Dell PS Series DCB Configuration Best Practices
Summary
This document presents Dell EMC best practices for PS Series Data Center Bridging (DCB) configuration. It covers DCB fundamentals, switch configuration guidelines, priority flow control, and enhanced transmission selection for iSCSI storage networking. Target users: storage and network administrators configuring Dell PS Series SAN environments.
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Dell PS Series DCB Configuration Best Practices Dell Storage Engineering May 2017
Dell EMC Best Practices
Page Summary Contents For Dell PS Series DCB Configuration Best Practices
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Dell PS Series DCB Configuration Best Practices Dell Storage Engineering May 2017 Dell EMC Best Practices
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Revisions Date Description February 2013 Initial publication February 2013 Changed PC81xx configuration steps to external SGC link May 2013 Added Force10 S4820T information May 2014 Updated links to n...
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Table of Contents 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................... 5 1...
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3.3.2 Single layer switching with rack servers ........................................................................................................... 23 3.3.3 Dual layer switching ..................
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1 Introduction Data Center Bridging (DCB) is a networking standard that first appeared on Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCo E) SANs as a method to ensure lossless delivery of Fibre Channel (FC) traffic...
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2 Data Center Bridging (DCB) Explained A key data center resource is the network infrastructure that interconnects various devices. These devices include server hardware systems that host enterprise a...
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Priority-based Flow Control (PFC): (IEEE 802.1Qbb) Independent traffic priority pausing and enablement of lossless packet buffers/queueing for i SCSI. 2.2 DCB Terminology The following sub-sections ...
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2.2.2 Enhanced Transmission Selection Enhanced Transmission Selection (ETS) is a mechanism for guaranteeing a percentage of bandwidth to a traffic class (TC). A traffic class contains one or more Clas...
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Protocols identified by this method can be mapped to a priority value using the application priority feature. For example, i SCSI identified by TCP port number 3260 can be mapped to priority 4. An end...
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LLPD hierarchy supporting DCBx 2.3 DCB parameter configuration The key DCB technologies discussed in section 2.2 are applicable peer to peer on an Ethernet link between two ports. A link comprised of ...
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Step 2 – DCBX TLVs exchange between peer ports on the operational link Step 3 – CNA and storage port accept and confirm switch DCB parameters In step 2 depicted in Figure 6, peer ports communicate the...
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2.4 Converged network example This section discusses a sample converged network implementation using DCB. The various DCB parameters (PFC, PG/TC, and application priority) are illustrated in the conte...
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DCB parameters The priority groups or traffic classes are the final step. The PG/TC table in the figure shows the priority group or traffic classes and the respective bandwidth percentage assignment...
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When configuring DCB on a new PS Series array member, ensure the switch is setup properly first. The PS Series CLI setup wizard or the PS Series Remote Setup Wizard will detect whether the switch is D...
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Next, a valid VLAN ID must be entered. The range of recommended values is 2-4096. However, verify that the VLAN ID choice does not conflict with any default or reserved IDs for your specific switch ma...
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1. In the PS Series Group Manager, click a member array and go to the Network tab. 2. Right-click on each 10 Gb interface (for example eth0) and click DCB Details to display the dialog box shown below...
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0 will not have PFC enabled on the switch, which means that i SCSI traffic would be treated with the same priority as all other traffic or in some cases, with a lower priority. It is also possible tha...
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3 Network configuration and deployment topologies This section discusses detailed DCB parameter configuration for network deployments with PS Series storage. It includes the configuration process for ...
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arbitration process is defined for one of them to propagate DCBX configuration internally and the other ports accept that configuration. b. Manual configuration: If this internal propagation method is...
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Note: The upstream port method can be used to configure other peer switches in the same top layer. A pair of source switches can be configured with DCBX parameters and other switches in the same layer...
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For switches that support the DCB propagation mechanism: Switch inter-connectivity in the Layer 2 network must be designed so that there is no single point of failure that would cause a disjoint net...
