is fibre channel still relevant? webcast with neuralytix

Is FC Still Relevant? April 22, 2014Ben Woo, Managing Director

Sponsored by Emulex Corporation

© Copyright 2014, Neuralytix, Inc. – All Rights Reserved | www.neuralytix.com | @Neuralytix 2

Audience Participation …

• What best describes your existing storage network today:o Only FCo Primarily FC (with some FCoE, IB, Ethernet, FCIP, etc.)o Primarily non-FC (with some FC)o Only non-FCo None of the above

http://www.neuralytix.com/


•Yes!

Is FC still relevant?



The Right Technology for the Job

Ethernet may not be the best fit for storage



Mature technology Well understood by storage

administrators Flexible network design De facto standard in most

datacenters High performance Low latency

Fibre Channel Benefits



Comparison of storage networks

1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32*

Gbps10, 40, 100*

Gbps1, 10, 40, 100*

Gbps10, 20, 40, 56, 100*

Gbps* Future



• Scale-up databases• Dense virtualization

o Private Cloudo VDI

• Low latency/ultra-high performanceo SSD

• All data, structured or unstructured, end up on block storage

Performance = Advantage



Emulex ExpressLane™

• Flash storage shares the SAN with traditional rotating media

• Mission-critical requests are stuck behind requests to slow storage

• Current queuing mechanisms are optimized for throughput, not latency

QoS SolutionSSD Latency Challenge

• ExpressLane creates separate queues for low latency storage-Identified by LUN

• Individual queues are coalesced for latency not overall bandwidth

• Queue associations are made from OneCommand Manager



Emulex CrossLink™

• Flash requires coordination between nodes

• Current solutions (TCP/IP and UDP) suffer from “roundabout” stack-hopping

• Latency & QoS issues over Ethernet hamper coordination with storage devices

• Trust issues (storage networks deemed implicitly secure)

• Separate Ethernet connectivity requires additional wiring & management

SSD Coordination SolutionSSD Isolation

Challenge

• In-band FC Messaging solves latency & “stack-hopping” for cache or device coordination

• Uses standard & proven FC-CT protocol for FC and FCoE

• Simple interface- kernel or API



Emulex & Brocade ClearLink (D_Port) Support

Emulex # 1 Gen 5 HBAs + Brocade #1 Gen 5 switches, Together Providing Superior SAN-wide Diagnostics

ClearLink is a rich SAN diagnostic mode fromBrocade Gen 5 FC switches (16GFC)

ClearLink is now supported by all 16G (only) Emulex LightPulse Gen 5 FC HBAs (XE201 based)

Identifies and isolates marginal link level failures and performance issues: SFP, port, & cable



Neuraspective™

• Bringing all network traffic (WAN, MAN, LAN & SAN) can create new complexitieso Mismatch of packet typeso Client versus server package

• Need predictable, scalable storage network reliableo FC has proven to be reliable

• Protect existing investmento Most datacenters already run FCo Many enterprises have invested $M’s in FC

• ↑VM density = low latency, high IOPS, ultra-high bandwidth



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Before we finish …



Ben [email protected] @BenWooNY @Neuralytix


is fibre channel still relevant? webcast with neuralytix

Technology

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fc switches

low latency storage

fc hbas xe201

existing storage network

band fc messaging

fc vm density