jagomart
digital resources
picture1_Converged Network Adapters Paper


 116x       Filetype PDF       File size 0.93 MB       Source: www.intel.com


File: Converged Network Adapters Paper
it intel white paper intel it it best practices data center solutions may 2012 using converged network adapters for fcoe network unification executive overview switching to fcoe deployment to unify ...

icon picture PDF Filetype PDF | Posted on 08 Oct 2022 | 3 years ago
Partial capture of text on file.
             IT@Intel White Paper
             Intel IT
             IT Best Practices 
             Data Center Solutions
             May 2012
             Using Converged Network Adapters for 
             FCoE Network Unification
                                                             Executive Overview
              Switching to FCoE deployment                   To unify local area network and storage area network infrastructure over a single 
              using dual-port Intel® Ethernet                fabric, Intel IT evaluated the price and performance advantages of switching to a 
                X520 Server Adapters would                   Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) using converged network adapters (CNAs). In 
             yield a greater than 50-percent                 comparing a CNA solution to a two-card solution—a 10 Gigabit Ethernet network 
                    reduction in total network               interface card and a Fibre Channel (FC) host bus adapter (HBA)—we determined 
                            costs per server rack.           that CNAs provide a technically sound, cost-effective solution for network 
                                                             unification in our virtualized environment.
                                                             Our evaluation revealed that switching           •	 Allows application loads to drive nearly 
                                                             to FCoE deployment using the dual-port             90-percent full bi-directional bandwidth 
                                                             10-gigabit (Gb) Intel® Ethernet Server Adapter     utilization on FCoE or TCP/IP
                                                             X520 series had the following benefits:          •	 Provides an open solution that, taking 
                                                             •	 Reduces total network costs per server          advantage of native FCoE initiators in 
                                                                rack by more than 50 percent                    operating systems, offers an efficient 
                                                             •	 Delivers FC performance comparable              and cost-effective alternative to more 
                                                                to and, in some cases, exceeding the            expensive proprietary CNAs that offload 
                                                                performance of an FC HBA                        FC and FCoE processing onto the adapter
                                                             •	 Enables controllable prioritization for       To realize these advantages, Intel IT plans 
                                                                LAN or SAN traffic through network            to use FCoE configurations and dual-port 
                                                                Quality of Service mechanisms that            10-Gb Intel Ethernet X520 server adapters 
                                                                regulate contention for bandwidth             in new and replacement servers in our 
                                            Craig Pierce                                                      virtualized environment.
                                        System Engineer,  
               Intel Architecture Systems Integration (IASI)
                                          Sanjay Rungta 
                         Senior Principal Engineer, Intel IT
                                      Sreeram Sammeta  
                                    System Engineer, IASI 
                                            Terry Yoshii  
                                   Research Staff, Intel IT 
                     IT@Intel White Paper  Using Converged Network Adapters for FCoE Network Unification
                         Contents                                                                BACkGrOuNd                                                                  1GbE network infrastructure and found it 
                                                                                                 For years, many organizations have run                                      inadequate to meet Intel’s rapidly growing 
                         Executive Overview ............................. 1                                                                                                  business requirements and the increasing 
                                                                                                 two separate, parallel networks in their                                    demands they place on data center resources.1
                         Background ............................................ 2               data center. To connect servers and clients,                                                                                                      
                            How FCoE Works ............................... 2                     as well as connect to the Internet, they                                    Among the trends that supported our transition 
                                                                                                 use an Ethernet-based local area network                                    to a 10GbE data center fabric design are:
                         Solution  ................................................. 3           (lAN). For connecting servers to the                                        •	 The escalating data handling demands 
                            Converged Network Adapter                                            storage area network (SAN) and the block                                        created by increasing compute density 
                            Test Goals and Challenges .............. 4                           storage arrays used for storing data, they                                      in our Design computing domain and by 
                            Storage Performance                                                  use a Fibre Channel (FC)-based network.                                         large-scale virtualization in our Office and 
                            Comparison: Throughput
                                                                 ................. 4                                                                                             Enterprise computing domain
                            Storage Performance                                                  In late 2010, Intel IT decided our existing                                 •	 The need to match network performance 
                            Comparison: Response Time ........... 5                              1-gigabit Ethernet (1GbE) network                                               demands with the increasing gains in 
                            Storage Performance                                                  infrastructure was no longer adequate to meet                                   file server performance due to the latest 
                            Comparison: CPU Effectiveness ..... 5                                Intel’s rapidly growing business requirements                                   high-performance Intel® processors and 
                            Baseline Bandwidth Utilization                                       and the resource demands of our increasingly                                    clustering technologies. The network, not 
                            Quality-of-Service Testing .............. 5                          virtualized environment. We needed a more                                       the file servers, was the limiting factor in 
                            Quality-of-Service Testing .............. 6                          cost-effective solution that unifies our fabric,                                supporting faster throughput. 
