Why data center begin to build large layer 2 domain?

Hi all,
I found large layer 2 domain is becoming more and more popular these days in data center networking design. Why we need a larger layer 2 domain? Do we have any use cases that could explain this?
thanks a lot!

Duplicate post #2.

Similar Messages

Layer 2 connect - data center web hosting

hi, i need your help!!
i have data center with the nexus 7000 , i have servers connecting to the cisco 7000 with web servers. my company do hosting for customers.
the poing that we have shared resources like vmwares on blades and so on.. mean that the ports of the blade are connecting physically to the nexus 7000 with trunk and vlans for every customers.
my nexus connecting to FW than to WAN stiches than to Routers connecting to the internet so if i asked to to hosting from the internet its easy.
the problem is now i have cusomer that wants to connect his switch over the wan directly to his area at my datacenter.... we make for him servers that are the same like his servers with the same subnet and he makes replications...
he dont have router, he connect his switch over wan provider at layer 2 to me..
should i connect him direcly to my nexus??? with his vlan?? should i need other solution like eompls??? what is the safest way to connect him with layer 2.. and i repeat the problem that our servers are shared between many customers - the same nexus ports, please help!!

Hello,
1.PIX is the precursor to the ASA so at this point the ASA is probably a better choice since it'll be around longer plus I'm sure they have beefed up the base hardware compared to the pix.
2.Your external router is dependant on how much traffic your going to be dropping into your hosting site. A 7200 series router is a fairly beefy router and should be able to handle what you need if your looking.
3.One of the nice things about the 6500 is you can put a FWSM and segment all your different hosting servers to provide a more granular network control.
I don't have any case studys but will look around and post them if I find some.
Patrick

Data Center Interconnect - Layer 2 Extension using vPC

Hi, I wanna if possible try to validate the design to connect 4 nexus 7010 to permit data center interconnect and layer 2 extension using the same vpc and the same port channel number and only 2 links between them as showed in the attach ppt
Is anybody using a design like that ??

this will work if it is *only* layer2 between the two pairs of N7K. You cannot create a L3 SVI and attempt to route it via the vpc port channel. It won't work. If you need both L3 and L2, one option will be to use OTV. Rgds Eng Wee

Data Center to Data Center Layer 2 connectivity

What would be the best way
to provide layer 2 connectivity between 2 data centers? Sample router configs?
Thanks!!
Gary

What would be the best way
to provide layer 2 connectivity between 2 data centers? Sample router configs?
Thanks!!
Gary
Hi Gary,
Data Center to Data Center can be conencted in diffterent ways like point to point link,over the MPLS or some other means and cofniguration all depend on the connectivity what exactly is with your current network setup.
Check out the below link on Data Center interconnect consideration.
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/switches/ps5718/ps708/white_paper_c11_493718.html
Hope to Help !!
Remember to rate the helpful post
Ganesh.H

Why use transparent firewall in data center?

I've seen Cisco documentation recommendation transparent mode for firewall deployment in the data center, e.g. 5585X. I understand the key reasons for this are:
- easy "insertion" of firewall in pre-existing network
- speed (since there is no "hair-pinning")
Assume that the above two are not a major concern (i.e. you can redesign your network to have the firewall hold default gateways and your firewall is much more powerful than your needs). Then from a financial perspective, it doesn't seem to make sense to do transparent firewall deployment of the 5585X for the following reasons:
- you are limited to a maximum of 8 bridge-groups
If you really want to follow best practices and implement fine segmentation of your network, you'll need to create 10s or 100s of VLANs and perform access-control on them. This limit of 8 BVIs means that you basically can have only 8 "segments" per context. After that, you have to resort to adding contexts as your grow (contexts introduce their own cost AND complexity).
Am I missing something? Why would Cisco recommend transparent firewall for data center if cost is remotely a concern? I can't seem to find any good documentation justifying this. Thanks in advance for your experiences/insight.

