FCoE (Fiber Channel over Ethernet) is a protocol specification that maps Fiber Channel over Ethernet. FCoE allows consolidation between Fiber Channel and Ethernet traffic in a single Ethernet media. FCoE was proposed by Cisco to T11 in April 2007.
FCoE deliver Fiber Channel over Ethernet with the same latency, security, and traffic management attributes. FCoE consolidates Fiber Channel as the dominant storage protocol in the data center today, with Ethernet. FCoE is a native transport for Fiber Channel, so interoperability is no issue between FCoE and Fiber Channel.
FCoE is recommended to run on Lossless Ethernet (like the one that is supported by Cisco Nexus 7000). Lossless Ethernet will make Fiber Channel traffic feels at home on ethernet. The normal Ethernet network could also be used for FCoE, but it is not recommended, unless you could avoid traffic drop by avoiding congestion from happening in your Ethernet network. One way to achieve this by implementing CBFC (Class Based Flow Control) for Ethernet which adds a pause capability for individual ethernet data flow similar to FCoE, thus avoiding network from being congested.
Btw., there is also other alternative than FCoE for consolidation. iSCSI also enables SAN consolidation with Ethernet, but FCoE is faster (has lower latency) and less CPU intensive (more scalable).
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