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3.2.5 Configuration for switches that do not support DCB for PS Series The following switches do not fully support DCB requirements for PS Series, so DCB must be disabled on these SAN switches. Import...
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Single switching layer – Blade Servers 3.3.2 Single layer switching with rack servers This section demonstrates deployment configurations with rack servers and a single layer of top of rack (To R) swi...
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Single switching layer – Rack severs In both the Blade server and Rack server configurations, the first step is to configure the switches with DCB parameters. 3.3.3 Dual layer switching A hierarchical...
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Dual Layer Switching In this scenario, the first step is to configure the external S4810 switches with DCB parameters. The Dell Power Edge M I/O aggregator modules (FTOS version 9.11.0.P8) are by defa...
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accept the internally propagated DCB configuration from the auto- upstream port. These ports advertise the DCB configuration information to their server peers. The second step is to setup the server i...
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4 Host adapter configuration for DCB 4.1 QLogic 57810 (previously Broadcom) configuration Configuring the QLogic 57810 adapter for i SCSI and DCB requires the use of the QLogic Control Suite (QCS) uti...
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4.3 QLogic 57810 i SCSI VLAN configuration Figure 19 below illustrates the VLAN configuration for i SCSI traffic on the adapter port. Initiator VLAN ID configuration 4.4 QLogic 57810 DCB configuration...
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The local and remote DCBX settings are displayed in the DCBX Advanced section of the QCS, see Figure 21. Advanced DCB operation state and configuration verification 29 Dell PS Series DCB Configuration...
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5 DCB testing The following workloads and tests were developed to provide empirical evidence of the benefits of DCB in two common scenarios: Dedicated i SCSI networks and converged traffic networks. I...
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After comparison runs early in the testing process, it was determined that the sequential write and random read/write workloads did not provide sufficient throughput to cause a noticeable effect. As s...
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5.2 Topologies Test topology In this topology, three PS6110 Series arrays were used to ensure that the throughput for the host ports could be maximized. All physical connections were made in a redunda...
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6 Results and analysis 6.1 DCB versus non-DCB in a dedicated SAN network The following charts show the difference in retransmitted i SCSI frames on the network given each flowcontrol method. Retransmi...
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Throughput comparison for i SCSI only traffic For I/Os per second, the result was consistent with a difference of approximately 15% improvement with PFC over no flowcontrol and a 5% improvement over M...
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In a shared network, controlling the amount of bandwidth given to different resources has been tough even in the best scenario. Traditional flowcontrol as implemented with MAC PAUSE provided a minimal...
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i SCSI throughput comparison for mixed traffic environment In Figure 30, we see the same benefit in IOPS performance that was noted in the previous throughput section. PFC is able to create a controll...
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A PS Series command line reference for DCB configuration verification From the CLI (Group Admin login), the following commands can be executed to obtain the same information that is presented in the G...
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member select <array-name> eth show (Display DCB ON/OFF): The example below is from a PS6110 array, so eth0 is the i SCSI port and eth1 is the management port which shows the DCB as off for th...
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Class 39 Dell PS Series DCB Configuration Best Practices | BP1058
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B Technical support and resources Dell.com/support is focused on meeting customer needs with proven services and support. Dell Tech Center is an online technical community where IT professionals have ...
Manual Details
| Brand | Best |
|---|---|
| Pages | 40 |
| File Size | 2.06 MB |
| Published | May 16, 2026 |
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Frequently Asked Questions
How do I start enabling DCB for a VLAN?
The process involves first enabling DCB and then configuring the required VLAN ID.
What are the key definitions of DCB terminology?
DCB includes Priority-based Flow Control (PFC), Enhanced Transmission Selection (ETS), and Application priority configuration support.
How can I verify that my Port Group's DCB settings are correct?
You must use commands like `dcb show` to check losslessness, traffic classes, and priorities for the specific port member.