ACI as San Storge Backbon /FC /FCOE

[Ezzedine]

hello,


we are trying to design a new Data Center, the idea to merge the SAN Switches into the ACI.
the question: is that a good idea? which Model of deployment is preferd FC Native or FCoE?
i have searched for new models of the leafs serie that supports FC nothing available, is that not supporting anymore?did Cisco remove the FC/FCoE feature in the new Generation?

i am open for all the suggestions and ideas

thank you in advance

Ezzedine

[Robert Burns · Accepted solution]

Only older Gen (FX) switches currently support FC - I wouldn't recommend this direction for any new design.  Even with some of the new ASICs in development supporting FC, I don't expect it to be enabled for ACI mode.  Most of the feedback we've heard from customers is they prefer to separate FC from their DC LAN fabrics.  IP storage (iSCSI, NFS etc) and NMVeOverFabric/TCP is another story - this usecase is something customers are actively incorporating into their ACI fabric design.

Robert

[Ezzedine]

hello @Robert Burns,

Thank you very much !

[Ezzedine]

hello @Robert Burns  again,
i have another question. my client asks for something official from Cisco to avoid using FCOE in ACI, is there any guideline or pdf explaining the roadmap of the switching stop supporting FC?

[subsurfacenetworks]

the Cisco Nexus 9336C-FX2-E supports 16/32 gpbs fiber channel, it has 36 x 40/100-Gbps QSFP28

The UCS 6400 offers:

• 36 ports supporting 1/10/25/40/100-Gbps Ethernet or FCoE
• 4 unified ports supporting 40/100 GE or 16 FC ports supporting 8/16/32-Gbps Fibre Channel

The UCS 6500 offers:

• 54 or 108 ports supporting 1/10/25/40/100-Gbps Ethernet or FCoE
• 8 or 16 unified ports supporting 10/25 GE or 8/16/32-Gbps Fibre Channel

When you speak of merging SAN into ACI, the design of managing SAN and your fabric is accomplished today with the Cisco Nexus dashboard as it automates and provisions classic Ethernet + SAN, IP and VXLAN networks and it manages Cisco Nexus switches + Cisco MDS.

[Ezzedine]

hello @subsurfacenetworks  thanks for sharing, actually we dont use UCS, the question was regarding the N9K road map if the FC will be no longer supported. if so as @Robert Burns  mentioned, i need something official from cisco regarding that.
one of the requirement that the switch should last at least 7-10 years.
thank you

[Robert Burns]

@Ezzedine there's no problem with using FC/FCoE in ACI - it will be supported on the existing platforms that support FC/FCoE for their lifespan, it's just not a technology we are continuing with on new Nexus platforms.  There are 3 remaining switches supporting FC/FCoE - 93180YC-FX (already end of sale), the 9336C-FX2-E and 93360YC-FX2 - which are still available, but will probably go end of sale in the next 1-2 years.  After that, they'd have a 5 year lifespan until Last Day of Support. If your requirement is for 7+ years it would be safer to position dedicated SAN switches.  While it's nice to consolidate both LAN &  SAN functions into a single platform, it comes at an operational cost - if/when you need to upgrade fabric software, that means your SAN also is affected.  This is why most customers would opt to instead position a small MDS switch (fairly low cost) to keep the SAN environment isoalted from the fabric.

Robert  

[Ezzedine]

@Robert Burns  thank you very much for the nice explanation.