The Features of the Fibre Channel - Term Paper Example

Business Data Centers of the The modern era has made revolutionary changes in every field of the world, including the business sector. Researchers tend to devise new techniques and approaches to improve the performance and efficiency of systems that are used in business organizations etc information systems, data centers etc. Business data centers constitute of different components that are usually managed by different networks for example LAN, SAN and IPC are all controlled by separate networks. The latest trend in the respective field is to manage Ethernet traffic and data storage on the single network to facilitate management of the network, lossless transmission and lowering of costs. There are several negative impacts also related to the unification of the Fibre Channel with the Ethernet that will be discussed in the paper, along with its advantages. Business Data Centers Introduction Technology is one of the most frequently changing aspects of the modern society. The technology that might be considered ingenious five years back will prove to be obsolete in the current market. The credit of these endeavors goes to the researchers and developers who develop better technology year after year and ensure that technology is taken as a continuous process of improvement. The latest technological trends in the market might tend to save costs for the business owners or make their work more efficient. Similar efforts have been directed at making business data centers efficient and cost effective. Overview Smith (2008) described the structure and stated that data centers usually have separate networks for different functions for example Fibre Channel for storing data and Ethernet for traffic. The following figure shows the conventional form of network where SAN, LAN and IPC (Inter-process communication) were managed in a dispersed manner. Figure 1: Separate Data Center Infrastructure (Smith, 2008) It has been the aim of the developers since many years to develop such platforms that would be able to cater all the networking needs of data centers instead of having separate networks handling different aspects. Munjal (2007) explained that the main function that is desired from the unified communication platform is that it should be able to transmit IP as well as transmit Fibre Channel traffic. If this platform is the only network managing the whole data center then it should be possessed with efficient management skills i.e. it should be able to identify all the happenings on the network, provide strong security against any malicious activity, efficient performance etc. The data quality and integrity is also one of the main factors that are required to be taken care of since the loss of even one storage frame can cause damaging effects for the company. It must be able to support thousands of devices and stay compatible with legacy applications. These kinds of functionalities and accumulated tasks can be termed as ‘Unified Fabric’. There are several technologies in the market that have the potential to cater to the above mentioned functionalities after minor development efforts. Two of the most prominent ones are InfiniBand and Ethernet. Both of these technologies tend to have their own pros and cons. InfiniBand It is one of the reliable technologies in the market that offer to provide IP address and Fibre Channel communication over the single fabric. It causes a decrease in the power and cooling overheads by minimizing the number of required interfaces. However it lacks the embedded services and management aspects, functions for scaling that the other similar software or technologies are offering. Munjal (2007) pointed out that there exists a major setback in this technology; hardware and software driver certifications seem to take more time than in other software because of which this technology is not preferred by computing clusters that demand very fast and high level of performance. He also explained that InfiniBand provides the gateways for Fibre Channel and Ethernet traffic but still a parallel network is required for InfiniBand implementation. It is very unlikely that companies would make the transition to InfiniBand from their Ethernet-based infrastructure since it would not be cost efficient. Ethernet Ethernet is being preferred more in the field of Unified Fabric. Smith (2008) stated that it has continuously raised its scaling support from 100 Mbps to 10 Gigabit and even greater range is expected to be launched in the future. The management capabilities of Ethernet are better than InfiniBand as the network administrators can track the progress of traffic at any level; individual packets progress can also be tracked if desired. The latest 10 Gigabit Ethernet provides the functions that can cater to the needs of the unified fibre. Smith (2008) further explained that there are three main parts of 10 Gigabit Ethernet that play an important part in the unified platform; its speed, lossless transmission reliability and the Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE). The following figure highlights the converged form of data center network; Figure 2: Unified Data Center (Smith, 2008) It even provides greater bandwidth that can cater to the high performance needs of the data center networks. Alternative Views about Unified Fibre This field has witnessed lot of efforts and developments from different organizations. A similar technology namely, iSCSI protocol is an end product of