02-22-2018 07:55 AM - edited 03-01-2019 01:26 PM
Hi everyone,
1) If I have a UCS M4/M5 server, and I configure multiple vHBAs, can I connect them directly to a 3rd party FC switch for SAN connectivity without use of an FI?
2) Does all vHBA traffic appear as pure FC?
3) Is there any specific kind of special configuration that needs to be done on the 3rd party FC switch to understand the vHBA traffic?
Thanks for your time in advance.
Solved! Go to Solution.
02-26-2018 06:50 PM - edited 02-27-2018 04:32 AM
Greetings.
If your question is in reference to C series servers, then please keep in mind the Cisco VIC cards are FCOE. Your connection media will be some form of Ethernet (i.e. 10Gb, 40Gb) that is encapsulating FC in FCOE. Your 1st switch would need FCOE capabilities, but can forward FC traffic via native FC interfaces (FIs, N5ks, N6Ks, do this) if configured to do so. The northbound FC traffic simply has the FCOE encapsulation removed, and the FC frames are forwarded as normal FC traffic.
If you only have native FC switches, then there are some 8/16Gb native FC adapters available for the M4/M5 servers (Qlogic, Emulex) models you can find in the spec sheets for these servers.
Hope this helps.
Thanks,
Kirk...
02-22-2018 08:04 AM
02-22-2018 12:01 PM
02-26-2018 06:50 PM - edited 02-27-2018 04:32 AM
Greetings.
If your question is in reference to C series servers, then please keep in mind the Cisco VIC cards are FCOE. Your connection media will be some form of Ethernet (i.e. 10Gb, 40Gb) that is encapsulating FC in FCOE. Your 1st switch would need FCOE capabilities, but can forward FC traffic via native FC interfaces (FIs, N5ks, N6Ks, do this) if configured to do so. The northbound FC traffic simply has the FCOE encapsulation removed, and the FC frames are forwarded as normal FC traffic.
If you only have native FC switches, then there are some 8/16Gb native FC adapters available for the M4/M5 servers (Qlogic, Emulex) models you can find in the spec sheets for these servers.
Hope this helps.
Thanks,
Kirk...
03-04-2018 09:28 AM
Thanks Kirk,
Just to be clear, vHBAs are entirely a Cisco FCoE construct?
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