Describing Cisco UCS Components
Cisco UCS S-Series Storage Server The Cisco UCS S3260 storage server, shown in Figure 16-15, is a modular, high-density, high-availability, dual-node storage-optimized server that is well-suited for service providers, enterprises, and industry-specific environments. It provides dense, cost-effective storage to address your ever-growing data needs. Designed for a new class of data-intensive workloads, it is simple […]
Cisco Fibre Channel NPV Mode The Fibre Channel NPV is another SAN virtualization option available in the data center. It solves the challenge due to the limit on the domain IDs that can be used in a SAN fabric. The NPV is a mode in which a Fibre Channel switch operates. In this mode, the […]
Cisco HyperFlex Data Platform Hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) combines compute, virtualization, storage, and networking in a single cluster. Starting with as few as three nodes, users can easily scale out to match computing and storage resource needs. Hyperconvergence brings cloudlike simplicity on-premises and within a single, easily managed platform. Nowadays, the organizations must meet the challenges […]
FLOGI Process After the N_Port and the F_Port are physically connected, the negotiations at the physical layer are successful, and the electrical parameters are in sync, the link negotiation and the registration to the fabric start. This is the FLOGI process, which can be described as the initial bootstrap process that occurs when an N_Port […]
PLOGI Process After a successful FLOGI process, the N_Port can communicate in the switched fabric. This means sending FC frames to another FC node. That other FC node (either an initiator or target) is connected to the fabric through an N_Port as well. As you already know, FCP is a protocol that is focused on […]
Cisco Unified Fabric Historically, data centers have always had two separate major communication infrastructures: the local area network (LAN) and the storage area network (SAN). The LAN infrastructure provides connectivity between the users and the applications running on the servers, and between the various applications in the data center, such as databases, application front ends, […]
FCoE Architecture The FCoE is a transport protocol defined by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) T11 committee. It has the needed functionality and enhancements to create a lossless environment and to carry the FC frames encapsulated into Ethernet frames. In the FCoE protocol, the lower layers of the Fibre Channel Protocol are replaced with […]
FCoE Initialization Protocol The FCoE Initialization Protocol (FIP) is defined by the T11 FC-BB-5 standard as the control plane component of the FCoE protocol. The FCoE protocol is the other component from that standard, and it is defined as the data plane. This means that FIP is responsible for exchanging the needed information, performing the […]
FCoE Configuration The FCoE protocol is currently supported on the following Cisco switches: The “References” section provides the links to the data sheets of the Cisco switches and linecards that support the FCoE protocol. The Cisco Nexus 5000, Cisco Nexus 5500, and the Cisco Nexus 6000 Series switches supported the FCoE. These models are end […]
Fabric Shortest Path First The FC Protocol uses Fabric Shortest Path First (FSPF) to provide the routing functions. This protocol establishes communication with the other switches in the switched fabric using a Hello protocol. The Hello protocol is also used for the FC switches to exchange the FSPF parameters and capabilities. The FSPF protocol maintains […]