Advanced FCoE: extension of fibre channel over ethernet
Satoshi Kamiya, Kiyohisa Ichino, Masato Yasuda, Noriaki Kobayashi, Yamagaki Norio, Tsuji Akira · 2011
Recently, Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) has been gaining attention as a solution of LAN/SAN convergence in Data Centers. In FCoE, it is necessary to introduce Forwarder (FCF) and to replace legacy Ethernet switches with lossless Ethernet switches. Current FCoE, specified by FC-BB-5, has a scalability issue due to concentrating all operations of Userplane and Control-plane into FCF. Although FC-BB-6 project aims to solve the issue, it requires FC/FCoE Data Forwarder (FDF), which raises DC cost. In this paper, we propose a novel FCoE system, called Advanced FCoE (AFCoE), to realize large-scale FCoE system at low-cost. In AFCoE, network edge devices have mechanisms to separate FCoE frames into Userplane frames or Control-plane frames. The User-plane traffic is directly forwarded by legacy Ethernet switches to remote edge devices, while the Control-plane traffic is forwarded to a controlling server and processed there. In addition, reliable data transport technology is introduced for frame loss caused in legacy Ethernet switches. We also show the validation results of a prototype AFCoE system.