FCoE/FC Brocade Question

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CombatChrisNC

[H]ard|Gawd
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Apr 3, 2013
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I figured this fit better in storage than network...

I've got EMC VNX 5200 laying around collecting dust. And a Cisco C3850 and 3x HP DL 380p G8 hosts. I want to work on FC, FCoE, SAN, VMWare, and HyperV skills so I'm making a sandbox.

My shopping list is:

3x Brocade 1020 CNA cards, 1 for each host

1x MP-8000B FCoE/FC Switch

1x C3850-NM-2-10G (to provide 10gb from the Cisco Switch to the Brocade Switch)



And all the needed transceivers, DACs, and cables.

Attached is my very ROUGH topology outline. I'm not going to have redundancy or failover - just a single SAN and switch. Is this even possible.

I ran this by someone who knows a hell of a lot more about the VNX, FC, and FCoE than I do and he said it wouldn't work. That the VNX 5200 would need to attach to a FC switch, and that FC switch would connect to the MP-8000B, basically acting as a bridge. Does not the MP-8000B act as it's own bridge, between the FC ports and the FCoE ports?

FCoE 2 switch solution.png
 
Well, thankfully someone on the Brocade forum came through. Looks like the MP-8000b does exactly what I thought it would do and this diagram is valid. Now just to order install and configure - that'll be a breeze, I'm sure! /s
 
Ya as long as the Brocade switch does both FC and FCOE at the same time and let's those ports join the same fabric, you should be fine. In the Cisco world we can do this without a hitch. If you have any questions on the host/storage side to complete the SAN items feel free to ask away or ping me directly.
 
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