This webcast is the fifth in a monthly series on why I/O is strategic for the data center. Eric Hanselman, research director, from The 451 Research, examines how network convergence is becoming a strategic choice for IT managers as they evaluate next steps in their data center deployments to increase competitiveness, reduce OPEX and deal with a myriad of new demands.

1. Why I/O Is Strategic
for Convergence
Presented by: Emulex and 451
Research
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2. Webcast Housekeeping
1. All attendees will be on mute during the presentation
2. Please submit your questions via the text/chat feature
3. We will do all Q&A at the end of the presentation
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3. Why I/O Is Strategic
Shaun Walsh
SVP of marketing and
corporate development
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4. Why I/O Is Strategic?
Building a Virtual Panel of Experts!
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5. Topics for the Virtual Panel
Server Cloud Big Network
Virtualization Computing Data Convergence
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6. Why I/O is Strategic for Convergence
Next steps in performance and agility
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7. Company Overview
 One company with 3 operating  200+ staff
divisions  1,300+ client organizations:
 Syndicated research, advisory, enterprises, vendors, service
professional services, datacenter providers, and investment firms
certification, and events  Organic and growth through
 Global focus acquisition

8. Digital Infrastructure Focus

9. Forces at Work
Separate Paths
 Storage and data networks have been distinct
• Differing requirements
▫ Speed
▫ Latency
▫ Loss
• Different organizations
 Different growth paths
• Increases in performance
Becoming more alike over time

10. A Mood to Merge
Storage Advances
 Fibre Channel speed
Data Advances
 iSCSI matures
 10 Gb Ethernet
Approaching Parity
 Converged server platforms
 Virtualization pressures

11. An Increasing Sentiment in Storage Networking

12. Joining the Paths
Shift in sentiment pushed by advantages
 Virtualization
• Bringing teams together
• Configuration flexibility
 Operations
• Simplifies buy/build
• Single interface simplicity
• CNA’s offer safety net

13. Key Convergence Advantages
Area Aspect Advantage
Operations Simplified deployment Reduced cabling costs
VM mobility Workload agility
Hybrid cloud enablement Scale and cost flexibility
Technology Standards – DCB, DCBX More deterministic
performance
Virtual NIC advancements Investment protection
Converged systems Operational simplicity
FCoE maturity Greater support and
management

14. Technology Aspects
Data network additions are critical to performance
 Data Center Bridging
• Approaching lossless Ethernet
 Adapter advancements
• Controls for mixed traffic
• Virtualization
 FCoE
• Managing FC transition

15. Data Center Bridging
Putting Ethernet into higher gear
 IEEE standards
• Priority-based Flow Control
▫ 802.1Qbb – Flow pausing
• Congestion Notification
▫ 802.1Qau – Backpressure for source quench
• Enhanced Transmission Selection
▫ 802.1Qaz - Allocates bandwidth, priority
• DCBX – Capabilities Exchange
▫ 802.1AB – Negotiates functionality

16. Adapter Advancements
Controls for greater capacity
 Offloading
• Minimizing processor burn
 QoS
• Putting protections in place
 Virtualization
• Partitioning
• SR-IOV
 Power consumption
• Copper catching up

17. Fibre Channel over Ethernet - FCoE
Implementations reach maturity
 Much more than FC encapsulation!
• Replicating FC forwarding and controls
 Networking gear support
• Fiber Channel Forwarders (FCF)
▫ Transitional switches
▫ FC ports
▫ Routers can have FCF stacks, too
• Extended networks possible
 Standard updated
• ANSI FC-BB-6
• More complex toplogies

18. Operations Aspects
Working it out
 Infrastructure shifts
• Gradual transition
▫ Per server
• Shared management
 Virtualization integration
• Designing for workload mobility
• Cluster and path planning

19. Migration Case Study
Typical independent networks
 Storage and data isolated

20. First Step Migration
After adding FCoE capable switch
 Servers connect directly with converged adapters
 Converged traffic

21. Next Steps
Planning is key
 Infrastructure assessment
• Storage
• Server
• Network
 Pilot evaluation
• People planning
• Application identification
• Performance monitoring
• Traffic volumes
 Production deployment

22. Questions? Comments?

23. © 2011 Emulex Corporation 23