Hello Fouzan,
I think you already covered it
good job with the analisys, basically as you said is the hability to place the Transparent mode into the network enviroment , no routing stuff complications, etc , BUT as you said there are limitations,
I would still use the routed mode due to the requirements you set but there will be scenarios when this will not be the case and a bridge-group or 2 will take care of everything so I transparent mode firewall would do it,
Regards

Ask the Expert: Scaling Data Center Networks with Cisco FabricPath

With Hatim Badr and Iqbal Syed
Welcome to the Cisco Support Community Ask the Expert conversation. This is an opportunity to learn and ask questions about the Cisco FabricPath with Cisco technical support experts Hatim Badr and Iqbal Syed. Cisco FabricPath is a Cisco NX-OS Software innovation combining the plug-and-play simplicity of Ethernet with the reliability and scalability of Layer 3 routing. Cisco FabricPath uses many of the best characteristics of traditional Layer 2 and Layer 3 technologies, combining them into a new control-plane and data-plane implementation that combines the immediately operational "plug-and-play" deployment model of a bridged spanning-tree environment with the stability, re-convergence characteristics, and ability to use multiple parallel paths typical of a Layer 3 routed environment. The result is a scalable, flexible, and highly available Ethernet fabric suitable for even the most demanding data center environments. Using FabricPath, you can build highly scalable Layer 2 multipath networks without the Spanning Tree Protocol. Such networks are particularly suitable for large virtualization deployments, private clouds, and high-performance computing (HPC) environments.
This event will focus on technical support questions related to the benefits of Cisco FabricPath over STP or VPC based architectures, design options with FabricPath, migration to FabricPath from STP/VPC based networks and FabricPath design and implementation best practices.
Hatim Badr is a Solutions Architect for Cisco Advanced Services in Toronto, where he supports Cisco customers across Canada as a specialist in Data Center architecture, design, and optimization projects. He has more than 12 years of experience in the networking industry. He holds CCIE (#14847) in Routing & Switching, CCDP and Cisco Data Center certifications.
Iqbal Syed is a Technical Marketing Engineer for the Cisco Nexus 7000 Series of switches. He is responsible for product road-mapping and marketing the Nexus 7000 line of products with a focus on L2 technologies such as VPC & Cisco FabricPath and also helps customers with DC design and training. He also focuses on SP customers worldwide and helps promote N7K business within different SP segments. Syed has been with Cisco for more than 10 years, which includes experience in Cisco Advanced Services and the Cisco Technical Assistance Center. His experience ranges from reactive technical support to proactive engineering, design, and optimization. He holds CCIE (#24192) in Routing & Switching, CCDP, Cisco Data Center, and TOGAF (v9) certifications.
Remember to use the rating system to let Hatim and Iqbal know if you have received an adequate response.
They might not be able to answer each question due to the volume expected during this event. Remember that you can continue the conversation on the Data Center sub-community Unified Computing discussion forum shortly after the event. This event lasts through Dec 7, 2012.. Visit this support forum often to view responses to your questions and the questions of other Cisco Support Community members.