                            Storage I/O Latency during                                           provides equal or better performance, and                                   •	 A 40-percent annual growth in Internet 
                            Quality-of-Service Testing .............. 7                          enables traffic prioritization through quality 
                                                                                                 of service (QoS) mechanisms. Our solution: a                                    connection requirements driving a need for 
                         Conclusion .............................................. 7             10GbE infrastructure which we deployed initially                                greater bandwidth through the organization
                         Acronyms ................................................ 8             for connection to the local area network (LAN)                              When we found we could reduce our network 
                                                                                                 and to host bus adapters (HBAs) that connect                                total cost of ownership by as much as 18 
                                                                                                 to our FC-based storage area network (SAN).                                 to 25 percent, we began the transition to a 
                                                                                                 The recent development of Fibre Channel                                     10GbE data center fabric design in 2011. 
                                                                                                 over Ethernet (FCoE), a storage protocol that                               In our initial implementation, we used 10GbE 
                                                                                                 enables FC communications to run directly                                   NICs to connect servers to the LAN. To 
                                                                                                 over Ethernet, provides a way for companies                                 connect to the FC-based SAN, we used HBAs. 
                                                                                                 to consolidate these networks into a single                                 At the time, we viewed this as a temporary 
                                                                                                 common network infrastructure. By unifying                                  solution until we could fully evaluate the use 
                                                                                                 LANs and SANs, eliminating redundant                                        of converged network adapters (CNAs) to 
                                                                                                 switches, and reducing cabling and network                                  enable a unified network fabric through FCoE.
                                                                                                 interface card (NIC) counts, an FCoE  server 
                                                                                                 adapter—specifically, the dual-port 10-Gb                                   How FCoE Works
                        IT@INTEl                                                                 Intel® Ethernet X520 Server Adapter—can:                                    FCoE is essentially an extension of FC over a 
                                                                                                 •	 Reduce capital expenditures (CapEx)                                      different link layer transport. FCoE maps FC 
                        The IT@Intel program connects IT                                                                                                                     over Ethernet while remaining independent of 
                        professionals around the world with their                                •	 Cut power and cooling costs by reducing the                              the Ethernet forwarding scheme. This enables 
                        peers inside our organization – sharing                                      number of components                                                    FC to use 10GbE networks while preserving 
                        lessons learned, methods and strategies.                                 •	 Simplify administration by reducing the                                  the FC protocol. With the new data center 
                        Our goal is simple:  Share Intel IT best                                     number of devices that need to be managed
                        practices that create business value and                                                                                                             bridging (DCB) specification, the 10-Gb DCB 
                        make IT a competitive advantage. Visit                                   In addition, network unification using FCoE                                 protocol also alleviates two previous concerns: 
                        us today at www.intel.com/IT or contact                                  reduces operating expenditures. For a large IT                              packet loss and latency.
                        your local Intel representative if you’d                                 organization such as Intel IT, this is a significant                        Servers connect to FCoE with CNAs, which 
                        like to learn more.                                                      advantage. Our 87 data centers support a                                    combine both FC HBA and Ethernet NIC 
                                                                                                 massive worldwide computing environment 
                                                                                                                                                                             1
                                                                                                 that houses approximately 90,000 servers.                                      We address in detail our work evaluating the 
                                                                                                                                                                               advantages to Intel of upgrading to 10GbE 
                                                                                                 The timing of FCoE’s release is advantageous                                  network infrastructure in the IT@Intel white paper 
                     2  www.intel.com/IT                                                         as well. We recently evaluated Intel’s existing                               “Upgrading Data Center Network Architecture to  
                                                                                                                                                                               10 Gigabit Ethernet.” Intel Corporation, January 2011.
                                                                               Using Converged Network Adapters for FCoE Network Unification  IT@Intel White Paper
               functionality on a single adapter card. Use of FCoE 
               and CNAs consolidates network TCP/IP and SAN data                        Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE)
               traffic on a unified network. 
               For Intel IT, a unified fabric using CNAs represents an                  One disadvantage of Fibre Channel (FC) as a network technology for storage 
               important next step in the ongoing effort to make the                    area networks (SANs) is that it’s incompatible with Ethernet, the dominant 
               conversion of our data center architecture to 10GbE                      server networking technology. Although SANs and Ethernet networks perform 
               connections as cost-efficient as possible.                               substantively the same function, they use different technologies and thus are 
                                                                                        entirely separate physical networks, with separate switches, cabling, networking 
                                                                                        hardware (such as network interface cards and host bus adapters), and connections 
               SOluTION                                                                 into each server. The expertise required to support each network is also different. 
