QLogic BR-1860 Fabric - Manual (Page 3)

BR0058006-00 Rev. A 03/14 3
QLogic BR-1860 Data Sheet
The BR-1860 also incorporates a built-in virtual Layer 2 Ethernet switch, or
virtual Ethernet bridge (VEB), to offload the hypervisor from all of the inter-
VM traffic switching tasks, delivering better network performance for VMs
while freeing the CPU for additional application processing.
Extend Fabric Services to the Server and Applications
The BR-1860 supports Brocade's Server Application Optimization (SAO)
technology to extend the intelligence and fabric services of industry-
leading Brocade Fibre Channel fabrics into servers. N_Port trunking
extends the ISL trunking capability from the Brocade switches into the
server, combining two 16Gbps links in a dual-port adapter into a single
logical 32Gbps connection with frame-level load balancing for unmatched
levels of performance and fault tolerance.
Brocade SAO also extends QoS from the fabric to the VM and application
level, enabling organizations to virtualize mission-critical applications
and scale virtualization environments with confidence. Leveraging virtual
channel technology in the Brocade switch and QLogic adapter ASICs,
QoS ensures that mission-critical workloads will not be impacted by
congestion or misbehaving devices, helping organizations more efficiently
meet application service level agreements (SLAs).
Unprecedented Visibility and Insight Across the Storage Network with
Advanced Monitoring and Diagnostics
Offering innovative diagnostic, monitoring, and management capabilities,
the BR-1860 helps administrators avoid problems, maximize application
performance, and reduce operational costs with the following technologies:
• Diagnostic port (D_Port) support: Ensures optical and signal integrity
for Gen 5 Fibre Channel optics and cables, simplifying deployment
and support of high-performance fabrics. It leverages the ClearLink
diagnostic port (D_Port) capabilities of Brocade's Gen 5 Fibre Channel
switch platforms.
• Integration into Brocade's Brocade Network Advisor (BNA):
Provides customizable health and performance dashboard views to
pinpoint problems faster, simplify SAN configuration and management,
and reduce operational costs.
• Critical diagnostic and monitoring capabilities: Helps ensure early
problem detection and recovery.
• Forward error correction (FEC): Enables recovery from bit errors in
ISLs, enhancing transmission reliability and performance.
• Credit loss recovery: Helps overcome performance degradation and
congestion due to buffer credit loss.
Diagnostic ports (D_Ports) are a port type that enables administrators to
quickly identify and isolate optics and cable problems, reducing fabric
deployment and diagnostic times. Organizations can also use Brocade's
ClearLink diagnostics to run a variety of tests through QLogic Host
Connectivity Manager (HCM), QLogic BCU CLI, or Brocade's BNA to test
ports, SFPs, and cables for faults, latency, and distance.
D_Port enabled diagnostic ports can be configured either explicitly by
the user in static mode or forced by the switch port in dynamic mode.
Dynamic mode automatically configures D_Ports on the adapter from
the switch, streamlining deployment and reducing operational overhead.
To take advantage of Brocade's ClearLink diagnostics functionality, the
BR-1860 needs to be in Host Bus Adapter mode and requires 16Gbps
optics.
In addition, the BR-1860 extends credit recovery and FEC from the SAN
fabric to the server level. Extending these fabric services to the server
improves link resiliency and enhances overall application performance and
availability.
The BR-1860 is hardware-capable to support the upcoming virtual
Ethernet port aggregator (VEPA) standard as defined by the IEEE
802.1Qbg
Edge Virtual Bridging (EVB) specification. VEPA allows inter-VM traffic to be
switched by the access layer switch in the network. Combined with QLogic
vFLink technology, VEPA logically extends the physical Ethernet switch all
the way to the VMs. This allows networking policies to be defined with VM
granularity and enables the delivery of VM-aware services and VM-level
traffic monitoring.
Optimal Support for Windows Server 2012 and 2012 R2
By supporting Windows Server ® 2012, the BR-1860 enhances its ability
to support Windows-based virtual workloads and provides network
administrators with policy-based tools to manage traffic on the virtual
and physical networks. Furthermore, its support of the Hyper-V
® virtual
Fibre Channel feature enables direct connectivity to Fibre Channel SANs
from within a Hyper-V VM, allowing Fibre Channel SANs to seamlessly
support Windows-based virtualized workloads. Support for Fibre Channel
in Hyper-V guests also includes support for many high-availability features,
such as virtual SANs, clustered VMs, live migration, and multipath I/O
(MPIO).
QLogic BR-1860 Fabric Adapter
Hypervisor
VM1
VF
Driver
VF
Driver
VF
Driver
PF
Driver
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VM2 VM3
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VMn
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Physical Function
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Figure 3. SR-IOV enables efficient sharing of I/O resources with direct I/O for enhanced
performance