Set up FCoE Connectivity for a Cisco UCS Blade
Document ID: 110434
Contents
Introduction
Prerequisites
Requirements
Components Used
Network Diagram
Conventions
Background Information
Main Task
Task
1. Verify that Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnect Supports FCoE Feature
2. Identify Fiber Channel components and Connectivity in Cisco UCS
3. Create VSAN to Support FCoE for FC Uplink
4.1 Assign VSAN to FC Uplink Port in Fabric Interconnect
4.2 Assign VSAN to FC Uplink Port in Fabric Interconnect (Alternate Method)
5. Create vHBA within Server Profiles
Verify
Troubleshoot
Related Information
Introduction
Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) is a unified computing solution that fuses access layer networking
and servers. This high−performance, next−generation server system provides the data center with a high
degree of workload agility and scalability.
The hardware and software components in the UCS support the unified fabric of Cisco, which allows multiple
types of data center traffic over a single physical Ethernet network. This Data Center Ethernet (DCE)
technology reduces the amount of cabling, management, and cost with the combination of the host bus
adapters (HBAs) and network interface cards (NICs) into a single adapter called the Converged Network
Adapter (CNA). This adapter can carry LAN and SAN traffic on the same cable.
Cisco UCS uses Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) protocol to carry Fibre Channel (FC) traffic inside
Ethernet frame. Cisco UCS also adheres to multiple 802.1 standards to provide the DCE underlying the FCoE
needs to effectively transport those frames. The fabric interconnect separates the LAN and SAN traffic from
the Ethernet frames and forwards them to the appropriate network ports. This gives the flexibility to deploy
this technology without the need of implementing the unified fabric solution across the entire data center
network.
Cisco UCS blade installed with Cisco UCS CNA M71KR E Emulex Converged Network Adapter or Cisco
UCS CNA M71KR Q QLogic Converged Network Adapter can handle both FC and IP simultaneously. The
converged network adapter presents an Ethernet interface and an Fibre Channel interface to the operating
system. The OS is completely unaware of the encapsulation taking place in the Ethernet segment. The only
requirement is for the OS to have the appropriate drivers to recognize the CNA hardware.
At the fabric interconnect, the server−facing Ethernet port receives the Ethernet and Fibre Channel traffic. The
fabric interconnect (which uses Ethertype to differentiate the frames) separates the two traffic types. Ethernet