               We examined two approaches to providing                                  Current industry standards combine server and storage networks over a single 
               a converged adapter. One approach uses an                                unified fabric. The most prominent of these is FCoE. This specification preserves 
               open solution that takes advantage of native                             the storage-specific benefits of FC and allows it to be transported over Ethernet 
               FCoE initiators in operating systems, enabling                           in the enterprise. Under FCoE, both the Ethernet and the FC protocols are 
               the adapter to work in a complementary way                               merged, enabling organizations to deploy a single, converged infrastructure 
               with the platform hardware and the operating                             carrying both SAN and server TCP/IP network traffic. FCoE preserves all FC 
               system. This approach provides a cost-effective                          constructs, providing reliable delivery, while preserving and interoperating 
               way to handle both FCoE and TCP/IP traffic                               with an organization’s investment in FC SANs, equipment, tools, and training.
               (see Figure 1). 
                         Host           Program Interface                                           Local Area Network           Configuration
                                FC Host Bus Adapter API, DCBx, FC          File System                     (LAN)                 Data center bridging exchange (DCBx)
                                                                                                                                 link protocol and fibre channel (FC)
                                                                           multipath I/O            iSCSI
                                                                                                                                 Native Operating System or 
                                                                           Device Drivers                                        Intel® FCoE Initiator and Management
                                                                     virtual Storport*, Open FC,           TCP/IP                FCoE, encapsulation and decapsulation, 
                                                                            FCoE Protocol                                        FCoE initialization protocol
                                                                                   Network Driver Interface 
                                                                                    Specification, Net Device
                                                                                         Base Drivers                            Intel® Ethernet Base Drivers with 
                                                                                  with Buffers and Interrupts                    Data Center Bridging
                                                                                                                                 Priorities assigned to traffic classes (802.1p)
                         Adapter                                                                                                 Traffic Classes and Queues
                                                                      Storage Area Network                  LAN                  Traffic class mapped to queues (802.1Qaz)
                                                                                       Classification and                         Quality of Service Engine
                                                                                      Prioritization Engine                      Insert tag .1Q , schedule priority groups, 
                                                                                                                                 allocate bandwidth, flow control
                                                                          FCoE Offloads                                           FCoE Offloads: DDP, CRC Rx and Tx, LSO, RSS
                                                                                                                                 Data path acceleration
                                                                                                                                 Converged Port
                                                                             FCoE         Converged           LAN                Priority tagged packets, congestion messages
                                                                          MAC Address        Port        MAC Address
                                                                            vLAN 1                          vLAN 2
                      API – application programming interface: CRC – cyclic redundancy check; DDP – direct data placement; FCoE – Fibre Channel over Ethernet; iSCSI – internet Small Computer System Interface; 
                      LSO – large segment offload; MAC – media access control; RSS – really simple syndication; Rx – receive or incoming (data); Tx – transmit or outgoing (data); vLAN – virtual LAN
                Figure 1. This diagram shows a unified networking Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) configuration. The converged network adapter uses native 
                FCoE initiators in the operating system to work with the platform hardware and operating system, handling FCoE traffic at a lower cost than a 
                hardware-based solution.                                                                                                                    www.intel.com/IT 3
                     IT@Intel White Paper  Using Converged Network Adapters for FCoE Network Unification
                                                                                                              The second approach uses custom                                       •	 Be regulated through appropriate QoS 
                            Quality of Service (QoS)                                                          hardware adapters with FC and FCoE (and                                   mechanisms (see sidebar) that assign 
                                                                                                              in some cases TCP/IP) protocol processing                                 higher or lower priority to either 
                            In computer networking, QoS resource                                              embedded in the hardware. With this                                       kind of traffic—network or storage. 
