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VirtualClusterSwitching
FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

VirtualClusterSwitching(VCS)fabrictechnologyisaLayer2proprietaryEthernettechnologyfromBrocade
CommunicationsSystemsdesignedtoimprovenetworkutilization,maximizeapplicationavailability,increase
scalability,andsimplifythenetworkarchitectureinvirtualizeddatacenters.

Contents
1 EthernetFabrics
2 Distributedintelligence
3 Logicalchassis
4 Dynamicservices
5 Availability
6 Seealso
7 References

EthernetFabrics
EthernetfabricsencompassesDataCenterBridging(DCB)technologies,IEEE802.1aqandtheemergingIETF
standard,TransparentInterconnectionofLotsofLinks(TRILL),toprovideamoreefficientwayofmovingdata
throughoutthenetwork.AnEthernetfabricispromotedforFibreChanneloverEthernet(FCoE)andiSCSIstorage
traffic.

Ethernetfabricshavethefollowingcharacteristics:[1]

1.Flatter:Ethernetfabricsareselfaggregating,enablingaflatternetwork.
2.Intelligent:Switchesinthefabricknowabouteachotherandallconnecteddevices.
3.Scalable:Allpathsareavailableforhighperformanceandhighreliability.
4.Efficient:Trafficautomaticallytravelsalongtheshortestpath.
5.Simple:Thefabricismanagedasasinglelogicalentity.

Brocademarketsusingtheterm"Ethernetfabric".[2]BrocadeSANfabrictechnologyiscurrentlydeployedinover
90percentoftheGlobal1000datacenters.[3]WithVCSFabrictechnology,Brocadewillbebringingthesame
levelofinnovationtothedatacenterLANenvironment.

Distributedintelligence
WithVCSFabrictechnology,allconfigurationanddestinationinformationisdistributedtoeachmemberswitchin
thefabric.Forexample,whenaserverconnectstothefabricforthefirsttime,allswitchesinthefabriclearnabout
thatserver.Also,whentwoVCSenabledswitchesareconnected,thefabricisautomaticallycreated,andthe
switchesdiscoverthecommonfabricconfiguration.Thisfabricconfigurationissharedamongstalloftheswitches
inthefabric,makingitmasterless,sonosingleswitchstoresconfigurationinformationorcontrolsfabric
operations.

Distributedintelligenceenablestheautomaticmigrationofportprofiles(AMPP)whichensuresthatthesourceand
destinationnetworkportshavethesameconfigurationwhenvirtualmachinesmigrate.
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Logicalchassis
AllswitchesinanEthernetfabricaremanagedasiftheywereasinglelogicalchassis.Totherestofthenetwork,
thefabriclooksnodifferentthananyothersingleLayer2switch.Eachphysicalswitchinthefabricismanagedas
ifitwereaportmoduleinachassis.Thisenablesfabricscalabilitywithoutmanualconfiguration.Thelogical
chassiscapabilitysignificantlyreducesmanagementofsmallformfactoredgeswitches.Insteadofmanagingeach
topofrackswitch(orswitchesinbladeserverchassis)individually,organizationscanmanagethemasonelogical
chassis,whichfurtheroptimizesthenetworkinthevirtualizeddatacenterandwillfurtherenableacloud
computingmodel.

Dynamicservices
DynamicservicesextendtheVCSFabrictechnologytoincrementallyincorporatenetworkservices.Adynamic
servicebehaveslikeaspecialservicemoduleinamodularchassis.Possiblefabricservicesincludefabric
extensionoverdistance,nativeFibreChannelconnectivity,Layer47servicessuchastheBrocadeapplication
resourcebroker,andsecurityservicessuchasfirewallsanddataencryption.SwitchescanjoinanEthernetfabric,
addinganetworkservicelayerthatisavailableacrosstheentirefabric.

Availability
BrocadeannouncedVCSFabrictechnologyonJune9,2010atitsannualTechnologyDayinNewYorkCity.Itis
availableasalicensedfeaturefortheBrocadeVDXswitchfamily.

Seealso
ShortestPathBridging

References
1.What_Are_Ethernet_Fabrics(http://www.brocade.com/downloads/documents/white_papers/What_Are_Ethernet_Fabrics_
WP.pdf)
2.BrocadeFirsttoMarketwithEthernetFabricSolutionstoEnableVirtualizedDataCentersandCloudOptimized
Networks(http://www.pcmagmideast.com/2010/11/23/brocadefirsttomarketwithethernetfabricsolutionstoenablevi
rtualizeddatacentersandcloudoptimizednetworks/)
3.BrocadeCorporateFactSheet(http://www.brocade.com/downloads/documents/company_information/Corporate_Fact_She
et_FL_00.pdf)

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