Network technologies and trends » FCoE

New Data Centre CCIE track announced by Cisco Systems

Yasir Irfan — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 08:55:43 +0000

CCIE the most prestigious certificate on this planet is expanding its dominance in each and every specialty. Cisco System announced a new track targeting Data Centre known as CCIE Data Centre.

I am so excited to know about these latest developments, especially after the introduction of Nexus Switches there is a need for specialist who can manage complex data center. CCIE data center will equip the networking professionals with all the skills required to design, implement, operate, monitor, and troubleshoot complex data center networks. Products tested in this certification include Cisco Catalyst 3750, MDS 9222i, Nexus 7009, 5548, 2232, 1000v and Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS), and Cisco Application Control Engine Appliance.

The beta version of the CCIE Data Center Written Exam will be available for scheduling and testing at all worldwide Cisco-authorized Pearson VUE testing centers beginning May 1 through June 15, 2012. And the lab exam is expected to be available in September2012.

Currently Cisco is offering US$ 50 as a discount for the beta exam of CCIE Data Centre.

Some of the topics covered in CCIE Data Center are as follows

General switching technologies
NX-OS with VPC, OTV, Fabric-Path, RBAC, etc.
Storage with Fiber Channel, VSAN, FCoE, etc.
UCS with LAN, SAN connectivity, server profiles, pinning, etc.
Cisco ACE features in SLB and HA deployments.

For further details on please do check this link.

Cisco Press launches new title addressing FCoE standard

Yasir Irfan — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 11:01:32 +0000

In one of my older post in June I was just taking about the FCoE (Fiber Channel over Ethernet) as a standard. Cisco Systems was one of the major contributors to establish the FCoE Standard. Like a responsible vendor now Cisco Press has come up with a new title “I/O Consolidation in the Data Center”. This title is a fully updated version of Silvano Gai’s privately-published book on FCoE, written for leading FCoE pioneer Nuova Systems before the company was acquired by Cisco. Nearly 12,000 copies of that book have already been distributed, demonstrating the immense interest in FCoE technology, and the scarcity of reliable information that has existed about it.

The new title “I/O Consolidation in the Data Center” deals with the recently approved FCoE standard. According Cisco Press Senior Publicist Jamie Adams the new title comprises of five detail case studies illustrating typical FCoE adoption scenarios, as well as extensive Q & A section addressing issues raised quite often by the Enterprise IT professionals.

For more details do check out the Cisco Press product description.

FCoE (Fiber Chanel over Ethernet) is a standard now

Yasir Irfan — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 13:14:46 +0000

On 3^rd June 2009, the FC-BB-5 working group of T11 completed the development of the draft standard and unanimously approved it as the final standard. The following day the plenary session of T11 approved forwarding the FC-BB-5 standard to INCITS for publication as an ANSI standard.

Cisco Systems has significantly contributed to the definition of FCoE in the FC-BB-5 standard through multiple technical submissions. Cisco has led the FC-BB-5 working group holding the chairman position with Claudio DeSanti.

One of the most significant technical challenges for the working group has been the definition of the addressing mode for FCoE, with two schemes proposed, FPMAs (Fabric Provided MAC Addresses, proposed by Cisco) and SPMAs (Server Provided MAC Addresses, proposed by Brocade). The final standard recognizes the superiority of the Cisco scheme by stating that FPMAs are the only addresses mandatory to implement.

The standard is at:
http://www.t11.org/ftp/t11/pub/fc/bb-5/09-056v5.pdf

Also check this blog entry at Cisco blogs.