Connectivity Standard for the

Future Storage Network

Lizhi Charlie Zhong
December 1, 2000
Outline
Motivation
Fibre Channel
Gigabit Ethernet
Conclusion
 Demand and Market
Future Internet is all about Storage
Net surfing, virtual mall, digital library, video on demand
Personal archive: 200G x 100million = 20,000 petabytes
Data warehouse, mirroring, backup,disaster recovery,
storage on demand, effective use of IT resources
Spending on storage
The largest 2500 companies world wide go from spending
3.8 million each last year to 19.3 million each by 2003, an
increase from 4% to 19% of their IT budgets
Storage Market will be $100+ billion (bigger than the
market for servers)
 Enabling Technologies
Storage will be almost “free and infinite”
A penny per megabyte
Cheaper to write information on storage than on paper
Storage volume will go from 200 petabytes in 2000 to 10,000 petabytes in
2005 (a 50-fold increase)
Bandwidth will be almost “free and infinite”
By 2002, 11.5 billion miles of optical wires are installed globally, up from 23
million miles in 1999
DWDM further expands capacity 1000 times or more
All-optical network can shuttle data at tremendous speed without ever needing
to be converted into electrical signals

Need: a network of servers and storage that

allows any server to access any storage
Storage Network Requirements
Very reliable Long distance span
High bandwidth Effective use of IT
Secure resources
Low Latency Easy to maintain
Low cost
 NAS vs. SAN
Network Attached Storage Storage Area Network
Simple Private network
Low cost Separates storage data
Long delay High reliability, security
Extra overhead Consolidate storage in
Data drop rate 5%-15% different locations
Network File System Pricey ( $70,000/ 200 Gigabytes)
Big enterprises are
moving to SAN (value of disk
drives attached: from 1.3 billion in 1999
to 4 billion in 2000 and 24.6 billion in
2003; 21% of external storage market,
70% by 2003)
 Motivation
Which of NAS or SAN will prevail?
Which gigabit technology will be used?
 Fibre Channel: up to 4 Gbps, 10 km
 Gigabit Ethernet: up to 40 Gbps, 40km
 10-Gigabit SONET
 ATM
 Fibre Channel

channels networks
FC-4 SCSI IPI HIPPI SBCCS 802.2 IP ATM

FC-3 Common Services

FC-2 Framing Protocol/Flow Control

FC-1 Encode/Decode

FC-0 133 Mbps 266 Mbps 531 Mbps 1062 Mbps

 Class of services
Depends on data types, differs on flow control
Connection-oriented Services
Class 1 dedicated
Class 4 virtual
Class 6 multicast
Connectionless services
Class 2 with acknowledgement
Class 3 Without acknowledgement
Topology
Typical SAN network
Technology Comparison
Fibre Channel Gigabit Ethernet ATM

Storage, network, video, Network,

Technology application Network,video
clusters video

point-to-point loop hub, Point-to-point hub,

Topologies Switched
switched switched

Baud rate 1.06 Gbps 1.25 Gbps 622 Mbps

Scalability to higher data

2.12 Gbps, 4.24 Gbps 12.5 Gbps, 50 Gbps 1.24 Gbps
rates

Guaranteed delivery Yes No No

Congestion data loss None Yes Yes

Frame size Variable, 0-2KB Variable, 0-1.5KB Fixed, 53B

Flow control Credit Based Rate Based Rate Based

Copper and
Physical media Copper and Fiber Copper and Fiber
Fiber

Network,
Protocols supported Network, SCSI, Video Network,video
video
Advantages and Disadvantages
Optimized for storage Pricey
Adopted by industry Implementation and
Highly reliable management headache
Secure Bad for long distances
Very low latency Not IP network
Congestion free Private network
Universal transport Complex standards set
Little transmission OH Interoperability
HW implement able Extra HW interface
Gigabit Ethernet
Low cost:both purchase cost and support
cost
Large number of people have been trained
Vast number of management software and
trouble shooting tools available
Seamlessly integrated into existing Ethernet
Highly reliable and very high bandwidth
Best of FC and Ethernet
Gigabit Ethernet
13 months of standardization time
Scalable to higher data rates: 10 Gbps and
40 Gbps
Longer distance: 10-Gigabit Ethernet can
go up to 40km
Ethernet only defines up to data link layer,
can add higher layers specified by open
standards based on application requirements
10-Gigabit Ethernet
Switched only
Coding: 8B/10B, scrambling code, MB810
Serial or parallel (4 x 2.5G or DWDM)
Data rate: 10Gbps or 9.58464 Gbps
Distance up to 40km
Cost targeted at 2~3 times of GE
Advantages
Low cost Longer distance
Maintenance is easier Open standard
Scalable to higher data Seamlessly integration
rates into existing LAN,
Very reliable MAN and WAN
Short standardization Single network for
cycle server-to-server and
storage
Disadvantages
Does not support SCSI, not backward
compatible to existing storage systems
Latency due to loss of data and
prepackaging
Security:IP network invites outside access
Congestion loss due to rate based flow
control
Storage over Gigabit Ethernet
Support SCSI or have Ethernet interface
storage interface SCSI over TCP
Low latency Resource Reservation
Security Protocol (RSVP)
802.p and 802.q
Encapsulating
Security Payload
(ESP) function of Isec
Conclusion
Gigabit Ethernet provides gigabit, highly reliable
connectivity needed by future storage network
Paired with higher layer protocols, it can achieve desired
security and latency requirements set by storage
applications
Its popularity in LAN, MAN and WAN allows it to have
lower cost and better support
The truly integration of storage network with LAN, MAN
and WAN will be made possible by the use of Gigabit
Ethernet, 10-Gigabit Ethernet and so on