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Configuring an FCoE VLAN Interface on an FCoE-FC Gateway

When you configure the switch as an FCoE-FC gateway, a Layer 3 FCoE VLAN interface transmits and receives Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) traffic between the gateway and FCoE-capable servers on the Ethernet network. Configuring a Layer 3 FCoE VLAN interface on the switch creates virtual fabric port (VF_Port) interfaces facing the FCoE server virtual node ports (VN_Ports).

The FCoE VLAN interface is the interface for the dedicated VLAN the FCoE servers use for FCoE traffic. Each FC fabric requires at least one dedicated FCoE VLAN and at least one Layer 3 FCoE VLAN interface to transport FCoE traffic. On QFabric systems, the FCoE VLAN interface, the FCoE VLAN, and the interfaces that are members of the FCoE VLAN must be on the same Node device.

Note:

FCoE VLANs (any VLAN that carries FCoE traffic) support only Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) and link aggregation group (LAG) Layer 2 features.

FCoE traffic cannot use a standard LAG because traffic might be hashed to different physical LAG links on different transmissions. This breaks the (virtual) point-to-point link that Fibre Channel traffic requires. If you configure a standard LAG interface for FCoE traffic, FCoE traffic might be rejected by the FC SAN.

QFabric systems support a special LAG called an FCoE LAG, which enables you to transport FCoE traffic and regular Ethernet traffic (traffic that is not FCoE traffic) across the same link aggregation bundle. Standard LAGs use a hashing algorithm to determine which physical link in the LAG is used for a transmission, so communication between two devices might use different physical links in the LAG for different transmissions. An FCoE LAG ensures that FCoE traffic uses the same physical link in the LAG for requests and replies in order to preserve the virtual point-to-point link between the FCoE device converged network adapter (CNA) and the FC SAN switch across a QFabric system Node device. An FCoE LAG does not provide load balancing or link redundancy for FCoE traffic. However, regular Ethernet traffic uses the standard hashing algorithm and receives the usual LAG benefits of load balancing and link redundancy in an FCoE LAG.

If the member interfaces of an FCoE VLAN belong to an FCoE LAG and are part of an FCoE untrusted FC fabric on the gateway, you must disable FIP snooping scaling on the gateway. FCoE untrusted gateway fabrics that include FCoE LAGs do not support enhanced FIP snooping scaling.

Note:

To configure an FCoE VLAN on a device that you are using as transit switch, you do not use an FCoE VLAN interface. Instead, use the procedure described in Configuring VLANs for FCoE Traffic on an FCoE Transit Switch.

Before you configure an FCoE VLAN interface, create the FCoE VLAN and assign 10-Gigabit Ethernet interfaces configured in tagged-access port mode to the VLAN. These 10-Gigabit Ethernet interfaces are the physical interfaces that transport the FCoE traffic to and from the FCoE devices in the Ethernet network.

Each Ethernet interface that connects to FCoE devices must also include the native VLAN to transport FIP traffic, because FIP VLAN discovery and notification frames are exchanged as untagged packets. The FCoE VLAN must carry only FCoE traffic. A VLAN cannot transport a mix of FCoE and standard Ethernet traffic.

FCoE VLAN interface configuration includes:

  • Configuring a VLAN to use as a dedicated FCoE VLAN.

  • Configuring a native VLAN for FIP traffic.

  • Configuring member interfaces for the FCoE VLAN.

  • Configuring the FCoE VLAN as a Fibre Channel (family) VLAN and setting the port mode value to f-port. Explicitly configuring the FCoE VLAN interface in F_Port mode is mandatory. The switch interface with which the FCoE server VN_Ports communicate must present a VF_Port to the servers.

  • Configuring the FCoE VLAN interface as the Layer 3 interface for FCoE traffic.

To configure an FCoE VLAN interface:

  1. Configure a dedicated FCoE VLAN:

    For example, to configure a VLAN named fcoe_vlan with a VLAN ID of 100 as the FCoE VLAN:

  2. Configure a native VLAN for FIP traffic:

    For example, to configure the native VLAN with a VLAN ID of 1:

  3. Configure member interfaces for the FCoE VLAN (use ethernet-switching as the family and tagged-access as the port mode):

    For example, to configure the interface xe-0/0/10 as a member of the FCoE VLAN fcoe_vlan:

  4. Configure the native VLAN on the FCoE VLAN member interfaces:

    For example, to configure the interface xe-0/0/10 as a member of the native VLAN with the native VLAN ID 1:

  5. Assign the Ethernet interfaces to the FCoE VLAN:

    For example, to assign the interface xe-0/0/10.0 to the FCoE VLAN named fcoe_vlan:

  6. Define an interface as an FCoE VLAN interface in F_Port mode (to present a VF_Port to the FCoE servers):

    For example, to configure VLAN unit 100 as an FCoE VLAN interface and set the port mode to f-port:

  7. Define the Layer 3 FCoE VLAN interface:

    For example, to configure VLAN interface unit 100 (the FCoE VLAN interface defined earlier in this example) as the Layer 3 FCoE VLAN interface for FCoE VLAN fcoe_vlan:

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