                            reservation control mechanisms prioritize                                         approach, the CNA converts FCoE traffic to                                This is a critical capability because 
                            different applications, users, or data flows                                      FC packets in the hardware, and the CNA                                   a converged network must be able 
                            to ensure a certain level of performance.                                         manufacturer provides its custom drivers,                                 to protect storage traffic from any 
                            For example, a particular bit rate, along with                                    interfaces, and management software.                                      other traffic. Today’s SAN networks 
                            limits on delay, jitter, and packet-dropping                                      The result is a more expensive adapter.                                   provide this type of isolation through 
                            probability and bit error rate, may be                                            Intel IT decided to test the first approach—                              a separate infrastructure
                            guaranteed for an application that is delay-                                      which is software driver-based—because                                •	 Serve as a cost-effective, technically 
                            or loss-sensitive, such as storage or video.                                      it would provide a robust, scalable,                                      viable solution for network unification 
                            For such applications, QoS guarantees                                             high-performance server connectivity                                      in our virtualized environment
                            are important when network capacity is                                            solution without the expensive, custom 
                            insufficient for the concurrent data flow.                                        hardware. What’s more, we knew that                                   Storage Performance 
                                                                                                              recent improvements in some of the                                    Comparison: Throughput
                                                                                                              latest hypervisors now enable them to                                 The first test, which relies on a CNA using 
                                                                                                              work with FCoE traffic. This meant the                                a software driver for FCoE processing, 
                                                                                                              software driver-based approach could be                               had to realize equivalent or similar 
                                                                                                              used in virtualized environments.                                     performance in storage processing to the 
                                                                                                                                                                                    dual-port 8-Gb Fibre Channel HBAs we 
                                    Average I/O Operations Per Second                                         Converged Network Adapter                                             were replacing. To determine this, we ran 
                                                  67% Read; 100% Random                                       Test Goals and Challenges                                             a series of tests using different I/O block 
                                  Fibre Channel Protocol (FCP)                                                                                                                      sizes—from 4 kilobytes (KB) to 128 KB—
                                  Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE)                                          Recognizing cost as an important 
                   100,000                                                                                    factor associated with an adapter that                                through both types of adapters. We 
                                                                                                              could ultimately be used on hundreds                                  deliberately avoided saturating the hosts 
                     80.000                                                                                   of servers, our goal was to see how a                                 and network and storage arrays in these 
                   ond                                                                                        CNA using a software driver for FCoE                                  tests by specifying a cache-intensive 
                     60.000                                                                                   processing would work for Intel’s data                                load—5 megabytes (MB) working set size—
                                                                                                              centers. To find out, we put dual-port                                and by driving moderately high I/O from 
                   tions per Sec                                                                                                                                                    16 workers to four logical unit numbers at 
                   a 40.000                                                                                   10-Gb Intel Ethernet X520 Server 
                                                                                                              Adapters, which support FCoE, in two                                  a queue depth of 1 from a single host.
                   I/O Oper                                                                                   Intel® Xeon® processor 5600 series-based                              Tests showed negligible differences 
                     20.000
                                                                                                              servers and ran a variety of performance                              in the smaller block sizes. The Fibre 
                                                                                                              tests. We wanted to see if such a CNA                                 Channel Protocol (FCP) performance of 
                           0                                                                                  could address the following challenges:
                                 4 KB        8 KB      16 KB       32 KB       64 KB      128 KB                                                                                    the dual-port 8-Gb FC HBA was 13.1 
                 FCP            84,841 77,741 65,110 42,440 26,710 13,510                                     •	 Provide storage performance                                        to 2.5 percent higher than the FCoE 
                 FCoE           75,045 70,051 63,491 51,724 34,414 18,272                                         (throughput, response time,                                       performance of the dual-port Intel 
               Figure 2. Using a software driver to handle Fibre Channel                                          CPU effectiveness, and latency)                                   Ethernet X520 Server Adapter running 
               over Ethernet, the dual-port 10-Gb Intel® Ethernet X520                                            comparable to an FC HBA                                           at 4-KB to 16-KB I/O block sizes (see 
               Server Adapter delivered 21.9 to 35.2 percent higher                                                                                                                 Figure 2). More significant was the 
               throughput running at 32-kilobyte (KB) to 128-KB block I/O                                     •	 Drive the network load and the                                     difference in the higher I/O block sizes. 
               sizes compared to a dual-port 8-Gb Fibre Channel host bus                                          storage load to their peaks, when                                 The FCoE performance of the dual-
               adapter.                                                                                           each is run in isolation
                     4  www.intel.com/IT
The words contained in this file might help you see if this file matches what you are looking for:

...It intel white paper best practices data center solutions may using converged network adapters for fcoe unification executive overview switching to deployment unify local area and storage infrastructure over a single dual port ethernet fabric evaluated the price performance advantages of x server would fibre channel cnas in yield greater than percent comparing cna solution two card gigabit reduction total interface fc host bus adapter hba we determined costs per rack that provide technically sound cost effective our virtualized environment evaluation revealed allows application loads drive nearly full bi directional bandwidth gb utilization on or tcp ip series had following benefits provides an open taking reduces advantage native initiators by more operating systems offers efficient delivers comparable alternative some cases exceeding expensive proprietary offload processing onto enables controllable prioritization realize these plans lan san traffic through use configurations quality...

no reviews yet
Please Login to review.