51031-00 A B-1B Data Center BridgingTechnologyThe following descriptions of Enhanced Ethernet were taken from Ethernet: TheConverged Network Ethernet Alliance Demonstration at SC'09, published by theEthernet Alliance November, 2009.Data Center Bridging (DCB)For Ethernet to carry LAN, SAN and IPC traffic together and achieve networkconvergence, some necessary enhancements are required. These enhancementprotocols are summarized as data center bridging (DCB) protocols, also referredto as Enhanced Ethernet (EE), which are defined by the IEEE 802.1 data centerbridging task group. A converged Ethernet network is built based on the followingDCB protocols: DCBX and ETS Priority Flow Control Fibre Channel Over Ethernet iSCSIDCBX and ETSExisting Ethernet standards cannot control and manage the allocation of networkbandwidth to different network traffic sources and types (traffic differentiation).Neither can existing standards allow prioritizing of bandwidth usage across thesesources and traffic types. Data center managers must either over-provisionnetwork bandwidth for peak loads, accept customer complaints during theseperiods, or manage traffic on the source side by limiting the amount of non-prioritytraffic entering the network.Overcoming these limitations is a key to enabling Ethernet as the foundation fortrue converged data center networks supporting LAN, storage, andinter-processor communications.
