Ask the Expert: Design, Configure, Implement, and Troubleshoot Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) and Cisco MDS 9000 SAN Switches with Cisco Press Authors

[ciscomoderator]

 

This is an opportunity to learn and ask questions about how to design, configure, implement, and troubleshoot Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) and Cisco MDS 9000 SAN Switches with Cisco expert Ozden Karakok and David Klebanov.

FCoE is an encapsulation of Fibre Channel frames over Ethernet networks. FCoE allows you to create flexible, agile converged networks at the edge and core for multihop FCoE with fast, high-density Cisco Nexus 7000, Cisco MDS 9000, Cisco Nexus 6000, Cisco Nexus 5000 Series switches and Cisco Unified Computing Product Family.

Cisco Storage Networking Solutions covers Cisco MDS 9000 Series multilayer director and multiservice switches.

Monday, March 2nd, 2015 to Friday, March 13th, 2015

Ask your Questions during this two-week, open discussion thread!

Ozden Karakok is a Technical Leader from the Data Center products and technologies team in Technical Assistant Center (TAC). Ozden has been with Cisco Systems for fifteen years and specializes in Storage Area and Data Center Networks. Prior to joining Cisco, Ozden spent five years working for a number of Cisco's large customers in various telecommunications roles. Ozden is a Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE No.6331) in Routing and Switching, SNA/IP, Storage. She holds VCP, and ITIL certifications. She is a frequent speaker at Cisco and data center events, she holds a degree in computer engineering from Istanbul Bogazici University. Recently she is working on Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI) and enjoying being a mother of two wonderful kids.

David Klebanov is a Technical Solutions Architect with Cisco Systems. David has over 15 years of diverse industry experience architecting and deploying complex network environments. In his work David influences strategic development of the industry leading Data Center switching platforms, which lay foundation for the next generation data center fabrics. David also takes great pride in speaking at industry events, releasing publications and working on patents. David is CCIE No.13791 Routing and Switching certified.  You can follow David on Twitter at @DavidKlebanov

Ozden and David are collaborative coauthors ON a series of Cisco Press Books

CCNA Data Center DCICT 640-916 Official Cert Guide Published Mar 13, 2015

CCNA Data Center DCICT 640-916 Official Cert Guide Premium Edition eBook and Practice Test Published Mar 4, 2015

CCNA Data Center Official Cert Guide Library Published Mar 20, 2015

@CiscoPress  @Cisco_Support

Find other  https://supportforums.cisco.com/expert-corner/knowledge-sharing.

**Ratings Encourage Participation! **
Please be sure to rate the Answers to Questions

[sameerbishoyi458]

sir madam i want asus  router forgotton password i know wifi password of that router of a cafe everyone can access that but i want to change the wifi password .........i dont want to reset or touch the router plz help me.........my skype id sameerbishoyi plz add me in this or replay   model is i think 

[Ozden Karakok]

Dear Sir,

You may want to post your queries on http://www.asus.com/support/.

Kind regards,

Ozden

[tenaro.gusatu.novici]

Hi there,

first of all I'd like to thank you for this great topic and opportunity to get answers from proved experts.

Now, let me describe my challenge: I have working Cisco environment with UCS C series servers connected to N5K (utilizing FCoE) plus block-based storage array: in other words N5K is used as both ethernet and fibre channel switch, with veth and vfc interfaces plus physical FC interfaces connecting storage array. What will be recommended approach when connecting described deployment to environment containing another storage array and non-Cisco FC switch (Brocade)? Goal is to create one VM (that resides on UCS) and enable access to the new storage array (that resides behind Brocade switch).

One idea was to create new VSAN on N5K that will contain two interfaces: vfc from VM and FC port that goes to Brocade switch. Where should I create zoning in this case? Another idea is to use N5K in NPV mode but then I'm losing current zoning and will mean moving storage array from N5k to Brocade, correct? Seems to me there are couple different approaches but I'm not sure what is the best practice.

Thanks,

Tenaro

[Ozden Karakok]

Dear Tenaro,

It is nice to have you in this forum, thanks for your question.

I see three different options. And you may also want to consider how much disruption you can have in production SAN network. NPV option will always be disruptive. Both Option A & C can be less disruptive, you can provide the traffic separation either via zoning (activate zoning on N5K) or via VSAN. SAN best practices should always be followed.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Ozden

[tenaro.gusatu.novici]

Hi Ozden,

thanks for you reply. However, as an engineer I prefer simple straight forward answers and answer like "SAN best practices should always be followed" sounds more like sales speech.

So let me try and ask same question once more, in slightly different way: if the challenge that I described above was presented to you, what will be your advice to the customer? If you missing some details before you can make final decision, I'll be happy to provide you answers.

Yes, customer prefers less distruptive approach. In addition, customer found some notes in Cisco documentation advising against extending fabric across multi-vendor FC switches. Feel free to elaborate why it is not good to create fabric that consists of Nexus and Brocade switches.

Thanks,

Tenaro

[Ozden Karakok]

Dear Tenaro,

I will go with option A and that's why it was presented as first option in my diagram.

