Fiber Channel Over Ethernet: Enabling Server I/O Consolidation

Overview

The development of Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) opens the door to the real possibility of transporting more than one I/O traffic flow over a Converged Enhanced Ethernet (CEE), also called a Data Center Bridging (DCB), link. Moving Storage Area Network (SAN) and Local Area Network (LAN) traffic onto a single transport benefits data centers in many ways. It reduces the initial capital outlays for equipment (CapEx) and lowers the running costs of maintaining and cooling data centers (OpEx). CEE and FCoE combine the traditional Ethernet and storage ports into a single 10 GbE CEE ports, thereby reducing the number of ports in servers. That in turn reduces cabling configurations and simplifies data center environments.