Virtual Cluster Switching (VCS)
Encyclopedia
Virtual Cluster Switching (VCS) is a new Layer 2 Ethernet technology currently in development at Brocade that targets to improve network utilization, maximize application availability, increase scalability, and dramatically simplify the network architecture in virtualized data centers. VCS comprises three pillars of innovation technology: Ethernet Fabric, Distributed Intelligence, and Logical Chassis. The VCS architecture is designed to incorporate a set of Dynamic Services for the highest level of functionality and investment protection for data centers, making it a core building block for virtualizing data center networks.
Compared to classic hierarchical Ethernet architectures, Ethernet fabrics provide higher levels of performance, utilization, availability, and simplicity. They have the following characteristics:
[1] Flatter: Ethernet fabrics are self-aggregating, enabling a flatter network.
[2] Intelligent: Switches in the fabric know about each other and all connected devices.
[3] Scalable: All paths are available for high performance and high reliability.
[4] Efficient: Traffic automatically travels along the shortest path.
[5] Simple: The fabric is managed as a single logical entity.
Brocade is the first to market and industry leader in developing, designing, and deploying Ethernet Fabrics . In fact, Brocade SAN fabric technology is currently deployed in over 90 percent of the Global 1000 data centers. With VCS, Brocade will be bringing the same level of innovation to the data center LAN, combining Ethernet and Brocade fabric technology.
Distributed Intelligence enables the Automatic Migration of Port Profiles (AMPP) feature which ensures that the source and destination network ports have the same configuration when virtual machines migrate.
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Brocade VCS availability in data center Ethernet switches is anticipated near the end of 2010.
Ethernet Fabric
The Ethernet Fabric encompasses Data Center Bridging (DCB) technologies and the emerging IETF standard, Transparent Interconnection of Lots of Links (TRILL), to provide a more efficient way of moving data throughout the network. The Ethernet Fabric is lossless and network-convergence-ready, making it ideal for Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) and iSCSI storage traffic.Compared to classic hierarchical Ethernet architectures, Ethernet fabrics provide higher levels of performance, utilization, availability, and simplicity. They have the following characteristics:
[1] Flatter: Ethernet fabrics are self-aggregating, enabling a flatter network.
[2] Intelligent: Switches in the fabric know about each other and all connected devices.
[3] Scalable: All paths are available for high performance and high reliability.
[4] Efficient: Traffic automatically travels along the shortest path.
[5] Simple: The fabric is managed as a single logical entity.
Brocade is the first to market and industry leader in developing, designing, and deploying Ethernet Fabrics . In fact, Brocade SAN fabric technology is currently deployed in over 90 percent of the Global 1000 data centers. With VCS, Brocade will be bringing the same level of innovation to the data center LAN, combining Ethernet and Brocade fabric technology.
Distributed Intelligence
With VCS, all configuration and destination information is automatically distributed to each member switch in the fabric. For example, when a server connects to the fabric for the first time, all switches in the fabric learn about that server. Also, when two VCS-enabled switches are connected, the fabric is automatically created, and the switches discover the common fabric configuration. This fabric configuration is shared amongst all of the switches in the fabric, making it masterless, so no single switch stores configuration information or controls fabric operations.Distributed Intelligence enables the Automatic Migration of Port Profiles (AMPP) feature which ensures that the source and destination network ports have the same configuration when virtual machines migrate.
Logical Chassis
All switches in an Ethernet Fabric are managed as if they were a single Logical Chassis. To the rest of the network, the fabric looks no different than any other single Layer 2 switch. Each physical switch in the fabric is managed as if it were a port module in a chassis. This enables fabric scalability without manual configuration. The Logical Chassis capability significantly reduces management of small-form-factor edge switches. Instead of managing each top-of-rack switch (or switches in blade server chassis) individually, organizations can manage them as one Logical Chassis, which further optimizes the network in the virtualized data center and will further enable a cloud computing model.Dynamic Services
Dynamic Services extends the capabilities of VCS for maximum investment protection and to incrementally incorporate new network services. A Dynamic Service behaves like a special service module in a modular chassis. Possible fabric services include fabric extension over distance, native Fibre Channel connectivity, Layer 4 - 7 services such as the Brocade Application Resource Broker, and enhanced security services such as firewalls and data encryption. Switches with these unique capabilities can join the Ethernet Fabric, adding a network service layer that is available across the entire fabric.Availability of Brocade VCS Technology
Brocade announced VCS on June 9, 2010 at its annual Technology Day in New York City as part of the new Brocade One network architecture. Other technologies highlighted include Brodade's Virtual Access Layer (VAL)Virtual access layer
The virtual access layer refers to the virtualization of the access layer that connects servers to the network in the data center. Server virtualization is now aggressively deployed in data centers for consolidation of applications hosted on x86 servers...
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Brocade VCS availability in data center Ethernet switches is anticipated near the end of 2010.