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Existing data centers with large investments in support of different applications - Direct-Attached
in Fibre Channel storage Storage, Network Attached Storage, Fibre Channel SAN
Fibre Channel is the SAN fabric of choice in the vast and iSCSI SAN. In many cases IT management will be
majority of Tier 1 data centers. In many of these cases, looking at server and storage consolidation in order to
the SAN build-out started 10 or more years ago, and IT reduce costs and complexity. Fabric consolidation may
UM SNIA
managers are now planning their infrastructure for the also make sense in this case – which brings FCoE into
next 10 years. The broad availability of 10 Gigabit the picture.
FOR
Ethernet and the upcoming availability of FCoE and DCB
IP
make a “single fabric” architecture feasible. This can be The decision criteria usually revolve around existing stor-
accomplished with an orderly transition of edge switch- age provisioning and data management practices. In
es and directors to support DCB and FCoE connections existing NAS dominated networks the IT director is like-
SNIA
to existing Fibre Channel endpoints, maintaining the ly to continue with iSCSI. (This is what happens today:
existing SAN- and fabric management infrastructure. there is a surprising number of Ethernet-only data cen-
Switches that support the new Ethernet DCB enhance- ters today running just NAS and iSCSI.) In existing Fibre
ments will support Ethernet, FCoE and FC ports and Channel dominated networks FCoE is likely to be adopt-
offer flexibility during the transition to an all-Ethernet ed as a logical choice that leverages existing SAN man-
fabric. agement practices. However, it’s also likely that these
environments will remain a mixture of NAS, iSCSI and
New data center installation FCoE , based on which protocol is best suited for specif-
With a new data center the choice is less obvious, as ic applications.
either FCoE or iSCSI on 10 Gigabit Ethernet can satisfy
the required I/O load. (This of course is assuming that Small to medium data centers
the “single fabric decision was made up front, otherwise For small to medium enterprises, the choice between
Fibre Channel would also be a viable choice.) In this FCoE and iSCSI largely depends upon application require-
case, timing and existing IT skill sets really become the ments and availability of personnel trained in Fibre
deciding factors. Channel. iSCSI is very successful here today, satisfying
the typical performance requirements of applications
If the data center is planned to come online in the near while also providing exceptional value. In the case of
future, then iSCSI is the leading option. However, if the high capacity/performance-oriented databases, FCoE and
data center is planned to come online two or more iSCSI both offer solutions. It’s likely that this will remain
years from now, the Ethernet DCB enhancements and an iSCSI stronghold.
FCoE will be ratified standards and a complete host
ecosystem and demonstrated interoperability should be Summary
available - making FCoE an option. At that point, the In the coming years, IT will have more choices and flexi-
existing skill set in the IT organization becomes a fac- bility for deploying networked storage than ever before.
tor. Companies with lots of Fibre Channel SAN expert- This is a good thing. The current infrastructure, IT
ise will most likely consider FCoE first, as it leverages expertise and management practices will probably influ-
their existing staff and comfort zone. Companies with ence the next generation environment more than any-
only limited Fibre Channel experience are more likely to thing else – certainly more than esoteric technology com-
want to leverage their Ethernet and TCP/IP expertise parisons. As FCoE enters the market, and all-Ethernet
and opt for iSCSI. data center networks become a broadly considered
option, we can expect to see multiple storage protocols
Existing data centers with a mix of storage deployed for an extended period of time, as each opti-
requiring consolidation mally solves problems for specific application and man-
Many Tier 2 data centers deploy different types of store agement environments.
FEB 09 WWW.SNSEUROPE.COM
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