1. Fibre Channel - Topologies & Protocols

2. Agenda
Why Fibre
Fibre-Speak
Fibre Pipes
Topologies
Protocols

3. Question
Why is Fibre in Fibre Channel always misspelled F-I-B-R-E instead of F-I-B-E-R?
Answer: It’s the British spelling of the word.
And most Brits have trouble with words longer than P-U-B and P-I-N-T.

4. Why Fibre

5. Why Fibre Channel? Speed Distance Flexibility
100 MB/s now
200 MB/s early next year
400 MB/s in the future
Distance
30 meters with copper
100’s of meters with today’s multi-mode fibre
1000’s of meters with tomorrow’s single mode fibre
Flexibility
Point-to-point
Loops
Fabrics
It’s the industry standard interconnect
Clusters and SAN’s now
And an important disk interface

6. What’s a Cluster? Fibre Channel Group of independent systems that
Function as a single system
Appear to users as a single system
And are managed as a single system
Clusters are “virtual servers”
Fibre Channel

7. What’s a SAN? Fibre Channel Dedicated Network for Storage Devices
RAID Arrays, Tape and Optical libraries
Storage management software, e.g Back-up, archiving,, …
“Network Behind the Servers”
LAN
SAN
Fibre Channel

8. What’s a Fibre Disk? SCSI Disk Fibre Disk Single SCSI interface
Dual Fibre Channel interfaces
If one fibre loop fails, you can still access a fibre disk
SCSI Disks
Fibre Disks

9. And It’s A Key Mylex Strategy
SF and FL Controllers
Fibre to the server, cluster or SAN
SCSI to the disks
FF Controller
Fibre to the disks
Fibre Apple, Lion and Lambersomethingorother
PCI to the server
Fibre to another Fibre Apple or Lion (cluster configuration)

10. Fibre-Speak

11. Fibre-Speak Fibre Node Fibre Networking Devices Fibre Loop
Any device on a fibre loop or fabric with a fibre port address
Servers, Array controllers, Tape Libraries, ...
Fibre Networking Devices
Devices used to interconnect nodes in loop or fabrics
Fibre Hubs and Fibre Switches
Fibre Loop
Topology where nodes are configured in a loop like Token Ring
Fibre networking device -- Hub(s)
Fibre Fabric
Topology where nodes are configured in a star or mesh (“the cloud”)
Fibre networking device -- Switch(es)
And it could have hub(s) hanging off switches

12. More Fibre Speak GBIC DB-9 and HSSDC LIP LRC
Gigabit Interface Converter
Converts optical signal to copper signal (and vice versa)
Can plug into any fibre port
DB-9 and HSSDC
Fibre connectors that provide a fibre port
External product development kit (SF-DEVKIT) have HSSDC’s
LIP
Loop initialization process
Similar to a SCSI bus reset
LRC
Loop redundancy circuit
Allows fibre loops to bypass non-operational fibre nodes

13. Fibre Pipes

14. Gigabit Transmission SCSI Fibre Channel Ultra 40 MB / s
Ultra/2 LVD MB / s Now
Ultra/3 LVD 160 MB / s Late ‘99
Fibre Channel
1st Generation Gb Fibre 100 MB/s now
2nd Generation 2 Gb Fibre 200 MB/s
3rd Generation 4 Gb Fibre 400 MB/s

15. Serial Transmission Fibre is a serial technology
One bit at a time through a pipe
Versus SCSI which is an 8 or 16 bit wide parallel bus
8 or 16 bits at a time across a bus
Serial pipes can be designed to go faster over greater distances

16. Fibre Cables Fibre cables have two pipes
One to move bits in each direction
Also called a “link”
Two unidirectional “fibres” transmitting in opposite directions
“fibres” -- copper or optical

17. Fibre Channel Pipes Fibre Channel defines copper and optical pipes
Copper Cables
Electrons represent bits
Cheaper
Distance limited meters
Optical Fibre Cables
Light pulses represent bits
Pulses are generated by a laser or a LED
And detected at the other end by a transceiver
More expensive
Distances up to thousands of meters
Depends on type of optical pipe, transmission speed, ...

