The
system supports 10-Gigabit
Ethernet (10 GbE) Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) fabric configuration.If any of the configuration rules are invalidated because a component in the fabric failed, the
configuration is still supported until the failure can be corrected and configuration is returned to
normal
operation.
FCoE terms
A converged enhanced
Ethernet (CEE) network supports lossless Ethernet fabric.
A
Fibre Channel forwarder (FCF) switch has both 10 GbE ports and Fibre
Channel (FC) ports. It provides both Ethernet switching capability
and FC switching capability in a single switch.
A pure Fibre
Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) switch has 10 GbE ports and FCoE switching
capability. The terms FCF and FCoE switch are used interchangeably.
FCoE switch configuration
Follow these configuration
guidelines for FCoE switches:
- On Lenovo Storage V3700 V2,
Lenovo Storage V3700
V2 XP, and Lenovo Storage V5030 systems, iSCSI function can be
configured and used simultaneously on 10 GbE ports. Four 10 GbE ports can be used simultaneously for
FCoE and iSCSI. Configure appropriate bandwidth sharing between these 2 protocols on the switch.
However, for easier configuration and management, use different ports for each protocol.
- Configure an FCoE switch that has
system 10 GbE ports with appropriate priority group for FCoE.
- Set the quality of service (QoS) setting to allow adequate bandwidth for FCoE traffic.
Provision sufficient bandwidth for application I/O traffic and internode system traffic between
nodes.
- Configure the FCoE switch to allow lossless traffic for FCoE data.
- Enable Jumbo frames for FCoE traffic.
- The system
supports a maximum of
2 counterpart 10 GbE fabrics.
- The 10 GbE fabric can contain only supported components.
- Configure a maximum of 8 paths per volume.
- A node can have a maximum of 16 active (unmasked) logins to another node
For the current list of supported hardware, refer to the following support site: https://datacentersupport.lenovo.com/
10 GbE configuration rules for FCoE
The system supports any 10 GbE fabric configuration that is supported by the fabric vendor. When
you connect 10 GbE ports to a CEE network, follow these connectivity rules:
- Connect 10 GbE ports on the
system only to the CEE
network that supports the DCBX protocol (802.1QAZ).
- Connect 10 GbE ports directly to an FCF or FCoE switch. An intermediate Ethernet switch
should not be placed between the 10 GbE port on the system
and the FCF/FCoE switch.
However, a 10 GbE pass-through module can be used between 10 GbE ports on the system
and FCF if the pass-through
module is transparent. Configure the fabric such that only one FCF is advertised 10 GbE port. If
the system discovers more
than one FCF switch per port, then any one FCF is chosen randomly. However, different ports can be
connected to different FCFs.
- Do not turn off the FCoE packet routing function on the FCF or FCoE switch to which the 10 GbE
ports are connected. This typically occurs when the FCoE switch is configured in NPV mode.
- Internode communication between two FCoE ports in the same I/O group should not cross ISLs.
- Each 10 GbE
FCoE port should have at least one path to all other
nodes that are part of the
same system.
Storage system connectivity over FCoE
All
rules for FC back-end system connectivity apply to FCoE back-end storage.
Intersystem connectivity
The system
supports the use of FCIP links for connecting long-distance systems that are used by Metro Mirror and Global Mirror.
Zoning rules
The FCoE fabric should employ
the same set of zoning rules as the Fibre Channel fabric.
FC and FCoE mixed fabrics
The system
supports the use of mixed fabrics for communication between nodes. The 10 GbE FCoE ports of one
system can be zoned to the
FC ports of another node that is part of the same system.