Hi Sarah,
Thank you for your question.
Spanning Tree Protocol is used to build a loop-free topology. Although Spanning Tree Protocol serves a critical function in these Layer 2 networks, it is also frequently the cause of a variety of problems, both operational and architectural.
One important aspect of Spanning Tree Protocol behavior is its inability to use parallel forwarding paths. Spanning Tree Protocol forms a forwarding tree, rooted at a single device, along which all data-plane traffic must flow. The addition of parallel paths serves as a redundancy mechanism, but adding more than one such path has little benefit because Spanning Tree Protocol blocks any additional paths
In addition, rooting the forwarding path at a single device results in suboptimal forwarding paths, as shown below, Although a direct connection may exist, it cannot be used because only one active forwarding path is allowed.
Virtual PortChannel (vPC) technology partially mitigates the limitations of Spanning Tree Protocol. vPC allows a single Ethernet device to connect simultaneously to two discrete Cisco Nexus switches while treating these parallel connections as a single logical PortChannel interface. The result is active-active forwarding paths and the removal of Spanning Tree Protocol blocked links, delivering an effective way to use two parallel paths in the typical Layer 2 topologies used with Spanning Tree Protocol.
vPC provides several benefits over a standard Spanning Tree Protocol such as elimination of blocker ports and both vPC switches can behave as active default gateway for first-hop redundancy protocols such as Hot Standby Router Protocol (HSRP): that is, traffic can be routed by either vPC peer switch.
At the same time, however, many of the overall design constraints of a Spanning Tree Protocol network remain even when you deploy vPC such as
1.     Although vPC provides active-active forwarding, only two active parallel paths are possible.
2.     vPC offers no means by which VLANs can be extended, a critical limitation of traditional Spanning Tree Protocol designs.
With Cisco FabricPath, you can create a flexible Ethernet fabric that eliminates many of the constraints of Spanning Tree Protocol. At the control plane, Cisco FabricPath uses a Shortest-Path First (SPF) routing protocol to determine reachability and selects the best path or paths to any given destination in the Cisco FabricPath domain. In addition, the Cisco FabricPath data plane introduces capabilities that help ensure that the network remains stable, and it provides scalable, hardware-based learning and forwarding capabilities not bound by software or CPU capacity.
Benefits of deploying an Ethernet fabric based on Cisco FabricPath include:
• Simplicity, reducing operating expenses
– Cisco FabricPath is extremely simple to configure. In fact, the only necessary configuration consists of distinguishing the core ports, which link the switches, from the edge ports, where end devices are attached. There is no need to tune any parameter to get an optimal configuration, and switch addresses are assigned automatically.
– A single control protocol is used for unicast forwarding, multicast forwarding, and VLAN pruning. The Cisco FabricPath solution requires less combined configuration than an equivalent Spanning Tree Protocol-based network, further reducing the overall management cost.
– A device that does not support Cisco FabricPath can be attached redundantly to two separate Cisco FabricPath bridges with enhanced virtual PortChannel (vPC+) technology, providing an easy migration path. Just like vPC, vPC+ relies on PortChannel technology to provide multipathing and redundancy without resorting to Spanning Tree Protocol.
Scalability based on proven technology
– Cisco FabricPath uses a control protocol built on top of the powerful Intermediate System-to-Intermediate System (IS-IS) routing protocol, an industry standard that provides fast convergence and that has been proven to scale up to the largest service provider environments. Nevertheless, no specific knowledge of IS-IS is required in order to operate a Cisco FabricPath network.
– Loop prevention and mitigation is available in the data plane, helping ensure safe forwarding that cannot be matched by any transparent bridging technology. The Cisco FabricPath frames include a time-to-live (TTL) field similar to the one used in IP, and a Reverse Path Forwarding (RPF) check is also applied.
• Efficiency and high performance
– Because equal-cost multipath (ECMP) can be used the data plane, the network can use all the links available between any two devices. The first-generation hardware supporting Cisco FabricPath can perform 16-way ECMP, which, when combined with 16-port 10-Gbps port channels, represents a potential bandwidth of 2.56 terabits per second (Tbps) between switches.
– Frames are forwarded along the shortest path to their destination, reducing the latency of the exchanges between end stations compared to a spanning tree-based solution.
    – MAC addresses are learned selectively at the edge, allowing to scale the network beyond the limits of the MAC addr