18. Fibre Channel Glass Pipes
Multi-Mode Optical Fibre -- Now
Pipe is large enough to simultaneously transmit multiple streams of light
Comes in two diameters
50 microns -- de facto standard
62.5 microns
Single Mode Optical Fibre -- Future
Pipe is only wide enough to transmit a single steam of light
9 microns

19. Question How big is a micron? Relative size of a one micron particle
Average brain size of
East Coast Sales Guy

20. Speed / Distance of FC Pipes
Copper-Local Area Wiring
Multi-Mode Building Wiring
Single Mode -Campus Wiring
Transmission
Speed
100 MB / s
200 MB / s
400 MB / s
Copper
30 m
62.5 Micron
Multi-Mode
175 m
150 m
90 m
50 Micron
Multi-Mode
500 m
300 m
150 m
9 Micron
Single Mode
10 km
2 km

21. Management Question How big is a meter? Hint: 1,000 Microns = Meter
Answer: Enough space to put 4, east coast brains side by side.

22. Topologies

23. Topologies Physical Model -- Topologies Communications Model
How the servers, arrays, hub and switches are physically connected
Communications Model
How nodes talk to each other and it’s always “point-to-point”
At any point in time, one node talks to one other node
Fibre Ports
N-Port (node in a fabric topology)
F-Port (switch port in a fabric topology)
NL-Port (node in a loop topology
FL-Port (hub port in a loop topology) FC Node = server or an array FC Ports have world-wide addresses like Ethernet ports SF, FL and FF have two FC Ports (addresses stored in controllers)

24. Three Fibre Topologies
Point-to-Point
Arbitrated Loop
(FC-AL)
Fabric

25. Fibre Hubs Networking Device for Connecting Fibre Nodes in a Loop
Simplifies cabling
Connects fibre nodes with different fibre cable types
Can plug copper and different types of optical into the same hub
Improves cluster or SAN availability
Allows fibre nodes to be hot plugged and removed
Bandwidth in a Loop is Constant (100 MB/s Today)
As servers are added to a loop; less bandwidth per server
Cheaper Per Port than Fibre Switches

26. FC Loop w/ Four Port Fibre HubsSF SF

27. Server Failure - HUB LRC Heals Loop
Isolates
Dead Server X
Hub SF SF

28. SF Failure -- HUB LRC Heals LoopX SF SF

29. Fibre Switches
Networking Device for Connecting Fibre Nodes in a Fabric
Does everything a hub does
Same benefits PLUS
Bandwidth in a Fabric is Scaleable
Add more servers to a loop
Bandwidth per server is constant
But bandwidth for the fabric increases with each added node
Expensive Per Port Compared to Fibre Hubs

30. FC Fabric w/ 4 Port Fibre Switch - 200 MB/s
Pairs of Nodes
Communicate
in Loops and Fabrics
Switch
But They Communicate
Simultaneously
in Fabrics
SF 0
SF 1

31. FC Fabric w/ 4 Port Fibre Switch - 200 MB/s
Any node can
talk to any
other node
SF 0
SF 1

32. FC Fabric w/ 8 Port Fibre Switch - 400 MB/s
SF 0
SF 1
SF 0
SF 1

33. Fibre Protocols

34. Fibre Channel Protocol
Fibre Channel Spec Defines
Physical aspects
Nodes, ports, links (cables), …
And the communications model
Frame -- carries the payload (chunks of data)
Sequence -- set of related frames (for flow control)
Exchange -- set of related sequences (sets up the conversation)
Fibre Protocol is a “Low Level” Protocol
And is used to transport other protocols
It transports the SCSI protocol to talk to disks (SCSI over FC)
It can transport the IP protocol for array management
Plan to port the GAM server to external controllers
And talk to it from WAM clients (IP over FC)

35. Last Question Confidently head out What’s a protocol?
Dazzle them with product knowledge
Example: Ron tells you, Get the order today!
Close with finesse
You grab your sales training presentations
Ron reacts positively

36. Or You can find your sales training presentation
You come back with nothing more than a good story
You head out wondering how to pull it off
Ron gets a kick out of your story
Decide to try begging
And then stops laughing