Ten considerations for deploying 10 Gigabit Ethernet

Over the years, improvements in 10 Gigabit Ethernet technology, price reductions, and performance advantages have made its applications out of the enterprise data center and into the mid-sized network market. The increase in bandwidth requirements and the growth of enterprise applications have contributed to the wider deployment of 10 Gigabit Ethernet.

This article lists ten considerations for implementing a reliable, cost-effective, and easy-to-use 10 Gigabit Ethernet deployment.

10 Gigabit Ethernet and server boundaries: better efficiency

Midsize companies reduce their space, power, and management overhead by consolidating servers to optimize their data centers and server farms. Often, the first step is to consolidate multiple applications onto fewer servers, replacing the one-server model. The next step is server virtualization.

Server virtualization enables multiple applications and operating systems to be supported on a single server by installing multiple virtual machines (VMs) on the server. Each virtual machine works like a separate physical server, but shares the processing power of the physical server, ensuring that the server's processing power is not wasted. IT departments can reduce server inventory, make better use of servers, and manage resources more efficiently.

Server virtualization relies heavily on networking and storage. Virtual machines are constantly increasing and require a larger amount of storage space than a single physical server. Network Attached Storage (NAS) or Storage Area Network (SAN) provides additional dedicated storage for virtual machines. The connection between the server and the storage must be fast enough to avoid bottlenecks. 10 Gigabit Ethernet provides the fastest connectivity for virtual environments.

10 Gigabit Ethernet storage area network and Fibre Channel: simpler and more cost effective

There are three types of storage in the network: direct attached storage (DAS), network attached storage (NAS), and storage area network (SAN). Each has its own advantages, but SANs are becoming the most flexible and scalable solution for data center and high-density computing applications. The main disadvantages of SANs are the cost and the need for training personnel to install and maintain interconnected media in Fibre Channel. Despite this, SAN storage over Fibre Channel has been built in large enterprises.

The new standard, the Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI), makes 10 Gigabit Ethernet an attractive and alternative interconnect medium for SAN applications. iSCSI is an extension of the SCSI protocol for block transfers in most storage devices and Fibre Channel. The Internet Extended Protocol defines a protocol for extending block transfers over IP networks, allowing a standard Ethernet infrastructure to act as an interconnect medium for SAN storage. Basic iSCSI is supported in most operating systems today. The latest iSCSI performance makes 10 Gigabit Ethernet more successful than Fibre Channel as the interconnect medium for SAN storage:

Lower equipment and management costs: 10 Gigabit Ethernet networking is more affordable than highly dedicated Fibre Channel components and requires no special installation and management skills;

Enhanced server management: iSCSI remote booting prevents each server from booting from its own direct attached disk. Instead, the server can be booted from an operating system image on the SAN. This will be especially beneficial for enabling diskless servers on rack or blade server applications.

Improved data disaster recovery: All information on a local SAN, including boot information, operating system images, applications, and data, can be replicated to a remote SAN for fast and complete disaster recovery.

Superior performance: Even interactive virtual machines like databases can run on 10 Gigabit Ethernet and iSCSI SANs without compromising performance.

10 Gigabit Ethernet and Convergence Layer: Reducing Network Bottlenecks

Until recently, network design recommended using Fast Ethernet as the access layer and using Gigabit uplinks to the core (for a two-layer network architecture) or aggregation layer (for a three-layer network architecture). Today, traffic at the network access layer has increased dramatically. Applications for high bandwidth requirements have grown exponentially. As the price of Gigabit Ethernet declines, Gigabit to the desktop has become more and more common. The widespread use of Gigabit Ethernet to the desktop increases the overload ratio of the rest of the network. As a result, a large amount of gigabit traffic between the network access layer and the aggregation layer or the core layer causes a network bottleneck.

10 Gigabit Ethernet enables the convergence layer to scale continuously to meet the growing needs of users and network applications. This allows network overrun ratios to return to network design best practices and provides some important advantages in aggregating multiple Gigabit Ethernet links:

Use less fiber: 10 Gigabit Ethernet connections use fewer fiber cables than Gigabit Ethernet link aggregation, and Gigabit Ethernet link aggregation requires a pair of pigtails on each link. The use of 10 Gigabit Ethernet reduces the complexity of the cable; at the same time, the cost of laying additional fiber-optic cables is expensive, and the use of 10 Gigabit Ethernet also effectively uses the cabling of existing fiber-optic cables;

Better support for big data streams: Traffic on aggregated Gigabit Ethernet links is limited to 1 Gbps of data streams due to the need for packet sequences on the end devices. With greater bandwidth capacity on a single 10 Gigabit Ethernet link, 10 Gigabit Ethernet can more efficiently support large data stream applications;

Longer-term investment deployment: Compared to the aggregation of a Gigabit Ethernet link, 10 Gigabit Ethernet provides greater scalability to better protect your network investment. Up to eight 10 Gigabit Ethernet links can be aggregated into one virtual 80Gbps link;

Choice of 10 Gigabit Ethernet and Fiber Optic Cable

There are three important factors to consider when deploying any fiber optic cable:

Type of fiber optic cable (eg single mode / multimode)

Type of 10 Gigabit Ethernet physical interface (for example, 10GBase-SR)

Type of fiber module specification (eg XFP)

Type of fiber optic module specification
Table 4: Working range and physical layer (physical interface) of 10 Gigabit fiber

As long as the physical interface type of 10 Gigabit Ethernet is the same at both ends of the fiber link, the specifications of the module can be used interchangeably. For example, you can deploy a fiber link by connecting a 10GBase-SR XFP fiber module to a 10GBase-SR SFP+. However, a 10GBase-SR SFP+ fiber module cannot be connected to a 10GBase-LRM SFP+ fiber module.

10 Gigabit Ethernet and copper cable options

With the maturity of switching standards and improvements in copper standards, the use of copper cables on 10 Gigabit Ethernet is becoming more common. Today, 10 Gigabit Ethernet has three different copper technologies. Each has a different price and performance (see Table 5 for details). Although fiber (SFP+ modules) provide the lowest latency, many IT departments use copper cables to connect switches to switches or switches to servers.

10 Gigabit Ethernet and copper cable options

10GBase-CX4 - released in 2004 - is the standard for the first 10 Gigabit Ethernet copper cable. CX4 is relatively economical and supports very low latency. Its disadvantage is that the specifications are too large to be used on aggregation switches on high-density ports.

SFP+ is the latest optical transceiver standard. The 10 Gigabit SFP+ Direct Connect Cable (DAC) is directly connected to an SFP+ module. Thanks to low latency, small size and reasonable price, this new copper solution has become an option for connecting servers and storage devices on the rack.

10GBase-T or IEEE802.3an-2006 was released in 2006 to implement 10 Gigabit Ethernet on Category 6A and Category 7 copper cables up to 100 meters long. While the standard has a future, 10GBase-T still requires constant technical improvements to reduce cost, power and latency.

10 Gigabit Ethernet and SFP+ retrofit: straight-through cable for short-distance operation

The SFP+ straight-through cable integrates an SFP+ compatible connector and a copper cable to provide a low latency, energy efficient and low cost solution. The DAC is available in several lengths up to 10 meters (33 feet) and is currently the best short-range 10 Gigabit Ethernet connection cable. (See Figure 1 for details)

Typical direct cable (DAC)

Typical direct cable (DAC)

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