Deploying Cisco Overlay Transport Virtualization (OTV) in Data Center Networks

Welcome to the Cisco Support Community Ask the Expert conversation. This is an opportunity to learn and ask questions about how to plan, design, and implement Cisco Overlay Transport Virtualization (OTV) in your Data Center Network with Cisco experts Anees Mohamed Abdulla and Pranav Doshi.
Anees Mohamed Abdulla is a network consulting engineer for Cisco Advanced Services, where he has been delivering plan, design, and implementation services for enterprise-class data center networks with leading technologies such as vPC, FabricPath, and OTV. He has 10 years of experience in the enterprise data center networking area and has carried various roles within Cisco such as LAN switching content engineer and LAN switching TAC engineer. He holds a bachelor's degree in electronics and communications and has a CCIE certification 18764 in routing and switching.
Pranav Doshi is a network consulting engineer for Cisco Advanced Services, where he has been delivering plan, design, and implementation services for enterprise-class data center networks with leading technologies such as vPC, FabricPath, and OTV. Pranav has experience in the enterprise data center networking area and has carried various roles within Cisco such as LAN switching TAC engineer and now network consulting engineer. He holds a bachelor's degree in electronics and communications and a master's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Southern California.
Remember to use the rating system to let Anees and Pranav know if you have received an adequate response.
Because of the volume expected during this event, Anees and Pranav might not be able to answer each question. Remember that you can continue the conversation on the Data Center, sub-community forum shortly after the event. This event lasts through August 23, 2013. Visit this forum often to view responses to your questions and the questions of other Cisco Support Community members.

Hi Dennis,
    All those Layer 2 extension technologies require STP to be extended between Data Centers if you need to have multiple paths between Data Centers. OTV does not extend STP rather it has its own mechanism (AED election) to avoid loop when multiple paths are enabled. It means any STP control plane issue, we don't carry to the other Data Center.
    OTV natively suppresses Unknown Unicast Flooding across the OTV overlay. Unknown unicast flooding is a painful problem in layer 2 network and difficult to troubleshoot to identify the root cause if you don't have proper network monitoring tool.
   It has ARP optimization which eliminates flooding ARP packets across Data Center by responding locally with cached ARP messages. One of the common issues I have seen in Data Center is some server or device in the network sends continuous ARP packets which hits Control plane in the Aggregation layer which in turn causes network connectivity issue.
The above three points proves the Layer 2 domain isolation between data centers. If you have redundant Data Centers with Layer 2 extended without OTV, the above explained layer 2 issue which happens in one Data Center carries the same failure to the second data center which creates the question of what is the point of having two different Data Centers if we can not isolate the failure domain.
OTV natively supports HSRP localization with few command lines. This is a very important requirement in building Active/Active Data Center.
Even though your question is related to L2TP, OTV deserves the comparison with VPLS and those comparison will also be applicable for L2TP. The below link explains in detail...
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/switches/ps9441/ps9402/white_paper_c11-574984.html
Thanks,
Anees.

Error to open a data model in Report builder (Word)

Dear all,
Im troubles when i try to open a data model in Report Builder (Word). Someone know about this problem?
The message is: A error has ocurred. Check the settings and try again.
Any suggestion?
Thanks for all!

I've also got this error several times. Usually the reason is an error in the Publisher query (or data template). It's better to first test (view) that you get a proper xml-output in Publisher, and only after that try to create an rtf-template. If this doesn't work, I usually start from the beginning, and first make a very simple report, then try the template, and if it works, then gradually increase elements for the Publisher side. Sometimes I haven't got any idea why it didn't work at the first place, when it then works after beginning from the simple report.

Data Center Core based on EoMPLS ?

Hi,
We've currently a data center based on Layer 2 with many inter building links blocked by STP. To simplify a little bit the layer 2 topology (and improve inter-building link usage) i would like to introduce EoMPLS inside my Data Center core.
Is that a good idea ? or something to rapidly forget ?
regards
Cedric

Hello,
EoMPLS is overkill for the goal presented. Basically you would introduce Layer3 in the core (needed for MPLS) and then use MPLS to make the core look like Layer2 ...
More simple approaches:
Either tune your STP (or better use Rapid Per VLAN STP or MVST) to get some load balancing and also convergence speed.
Or convert to a L3 core - i.e. IP routed. The latter step might require IP readdressing, which can be a major pain. On the other hand you then have separated broadcast (and failure) domains, nice load balancing, fast convergence and no more big STP hassle.
Hope this helps! Please rate all posts.
Regards, Martin

Data center vs mdf?

