Mpio PD 100 Technical Information download pdf (Page 68)

68 EqualLogic Configuration Guide | Version 15.2 | August 2014

13.1 DCB Overview

DCB is a collection of Standards designed to improve networking and management in the Data Center

that enables iSCSI SANs or FCoE SANs or both to converge with regular server LAN traffic on the same

physical infrastructure. DCB aims to increase operational efficiency, constrain costs, and ease network

management.

There are primarily three progressive versions of DCB:

 Cisco, Intel, Nuova (CIN) DCBX

 Converged Enhanced Ethernet (CEE) DCBX or baseline DCBX

 Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) DCB.

DCB technologies based on standards include:

 PFC – Priority based Flow Control (802.1Qbb)

 ETS – Enhanced Transmission Selection (802.1Qaz)

 CN – Congestion Notification (802.1Qau)

 DCBx – Data Center Bridging Capability eXchange

- Support for iSCSI application protocol priority with DCBX (also known as iSCSI TLV)

Note: DCB uses 10Gb and higher Ethernet only.

I/O convergence using DCB for Dell EqualLogic iSCSI storage is the direction for “Converged iSCSI” in a

lossless Ethernet environment.

13.2 DCB requirements for EqualLogic

It is required that all devices in the EqualLogic SAN support DCB for iSCSI when this functionality is

enabled. If any device in the SAN does not support DCB, then DCB needs to be disabled at the switches

for the entire SAN. Once all devices in the SAN are DCB compliant, then DCB can be re-enabled. Switches

and server CNAs/NICs that are designated as DCB Supported in the EqualLogic Compatibility Matrix have

been fully validated by Dell to ensure compatibility for EqualLogic SANs.

The minimum requirements for switches and server-based CNA/NICs to support an end-to-end DCB

solution with EqualLogic are:

 Data Center Bridging Exchange (DCBx) -DCB protocol that performs discovery, configuration, and

mismatch resolution using Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP )

 Application Priority ( iSCSI TLV ) - Switches must support configuration of a priority value for iSCSI

protocol and advertisement to peer ports. Server NICs/CNAs: Must support iSCSI protocol in

application priority (learned from the switch) and must support tagging outgoing iSCSI frames with

this priority.

 ETS - Requires a dedicated traffic class or priority group for iSCSI priority

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Mpio PD 100 Technical Information Page 68