IBM Converged Switch B32

IBM Converged Switch B32

by Jon Tate, Shanmuganthan Kumaravel, Jose Rodriguez Ruibal
Released April 2011
Publisher(s): IBM Redbooks
ISBN: None

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Book description

This IBM® Redbooks® document introduces the IBM Converged Switch B32. This switch supports Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE), Fibre Channel, Converged Enhanced Ethernet (CEE), and traditional Ethernet protocol connectivity for servers and storage. FCoE is a new protocol that can expand Fibre Channel into the Ethernet environment, and it helps to combine and leverage the advantages of two technologies, Fibre Channel protocol and Ethernet.

Features of the IBM Converged Switch B32 include:

  • A 32-port multiprotocol switch for server I/O consolidation

  • Enterprise-class availability for business continuance

  • Improved return on investment and investment protection

  • Fabric security for mission-critical information


    • In the related publication An Introduction to Fibre Channel over Ethernet, and Fibre Channel over Convergence Enhanced Ethernet, REDP-4493 we introduce FCoE and CEE concepts.

    Table of contents

    1. Notices
      1. Trademarks
    2. Preface
      1. The team who wrote this book
      2. Now you can become a published author, too!
      3. Comments welcome
      4. Stay connected to IBM Redbooks
    3. Chapter 1: Introduction to converged networking
      1. Converged networking
        1. Introduction
        2. Challenges
      2. What is Converged Enhanced Ethernet
        1. What are the components of a converged network
        2. The 10 Gigabit Enhanced Ethernet
        3. What is FCoE (1/2)
        4. What is FCoE (2/2)
      3. Standards
        1. IEEE - Data Center Bridging
        2. IEEE - TRILL
      4. Summary
    4. Chapter 2: IBM Converged Switch B32 introduction
      1. IBM Converged Switch B32
        1. At a glance
        2. Overview
        3. Description
        4. Features
        5. Optional features
        6. Transceivers
      2. Hardware
        1. Physical and power specifications
        2. Cabling and optics
        3. Firmware
      3. Optional adapters
        1. Brocade 10 Gbps CNA for IBM System x
        2. QLogic 10 Gbps CNA for IBM System x
        3. Brocade 8 Gbps Fibre Channel HBA for IBM System x
      4. Summary
    5. Chapter 3: Deployment considerations and best practices
      1. Deployment considerations
        1. Where to deploy?
      2. Designing your network
        1. Logical versus physical topologies
      3. Converged switch use
        1. Use as a traditional switch
        2. Use as a 2-in-1 switch
        3. Use as a converged switch
      4. Summary
    6. Chapter 4: IBM Converged Switch B32 installation and configuration
      1. Configuring initial setup
        1. Sequence to turn on a switch
        2. The command-line interface initial setup
        3. Setting the IP address using the serial port
      2. Configuring the IBM Converged Switch B32 switch
        1. CEE Management shell
        2. Base setup script
      3. Command descriptions
        1. hostname
        2. no protocol spanning-tree
        3. vlan commands
        4. vlan classifier rule
        5. vlan classifier group
        6. interface vlan
        7. fcf forward
        8. cee commands
        9. interface commands
        10. protocol commands
        11. Line commands
        12. Customizing the base install script
        13. Configuring a TCP/IP access port
        14. Configuring an aggregated trunk port
        15. Backing up the CEE configuration
        16. Restoring the CEE configuration
        17. Backup of config to file in flash
      4. LLCP link aggregation
        1. Link aggregation overview
        2. LAGs
        3. LACP
        4. Dynamic link aggregation
        5. Static link aggregation
        6. Brocade-proprietary aggregation
        7. LAG distribution process
        8. LACP configuration guidelines and restrictions
        9. Configuring the LACP system priority
        10. Default LACP configuration
        11. LACP troubleshooting tips
      5. VLAN overview
        1. Ingress VLAN filtering
        2. VLAN configuration guidelines and restrictions
        3. Default VLAN configuration
        4. VLAN configuration procedures
      6. QoS overview
        1. Rewriting
        2. Queueing
        3. User-priority mapping
        4. Priority mapping commands
        5. Traffic class mapping
        6. Unicast traffic
        7. Multicast traffic
        8. Congestion control
        9. Tail drop
        10. Ethernet pause
        11. Ethernet Per-Priority Pause
        12. Multicast rate limiting
        13. Scheduling
        14. Strict priority scheduling
        15. Weighted round robin scheduling
        16. Traffic class scheduling policy
        17. Multicast queue scheduling
        18. Converged Enhanced Ethernet
      7. LLDP Discovery Protocol
        1. Layer 2 topology mapping
        2. DCBX overview
        3. DCBX interaction with other vendor devices
        4. LLDP configuration guidelines and restrictions
        5. Default LLDP configuration
        6. LLDP configuration procedures
        7. LLDP interface-level commands
        8. Displaying the LLPD configuration
      8. FCoE configuration guidelines and restrictions (1/2)
      9. FCoE configuration guidelines and restrictions (2/2)
        1. SAN zoning configuration
    7. Chapter 5: B32 switch management with Web Tools
      1. IBM Converged Switch B32 switch view
        1. Displaying switch information
        2. Port information that is unique to FCoE
        3. Switch Administration panel tabs for FCoE
        4. Port Administration panel tabs for FCoE
      2. FCoE configuration tasks
        1. Quality of Service (QoS) configuration (1/2)
        2. Quality of Service (QoS) configuration (2/2)
        3. LLDP-DCBX configuration
        4. Configuring CEE interfaces
        5. Configuring a link aggregation group (LAG)
        6. Configuring VLANs
        7. Configuring FCoE login groups
      3. Displaying FCoE ports information
      4. Displaying CEE interface statistics
      5. Enabling and disabling a CEE interface
      6. Enabling and disabling a LAG
      7. Enabling and disabling LLDP
      8. Enabling and disabling an FCoE Port
    8. Related publications
      1. IBM Redbooks publications
      2. Other resources
      3. Referenced Web sites
      4. Help from IBM
    9. Index (1/2)
    10. Index (2/2)
    11. Back cover

    Product information

    • Title: IBM Converged Switch B32
    • Author(s): Jon Tate, Shanmuganthan Kumaravel, Jose Rodriguez Ruibal
    • Release date: April 2011
    • Publisher(s): IBM Redbooks
    • ISBN: None