Hello,
My question is,
What is the difference between a data center and an MDF. I know the ISP line always drops into the MDF. Is that the same with a data center? If so, to me it seem like a data center is just a very large mdf that needs alot of cooling, and space.

MDF
Short for main distribution frame, a cable rack that interconnects and manages the telecommunications wiring between itself and any number of
IDFs. Unlike an IDF, which connects internal lines to the MDF, the MDF connects private or public lines coming into a building with the internal network. For example, an enterprise that encompasses a building with several floors may have one centralized MDF on the first floor and one IDF on each of the floors that is connected to the MDF
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/M/MDF.html
data center is a term that refer to the entire physical location that host multiple physical and logical technologies such as MDF, Racks, servers , Network equipments ..etc where an MDF could be used to interconnect the building floors IDFs to the building Data center
hope this help

Please shed some light on Data Center design

Hi,
    I want you guys to recommend what the design should be. I'm familiar with HP blade system. Let me clarify the existing device.
1. HP Blade with Flex Fabric. It supports FCOE.
2. MDS SAN switch for the storage
3. Network Switch for IP network.
4. HP Storage.
    HP Blade has 2 interface types for IP Network(Network Switch) and Fiberchannel(SAN).
   What is the benifit for using Nexus switch and FCOE for my exising devices. What should be a new design with Nexus switch? Please guide me ideas.
THX
Toshi

Hi, Toshi:
Most of these chat boards have become quite boring. Troubleshooting OSPF LSA problems is old news. But I do pop my head in every now and then. Also, there are so many other companies out there doing exciting things in the data center. You have Dell, Brocade, Arista, Juniper, etc. So one runs the risk of developing a myopic view of the world of IT by lingering around this board for too long.
If you want to use the new B22 FEX for the HP c7000 blade chassis, you certainly can. That means the Nexus will receive the FCoE traffic and leverage its FCF functionality; either separate the Ethernet and FC traffic there, or create a VE-port instantiation with another FCF for multihop deployments. Good luck fighting the SAN team with that one! Another aspect of using the HP B22 is the fact that the FEX is largely plug and play, so you dont have to manage the Flex Fabric switches.
HTH

URGENT: QoS Design on Data Center MPLS - MediaNet Question...

Hello,
I am posting this in hopes I can get some guidance from anyone who has done this in the field. We have a large enterprise customer with 21 sites all around the world, they have Verizon MPLS and are experiencing QoS related issues on their WAN regarding Video/Voice. We have proposed remediating their network acccording to the Enterprise QoS SRND 3.3 and the new MediaNet SRND to account for Video and TP QoS (
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/solutions/Enterprise/WAN_and_MAN/QoS_SRND_40/QoSCampus_40.html )
Here is the problem/question that was proposed in our presales meeting and I honestly don't know where to look for an answer... I am not asking for anyone to design a solution for me, just merely point me in the right direction:
The Data Center has a ~40MB MPLS Connection ( full mesh ) into the cloud ( Verizon )
Site A has a 8MB connection
Site B has a 4MB connection
I know on the Service policy and the interfaces at SiteA and SiteB I can assign "Bandwidth xxxx" and use ~95% of the bandwidth to do queuing and shaping/policing ect. I am not concerned with SiteA and SiteB, that I think I can handle...
Question was posed from the customer, "How can we ensure at the DataCenter level the 40MB MPLS is "chopped" up so that only 8MB of the total speed goes to SiteA ALONG with an attached QoS policy designed for that specific site, as well as ensure only 4MB goes to SiteB with an attached QoS policy.
So I am looking for a way to allocate bandwith per site on the DC 40MB connection going into the cloud ( so that SiteB cannot use more than 4MB ) and attach a MediaNet specific QoS Service policy to that site. The customer does not have seperate MPLS circuits for each site, they all come into the DC on 40MB shared ethernet connection ( no VC, or dedicated circuits to other sites ).
Any thoughts on if this is possible?
Thanks!
Alex

