without causing disruptive fabric downtime or
delayed traffic.
The fabric is aware of all members, devices, and virtual machines (VMs). If
the VM moves from one Brocade VCS Fabric port to another Brocade VCS
Fabric port in the same fabric, the port-profile is automatically moved to
the new port, leveraging Brocade’s Automatic Migration of Port Profiles
(AMPP) feature.