A common switch architecture in most data centres goes something like this… LAN and SAN switch devices used to connect to host servers are typically smaller pizza box access/edge switches and are physically located at the "top of the rack" of servers to provide connectivity. These top-of-rack switches typically have a series of uplinks to larger chassis-based or director-class aggregation or core switches that provide communication across all of the rack of servers in one or more data centres
As you're looking around your data centre today where is the complexity in your communications infrastructure? It's not at the storage edge. It's actually at the server-to-network infrastructure connection point. It's all of the cables, NICs, HBAs and switches required to gain connectivity to the plethora of servers in the data centre. Look at the quantity of switch ports and cables-all right there at the server-to-network edge.
The goal of converged networks is to take a look at how you can reduce the complexity and the size of this infrastructure to really optimize and reduce the cost of both the acquisition and the operational expenses of this infrastructure.
You may have a rack of servers that could have 2, 4, 6 or 8 NIC adapters with 2, 3 or 4 fibre channel adapters in each. That's a large set of both copper and optical cables. If you multiple this by hundreds if not thousands of servers in your data centre, it all adds up to be quite a daunting management task to manage this infrastructure.
As an alternative, a converged network and FCoE technology like the HP StorageWorks Converged Network Switches allows you to replace your HBAs and NICs with Converged Network Adapters that support higher speed 10Gb technology. So now the number of slots used in your servers gets reduced-and the number of cables, switches and switch ports required are dramatically reduced as well. This means you can get equal or more work out of fewer components in your infrastructure. And guess what? Your operational costs from power, cooling and management overhead are going to be reduced, too.
Sounds interesting yes? Want to know more, then contact us on 0845 260 5757.
If you're looking for more information on HP's converged network switch offerings, this data sheet provides a good product overview.