This is an example I have seen and I hope that is useful to you.
Site A
Subnet: 172.16.1.0/24
Site B
Subnet:172.16.2.0/24
HeadOffice:
ip access-list extended Site_A
permit ip any 172.16.1.0 0.0.0.255
ip access-list extended Site_B
permit ip any 172.16.2.0 0.0.0.255
class-map match-any Site_A
match access-group name Site_A
class-map match-any Site_B
match access-group name Site_B
policy-map To_Spokes
class Site_A
shape average 8000000
service-policy Sub_Policy(Optional)
class Site_B
shape average 4000000
service-policy Sub_Policy(Optional)
class class-default
shape average 28000000
service-policy Sub_Policy(Optional)
Interface G0/0
Description To MPLS cloud
bandwidth 40000000
service-policy output To_Spokes
interface G0/1
Description To HeadOffice
bandwidth 40000000
service-policy output To_Spokes
It would be greatly appreciated if someone can correct this or improve it as I am still learning.
Please see the netflow graph from one of our routers using a similar policy as above.

Query on DNS setup for Active Directory for a new data center

I have third party DNS appliances providing DNS Service for Active Directory (Windows 2008 R2) and there are also secondary DNS servers, which are MS DNS server with a secondary zone configured, for redundancy. I have to setup a new data center
and move servers/services to this data center. In this scenario, can I install a new Microsoft DNS server with a secondary zone and use this as the primary DNS Server for all the member servers at this new location ? I am aware that this new DNS server will
not be able to make any updates to the secondary zone and for that purpose, is there anyway to redirect such requests to the DNS appliances in my current data center across the WAN ? I am trying to avoid purchasing a new DNS appliance for the new data center
and want to know what are the alternatives I have.

im not entirely sure by your setup, as normally you would use AD integrated zones for DNS in an AD environment - although there are other options as you have already setup.
the fact the zone is a secondary zone in DNS server terms doesn't mean you can't point your clients to it as their primary dns server. They will quite happily resolve names using a secondary server.
so as long as your dns devices are correctly setup to support the additional secondary zone I see no reason why you couldn't do this.
Regards,
Denis Cooper
MCITP EA - MCT
Help keep the forums tidy, if this has helped please mark it as an answer
My Blog
LinkedIn:

IPT Clusters Data Center Move 8.6(2a)SU3‏

Hi Voice Experts,
Any help will be appreciated, I have read Cisco BCP and understand the best practice but Cisco doesn’t talk clearly about the questions mentioned [only adding subscriber needs a cluster reboot is confirmed but wanted to know from the experience of experts here]:-
We have a plan to move data center for IPT Clusters, and we are working for POC for server build as of now, I would need your guidance for the following questions:-
1-      Adding a new Subscriber:
a.       Is rebooting for all nodes in a cluster required?
b.      Is this mandatory to remove the subscriber from the list of servers from publisher before building the same subscriber in a live environment? [lets say need to replace MCS server for a subscriber]
c.       Can the replica subscriber be built in an isolated environment first by building the replica Publisher and then Subscriber, and later promote this newly build subscriber in live environment by replacing this with the original non working subscriber?
2-      Node licensing:
a.       The node licensing reflects the no of Subscribers in a cluster [not non subscribers like MOH, TFTP servers], lets say we have one subscriber in one data center, we need to move this in another Second data center, so can we build this server with different ip address in live running environment [will shut down the original subscriber first before promoting newly built server as SUBSCRIBER considering node licensing limitations], is that doable ? OR First we need to decommission the current running server from one Data Center and then start building the subscriber in second data center?
Regards,
Shah