similar nature but has limited features. The researchers and developers, who do not favor this accumulation of fibre communication and IP, state that the Unified Fabric can never offer the same efficiency level and robustness as the conventional Fibre Channels. Positive Impact of Unified Fibre Singleton Source of Management The concept of Unified Fibre is one of the most intriguing ideas since many years in the field of networking. The main problem with the conventional structure of data centers was the separation of management of all networks for example data storage and other components. One question arises here about the authority that would be controlling the unified data center network. The unified fabric constitutes of both the components of LAN and SAN. The aspects of LAN are controlled in the same manner as they are dealt in conventional LAN networks and same applies for SAN. The different teams can now be joined to form one team for the administration and maintenance of the network. Martin (2010) stated that different members of the newly structured administration team might be working on the same components in the unified fabric but getting work done with respect to different angles. Long Term Lowered Costs Unified Fibre proves to lower the costs by a great degree as it would reduce the need for cables, connections etc. Crump (2009) explained that it would reduce the costs of operations and maintenance since lesser people will have to be designated for the unified management of the network. Productive Change for the Organization The absolute change in infrastructure eliminates communication lines between the different conventional management teams of networking, data storage etc. It helps in making the company stronger and directed towards progress. Changes get more convenient Crump (2009) stated that if some changes are required in the infrastructure of the network then it can be done with more convenience since the data storage and other elements of the network are all accumulated on one platform. It makes the IT infrastructure more receptive for changing business needs. Simplicity The infrastructure and network design of the data center gets simplified at the physical level, however, there is not much change on the logical level. The design can be easily comprehended by the employees and hence will reduce the need for network administrator’s guidance and support in all endeavors. The simplicity in the network design induces consistency as well. Negative Impacts and Challenged for Unified Fiber High Initial Investment The implementation of this innovative theory creates the need for an initial investment of hardware. The vendors do not advice a replacement strategy in this approach therefore entirely new hardware might have to be purchased that can prove to be a daring financial step for any company. Job Insecurities Due to the integration and minimization of the network teams, some of the employees might feel threatened and insecure regarding their new job descriptions. Considerable efforts should be made by the company to handle such insecurities so that performance of the data center and the company is not compromised. Return on Investment If this approach is adapted by the IT department then there is a great degree of pressure lying on them to make it work as it makes the company spend considerable amount of money. Since this concept is still in its initial stages, there are chances of some loopholes in the implementation. Compatibility with the existing operations The new unified infrastructure should be implemented such that it is compatible with the existing operations and compatible with the legacy applications. Conclusion Unified Fibre is the new trend in data centers since it will provide an accumulated platform with SAN, LAN, Inter Process Communication (IPC) etc. The launch of 10 Gigabit Ethernet reveals many functions that seem suitable for such a combined fabric of communication and data storage. The convergence of data center on a single network has many advantages as well as some challenges that require attention. The unified fabric simplifies the network design, lowers the cost by the reduction in cabling, interfaces etc. It also lowers the cost of management since fewer people will be required to manage the new amalgamated network. Changes can be made easily to the data center network and hence can cater to the business needs at a greater frequency. However there are several challenges in the adaptation of this unified approach. The rate of initial investment results to a considerable amount due to which many companies hesitate in the transition. Job insecurity might be brought about in the network administrators and teams that were earlier responsible for the management and maintenance of the respective data center network. Another challenge that is faced in the process of the transition is compatibility with the legacy applications. References Crump, G., (2009), Why Unified Is the Hot New Idea for Data Centers, Information Week, Edition: March 2009. Munjal, D., (2007), A Unified Fabric for the Data Center? CISCO Systems Martin, D., (2010), Managing unified networking and storage fabric: Whos in charge? SearchNetworking.com, Retrieved from: http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/tip/0,289483,sid7_gci1381221_mem1,00.html?as rc=SS_CLA_313216&psrc=CLT_7&mboxConv=searchCIO_RegActivate_Submit& Smith, G., (2008), Converged Enhanced Ethernet–Good for iSCSI SANs, BLADE Network Technologies Read More