NetApp, Cisco, QLogic, Emulex and VMware have all proclaimed FCoE (fibre channel over Ethernet) heaven is just around the corner. So is this the end for the iSCSI internet storage standard Has Dell's EqualLogic purchase suddenly been devalued

The thinking goes like this: iSCSI sends SCSI commands wrapped in TCP/IP to a storage array across an Ethernet wire, typically a 1Gbit/s line. This provides block-level access to a shared storage resource, an IP storage area network (SAN).

It's much less expensive than a traditional Fibre Channel (FC) SAN as you don't need any FC switches sitting between the accessing servers and the storage arrays. That means no FC cables and no FC skills in the data centre. The trade-off is that Ethernet has a longer latency than FC and can lose packets causing a retransmission, meaning even more latency.

FC is also faster, currently running at 4Gbit/s and transitioning to 8Gbit/s. Eighteen months ago the idea of sending FC packets across an Ethernet link (FCoE) instead of a FC fabric surfaced. Ethernet would unify all networked storage access by being used for file-level network-accessed storage (NAS) and block-level SAN access using either iSCSI or FC protocols.

Terrific. FCoE meant you could enjoy FC speed - using 10gig Ethernet - and predictable latency with no packet loss. You could evolve an existing FC SAN to include FCoE links and, over time, discard your FC fabric, replacing it with an Ethernet infrastructure - much, much cheaper with large cable cost-savings.

So what do you need iSCSI for, then

But... why do you then continue to need iSCSI It evolved to solve the FC fabric complexity and cost problem. FCoE makes that go away by turning Ethernet into a virtual Fibre Channel.

FCoE product has sprung up: Cisco has its Nexus 5020 switch which EMC is reselling. So too is NetApp, which has added a native FCoE interface to its FAS (fabric attached storage) and V series arrays, courtesy of a QLogic FCoE target card.

There's more - QLogic and Emulex have FCOE converged network adapters (CNAs) certified by Cisco. Brocade is supportive of FCoE. EMC's Clariion CX4 can have a FCoE interface added in short order. End-to-end FCoE storage area networks have just become possible.

Another thing - Ethernet is transitioning to 10Gbit/s and a new Data Centre Ethernet (DCE) standard will provide predictable latency and not lose packets. FCoE should be a T11-ratified standard by around the middle of next year.

It's true that a 1Gbit iSCSI link is cheaper than a 10Gbit/s FCoE link. The iSCSI link needs a network interface card (NIC) - hopefully with a TCP/IP offload engine (TOE) on it. This saves the server processor from having to spend cycles formatting all the TCP/IP stuff, which is complex.

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