anyone using FCoE?

Don, are you using twinax between the CX-4 and the Nexus?

Hi Don, sorry to hear you are having a hard time.  Our test environment included CX-4s during qualification and we did not notice the issue you are referring to.  We documented the steps we used to configure the Nexus 5000s in the FCoE Tech Book but it sounds like you are already well past the configuration stage.  Would it be possible for you to share the EMC case number with me?  You can email me directly if you'd prefer, erik.smith@emc.com   

I am not using FCoE now but I will be soon. Our setup is similiar to yours.

CX4-120 that will be hooked to a Nexus 7000. Ours are Dell R610's running ESX 4.1U1. It's not scheduled to go live for another month yet (the FCoE cards for the SAN were a sticking point with my manager). I will keep this in mind and see if we also experience any issues.

Peace

Br sure to check the EMC Configuration Matrix - last I looked (abouit three weeks ago) the Nexus 7xxx is not supported, only the 5xxx and 3xxx.

glen

We are in the process of qualifying the Nexus 7000 now and it looks good so far.  It will be added to the ESM sometime within the next few months.

We are running FCoE from a CX4-480 to Cisco 5Ks and 6120s with no issues using the Cisco UCS M81KR virtual interface cards.  We did have some issues when using QLogic CNAs in our IBM servers, however, and switched them to using NFS access instead of block access.  No problems with the Cisco UCS blades with the M81KRs though.

Hello everyone,

We want to also imlement FCoE on our CX4-120, currently we have it connected vi FC to brocade FC switches. My concern is that we have Blade Networks G8124 switches that are FCoE capable, will the CX4 work with that switch?

Cant seem to find anything to say yes or no, there is an ocean of information and I'm in a row boat. Also if you can just guide me to the configuration documentation so I can test all that, assuming our switches are supported.

Thanks,

Omar

in FCoE environments host connectivity is FCoE from host to the Unified switch (as Cisco calls it). From this unified switch (could be Nexus) you simply attach your storage array to the FC only ports and your LAN environment to the LAN only ports. We have CX4's attached to Cisco UCS and it's working fine

So you'd need FC ports for your storage and eth ports for your LAN connectivity. From your FCoE switch to your hosts will be FCoE traffic.

you could also connect your MDS to Nexus so your arrays could still be connected to FC switch while both FC and FCOE clients could utilize it.

indeed

ErikS: that's what I said

You can also directly connect native FCoE storage to UCS.

Hi Omar, by not qualified I mean that we haven't tested with it and added it to the EMC Support Matrix.  If you call into the support center with a data unavailable or data loss situation, the presence of the BNT switch in the data path will significantly complicate the troubleshooting process and you will probably be asked to remove it from the data path before we will begin troubleshooting.

If you were to try it, you'd probably be able to get logged into the storage fine and start doing I/O over FCoE.  However, there are many different failure scenarios that can lead to corrupted data and also security considerations (man in the middle types of attacks) that we test for when qualifying a new switch platform.  I'm not sure if these types of tests have been performed.

Please contact me via email directly if you would like to discuss this in more detail.

erik.smith@emc.com

Regards, Erik   

Thanks for the info and link.

I know they do support FIP but to what extent I will have to double check.

However when you say "qualified" what do you mean exacatly? Does that mean we shouldnt call you for support if it doesnt work as inteded, or do you mean it will not wok at all?

Assuming of couse it does support all the FSB features.

Hi Omar, the answer is no.  You cannot currently use the "Blade Networks G8124" switch between the CLARiiON and the FCF and you also cannot use it between the CNA and the FCF when you are connecting to EMC Storage.  I've discussed the reasons for this in following blog post:  "http://brasstacksblog.typepad.com/brass-tacks/2010/12/fip-fip-snooping-bridges-and-fcfs-part-2-fip-snooping-bridges-and-fibre-channel-forwarders.html".  The bottom line is that the "Blade Networks G8124" switch would need to fully support all of the features of a FIP Snooping Bridge (FSB) and I'm not sure that they do.  Even if they do, we haven't qualified them yet.

One other point, as I mention in the post, FSBs can only be used with Cisco FCFs.  Brocade FCFs do not support multiple FIP FLOGIs per interface.

Regards, Erik