Brocade Communications Systems 53-1001761-01 Server connections to the Brocade 8000 switch, Minimum CEE configuration to allow FCoE traffic flow

Converged Enhanced Ethernet Administrator’s Guide 29
53-1001761-01
Server connections to the Brocade 8000 switch 3
DRAFT: BROCADE CONFIDENTIAL
Server connections to the Brocade 8000 switch
Converged Network Adapters (CNAs) support FCoE and Ethernet LAN communication over the
same cable from the server to a CEE switch, such as the Brocade 8000 switch as shown in
Figure 5. The CNA is presented to the host operating system as both an Ethernet NIC and a Fibre
Channel HBA so that network configuration and server management practices do not change.
FIGURE 5 CNA protocol stack
The CNA supports CEE features required to support lossless connectivity and QoS of different
traffic types. Although modification of parameters is possible with some CNAs, most adapters are
set up in a “Willing” mode, meaning that they automatically accept CEE configurations for QoS and
PFC from the connected switch using the DCBX protocol.
Fibre Channel configuration for the CNA
The CNA discovers storage on the FC SAN and presents LUNs to the operating system in the same
manner as an HBA. The same multipathing software needed for high availability in a traditional
SAN can be used in a converged network.
Ethernet configuration for the CNA
Most CNAs support some type of Network Teaming or Link Aggregation protocol to allow the use of
multiple ports in parallel, to improve performance or create redundancy for higher availability. For
highest availability it is always recommended that you install two CNAs into a server and connect
each to a different Brocade 8000 switch.
Minimum CEE configuration to allow FCoE traffic flow
The following process shows the minimu m configuration steps required to run FCoE on the Brocade
8000 switch. Treat the sample code for each step as a single CLI batch file.
SCSI
MPIO
FC
FCoE
TCP
IP
CNA
CEE Brocade
8000