I dont quite follow what you are trying to do, are you actually going to move your whole cluster to a DC?
if you move DC, can you move your VMs across and Re-IP?
if you are going to build new subs in the new DC, you will need to add these to your existing cluster yes, no full reboot of your cluster should be required when adding a sub. once you have all subs spun up in your new DC, move your phones across to it (change option 150 in each voice subnet). lastly Re-IP your PUB to fit in the new IP range in your new DC
always make sure you ready the release notes!!!!!
You will need to get temporary licences for your interim period where you have a bunch of sub in the new as well as the old DC. All you need is node licences. Speak to your reseller.
please rate if usefull

Ask the Expert: Data Center Integrated Systems and Solutions

Welcome to this Cisco Support Community Ask the Expert conversation. This is an opportunity to learn and ask questions about utilizing Cisco data center technology and solutions with subject matter expert Ramses Smeyers. Additionally, Ramses will answer questions about FlexPOD, vBlock, Unified Computing Systems, Nexus 2000/5000, SAP HANA, and VDI.
Ramses Smeyers is a technical leader in Cisco Technical Services, where he works in the Datacenter Solutions support team. His main job consists of supporting customers to implement and manage Cisco UCS, FlexPod, vBlock, VDI, and VXI infrastructures. He has a very strong background in computing, networking, and storage and has 10+ years of experience deploying enterprise and service provider data center solutions. Relevant certifications include VMware VCDX, Cisco CCIE Voice, CCIE Data Center, and RHCE.
Remember to use the rating system to let Ramses know if you have received an adequate response.
Because of the volume expected during this event, Ramses might not be able to answer every question. Remember that you can continue the conversation in the Data Center Community, under the subcommunity Unified Computing, shortly after the event. This event lasts through August 1, 2014. Visit this forum often to view responses to your questions and the questions of other Cisco Support Community members.

Hi Ramses,
I have dozen questions but will try to restrain myself and start with the most important ones :)
1. Can cables between IOM and FI be configured in a port-channel? Let me clarify what I"m trying to achieve: if I have only one chassis with only one B200M3 blade inside, will the 2208 IOM and FI6296 allow me to achieve more than 10Gbps throughput between the blade and the Nexus 5k? Of course, we are talking here about clean ethernet environment.
B200M3 --- IOM2208 --- 4 links --- FI6296 --- port-channel (4 links) --- Nexus5548
2. Is it possible to view/measure throughput for Fibre Channel interfaces?
3. Here is one about FlexPod: I know that in case of vBlock there is the company that delivers fully preconfigured system and offers one universal support point so customer don't have to call Cisco or VMware or storage supports separately. What I don't know is how it works for FlexPod. Before you answer that you are not sales guy, let me ask you more technical questions: Is FlexPod Cisco product or is NetApp product or this is just a concept developed by two companies that should be embraced by various Cisco/NetApp partners? As you obviously support Datacenter solutions, if customer/partner calls you with are FlexPod related problem, does it matter for you, from support side, if you are troubleshooting fully compliant FlexPod system or you'll provide same level of support even is the system is customized (not 100% FlexPod environment)?
4. When talking about vCenter, can you share your opinion about following: what is the most important reason to create the cluster and what will be the most important limitation?
5. I know that NetApp has feature called Rapid Clones that allows faster cloning than what vCenter offers. Any chance you can compare the two? I remember that NetApp option should be much faster but didn't understand what is actually happening during the cloning process and I'm hoping you can clarify this? Maybe a quick hint here: seems to me it will be helpful if I could understand the traffic path that is used in each case. Also, it will be nice to know if Vblock (i.e. EMC) offers similar feature and how it is called.
6. Can I connect Nexus 2000 to the FI6xxx?
7. Is vBlock utilizing Fabric Failover? Seems to me not and would like to hear your opinion why.
Thanks for providing us this opportunity to talk about this great topic.
Regards,
Tenaro

Why data center begin to build large layer 2 domain?

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