40/100G Ethernet: virtual data center and Campus Network

The virtualization trend is clear and consistent, rooted in requirements for cost and performance efficiency, business flexibility, and IT department production efficiency. This trend cannot be ignored. However, to make full use of the advantages of the virtualization environment, some factors must be taken into account in terms of user connection, resource allocation, and maximum infrastructure investment.

By effectively planning and deploying 40/100G Ethernet (GbE), enterprises can eliminate potential obstacles and fully realize the advantages of virtualized environments.

40/100 GbE is the key to capacity improvement. If properly planned, a smooth upgrade path can be provided as it will become the leading standard in the near future. As one of the key foundations for building next-generation virtualized data centers and campus environments, 40/100 GbE has begun to develop rapidly.

This article describes the 40/100 GbE architecture for virtualized data centers and campuses. IT administrators are increasingly aware of the significant advantages of 40/100 GbE, and see its great potential as an interconnected solution for data centers and commercial buildings in the park.

At the economic level, barriers to entry in the 40/100 GbE market are constantly decreasing. In the future, upgrading to the 40/100 GbE network can effectively protect the current capital investment in the 10GbE network. The Ethernet Switching and optical fiber cabling examples in this article show:

● 55% 2 switching devices can be protected

● 57% 3 of fiber cabling investment can be retained

In terms of availability, more and more vendors are beginning to provide solutions for the 40/100 GbE ecosystem, while Ethernet Alliance? The 40/100 GbE technology multi-vendor interoperability activity has been held for many times. Cisco? And CommScope? All actively participated in these activities. As a result, concerns about closed supplier relationships have vanished in advance deployment.

On the one hand, the participation of multiple suppliers increases the market supply volume, and on the other hand, the widespread popularity of the market reduces deployment costs. Under these factors, 40/100 GbE infrastructure has become a reliable and wise investment, both for the moment and for the future.

The increasing attractiveness of 40/100 GbE makes it the best choice for the next generation of high-bandwidth virtualization applications. Its superior performance and outstanding economic advantages in the virtualization environment further promote its popularization.

Figure 1 40/100 GbE-Based Virtualized data center and campus Architecture

Virtualized data center

Real Data Center virtualization is end-to-end virtualization, including server virtualization, storage virtualization, and network virtualization, which can bring a variety of advantages. Virtual machines and virtual networks are quickly deployed. Its energy efficiency and capacity can be dynamically adjusted based on the needs of various workloads without wasting resources.

Disaster recovery is faster, and the initial and sustained costs are lower than traditional non-virtualization models.

On the journey to virtualized data centers and clouds, data center managers will face many design and operation Challenges. One of the most significant challenges in network design is to provide sufficient bandwidth for current and foreseeable future applications.

With the help of the aggregate network technology, 10GbE, which is becoming a good choice for server access networks, may also become a good choice for storage access networks.

With 10GbE in the access layer, we recommend that you deploy 40/100 GbE in the aggregation layer and core layer of the data center, 40/100 GbE can eliminate the obstacles that previously prevented virtual data centers from maximizing their potential.

Virtual Campus

In campus networks, video is a fast-growing application. Video applications are not just video conferencing or video streams. Enterprise video applications include desktop HD videos, video phones, enterprise TVs, IP video monitoring, and other video generation and sharing. BYOD is another wave of emerging campus networks. Video, voice, data, and BYOD pose great pressure on the campus's distribution network and core network.

Compared with the traditional 2nd-layer and 3rd-layer network design in the garden, the core network and distribution network can use the Virtual Switching System (VSS), the Cisco? Catalyst? Vswitches of the 6500 series are virtualized.

VSS is a network system virtualization technology that aggregates two or more Cisco Catalyst 6500 series switches into one virtual switch. VSS adjusts the bandwidth capacity of the system through automatic load sharing. By simplifying the network and reducing switch management overhead by more than 50%, VSS improves operation efficiency. VSS improves continuous communication without interrupting application services. VSS can enhance the existing multi-layer switching architecture without fundamentally changing the architecture, thus enhancing the technical popularization and convenience of migration.

Ecosystem

Each physical Ethernet link has a wiring channel. The cabling costs of four 10GbE links (or channels), one 40GbE link, 10 10GbE link, and one 100GbE link are 6, respectively. The calculation method is to sum the cost of all cabling components, and divide the sum by the number of Ethernet links (or cabling channels) at the corresponding rate. The final operator is the cost.

By reusing the shared wiring component -- here, the IMAX InstaPATCH 360 relay cable and 360G2-1U modular bracket -- end users can migrate from today's 10GbE to the future 40GbE or 100GbE, the cost of multi-mode optical fiber cabling is reduced by 57% 2.

Figure 2 lists the costs of 4x10g and 10x10G optical fiber cabling, and compares them with the corresponding 40GbE and 100GbE respectively. In this example, the optical fiber cabling cost of 1x40G is close to 4x10G, while the cost of 1 x 19% G is lower than that of 10x10G.

Figure 2 example of investment protection for top-mounted optical fiber cabling

You may wonder why the cost of MPO cables increases when migrating from 4x10g to 1x40g and from 10x10g to 1 x g? This is because, for 10GbE, only the cost of some relay cables is amortized because fiber cables are not used, but for 40g and G, the cost of all relay cables is amortized.

In other words, in the case of 4x10g, only four of the six possible Optical Fiber circuits are used. Therefore, only 4/6 of the cost is calculated. Similarly, for 10x10g scenarios, only 10 of the 12 Possible Optical Fiber circuits are used, so only 10/12 of the cost is calculated.

Note that for end users, a 57% investment protection rate is not the only cost saved. When the distribution layer network and core layer network are migrated to 40/100 GbE, devices and jumpers can be re-applied to other parts of the network, such as the 10GbE access layer network and even the Optical Fiber Channel SAN network. As a result, the end user further increases the investment protection rate.

Conclusion

The continuous popularization of 40/100 GbE has begun to redefine the existing IT landscape. This is only the first step in the performance of a new generation of high-bandwidth connections required for virtualized data centers and campuses.

As 40/100 GbE continues to show all the performance and economic potential of the virtualized environment, as the number of campus deployments continues to increase, 40/100 GbE will certainly be able to deliver excellent practicality, speed, and reliability, further consolidate its position as a new Standard.

Because 40/100 GbE can not only quickly achieve benefits, but also provide the best way to upgrade, discerning IT managers will treat 40/100 GbE as a key component in any Upgrade Plan or new deployment plan, especially those that require full-park connection between data centers and office buildings.