SAN B is not extended to Brocade fabric, there is minimum traffic disruption. If I were a sales person I would try to convince the customer to use the best in class Cisco MDS switches http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/storage-networking/product-listing.html in his/her SAN network.

SAN best practices can be best explained via white paper or in a book (chapter 6/7/8/9)

http://www.ciscopress.com/store/ccna-data-center-dcict-640-916-official-cert-guide-9781587144226

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/storage-networking/mds-9500-series-multilayer-directors/white_paper_C11-515630.html

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/storage-networking/mds-9500-series-multilayer-directors/white_paper_c11_586100.html

I hope this helps.

Thanks and kind regards,

Ozden

[tenaro.gusatu.novici]

This is fantastic! Somehow I didn't see that picture and you can imagine my confusion when I was reading test only portion. Thanks a lot, great answer!

[manzodd01]

Hi Ozden

this is great.

your answers and diagram really helped me alot

thanks and best regards

Daniel

[rizkylase1]

hello madam / sir

as a rookie, i want to ask you about fibre chanel,

where do we can learn about fibre chanel termination, its that on ccnp or ccie

thats all,

thanks

Rizky
 

[Ozden Karakok]

Dear Rizky,

Thanks for asking this question in the forum.

I believe you want to know more about Fibre Channel terminology. On the other hand you wrote "fibre channel termination, its that on ccnp or ccie" so let me answer to both questions.

To learn Fibre Channel from A to Z the best place will be to read Robert W.Kembel's "Fibre Channel  - A Comprehensive Introduction" book http://www.amazon.com/Fibre-Channel-A-Comprehensive-Introduction/dp/0931836107 .If you don't have much time and want to learn it quickly, In our DC CCNA DCICT Certification Guide there is a good summary on the concepts and I also provided many references of good Storage books in the book.

The Fibre Channel concepts are being asked in DC CCNA, DC CCIE Certification exams.

http://www.cisco.com/web/learning/exams/list/dcict.html

http://www.cisco.com/web/learning/certifications/expert/ccie_dc/index.html

And for DC CCNP you need to have DC CCNA or DC CCIE as prereq if I am not mistaken

more on CCNP https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/community/certifications/ccnp_data_center/syllabus/?utm_source=cdc&utm_medium=lnk&utm_campaign=cdc-inbnd

I hope this answers your question.

Please let me know if you need more information or I didn't understand your question.

Thank you,

Ozden

[rizkylase1]

thank you madam..

i think, i gonna need to studying more and more
 

thanks

rizky

[Fernando Mondragon]

Could you please summarize which products on Nexus - MDS - UCS (Cisco Data Center portfolio) covers FC/FCoE/FICON/FCIP/iSCSI as of today?

[Ozden Karakok]

Dear Fernando,

Thanks for posting this question to the forum.

I summarized all DC portfolio and the coverage of the protocols in below table:

I hope this helps.

Thank you,

Ozden

Cisco Data Center Platform	Fibre Channel Protocol	FICON	Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE)	iSCSI	Fibre Channel over IP (FCIP)
Cisco MDS 9700 Series Director Switches	2/4/8/10/16-Gbps	2/4/8/10/16-Gbps	Yes	-	-
Cisco MDS 9500 Series Director Switches	2/4/8/10/16-Gbps	2/4/8/10/16-Gbps	Yes	Yes	Yes
Cisco MDS 9250i	2/4/8/16-Gbps	2/4/8/16-Gbps	Yes	Yes	Yes
Cisco MDS 9222i	1/2/4-Gbps	1/2/4-Gbps	Yes	Yes	Yes
Cisco MDS 9148	1/2/4/8-Gbps	1/2/4/8-Gbps	-	-	-
Cisco MDS 9148S	2/4/8/16-Gbps	2/4/8/16-Gbps	-	-	-
Cisco MDS Blade Switches	1/2/4/8-Gbps	-	-	-	-
Cisco Nexus 9000 Director and 9300 Switches	-	-	-	-	-
Cisco Nexus 7000 Director Switches	-	-	Yes with F2, F2E, F3	-	-
Cisco Nexus 7700 Director Switches	-	-	Yes with F2, F2E, F3	-	-
Cisco Nexus 6004	1/2/4/8-Gbps	-	Yes	-	-
Cisco Nexus 5600	1/2/4/8-Gbps	-	Yes	-	-
Cisco Nexus 5500	1/2/4/8-Gbps	-	Yes	-	-
Cisco UCS FI 6248UP – 6296UP	With unified Port support - 8Gbps FC	-	Yes	-	-
Cisco UCS FI 6120XP – 6140XP	1/2/4/8-Gbps with Expansion Modules	-	Yes	-	-
Cisco Nexus 2232PP, 2232TM, 2232TM-E, 2248PQ, 2348UPQ, 2348TQ	-	-	Yes	-	-

[Dani Ma]

How can I leverage FCoE-NPV on my Cisco Nexus 5500/5600 Access Layer switches to build scaled out Unified Fabric solution?