Resolve the war between the FCoE and iSCSI network protocols (2)

FCoE VS iSCSI performance is the driving force of network convergence

Looking at the storage network, we can see that performance is one of the main driving forces of integration. Although the fiber channel roadmap leaves a deep impression that its performance has doubled, it cannotEthernetWith the historical leap in its performance, Ethernet will soon leave the fiber channel far behind.

Figure 3 storage network roadmap (network performance timeline)

When iSCSI first appeared, even if the fiber channel transits to 2-4 Gb, it also looks very inconspicuous compared with Gigabit Ethernet. However, iSCSI has made a leap in performance this year and transitioned to 10 Gb Ethernet, the fiber channel network is only 8 Gb. In the next few years, iSCSI FCoE will continue to benefit from Ethernet Performance Improvement and will soon transition to 40 Gb and 100 Gb, 16 GB and 32 GB fiber channels seem too slow.

Performance is often overlooked in the field of I/O operation latency. Although 10 GB Ethernet-based iSCSI can transport 50% more data than 8 GB fiber channel, it also significantly reduces the latency, it can process 50% more data packets than 8 GB fiber channels, or 10 times the equivalent of Gigabit Ethernet. In other words, in a shared virtual environment, 10 GB Ethernet allows more systems to do more work within the same time range.

Ethernet Enhanced Data Center

Performance is only half the story of Ethernet convergence. It also provides server connections, reducing server configuration and location depending on cable availability, rather than what applications need, which will change the face of the data center, encourage the use of blade servers, virtualization and flexible infrastructure, and encourage machine mobility, especially virtual machines, as well as the need for new network protocols such as OpenFlow.

Figure 4 enhanced 10 GB Ethernet

Ethernet needs to be greatly upgraded to cope with this workload. Although iSCSI can work normally on any network, thanks to TCP/IP, FCoE and similar protocols that require flow control to ensure lossless data transmission, this prompted the development of the data center bridging protocol (DCB), including traffic priority control, bandwidth management, and congestion management. The first two have been implemented, and the third will be available in the short term, ethernet is ready to stand on the central stage.

For more information about the two network protocols FCoE and iSCSI, see:

Resolve the war between FCoE and iSCSI network protocols (1)

Parsing the war between the FCoE and iSCSI network protocols 3)