I was just invited by Cisco to be part of the BETA for the next release of the Nexus 1000V. I’ll provide more details about the BETA after I install and test it out, but here are some teasers;
And guess what…?! You can be part of the BETA too! Check out this link and sign up to be part of the distributed virtual switch revolution!
Posted under Networking, vSphere
This post was written by Rick Scherer on September 21, 2009
Today Scott Lowe wrote a post on his blog explaining how Cisco UCS lacks Northbound FCoE connectivity, explained here;
I’m about halfway through the first day of Unified Computing System (UCS) training in San Jose, CA, and I’ve learned of what I think is a fairly significant limitation. The issue centers around what Cisco refers to as “northbound” traffic and how Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) is handled with northbound traffic.
Recall that a central part of UCS is the UCS 6100 series fabric interconnect. The 6100 series fabric interconnect has connectivity in two directions:
- Southbound connectivity is connectivity aimed back at the fabric extenders in the blade chassis themselves.
- Northbound connectivity is connectivity headed outside the UCS to other systems and networks.
All southbound traffic is 10Gbps Ethernet with FCoE. Northbound traffic can be 10Gbps Ethernet or Fibre Channel, but not FCoE. Based on the information I’ve been given (and if I’m incorrect please let me know in the comments), you cannot directly connect an FCoE-enabled storage array to a UCS. Even if your storage array has native FCoE interfaces, you can’t plug them into the UCS 6100 series fabric interconnects because that’s considered northbound traffic and you can’t use FCoE with northbound traffic.
I have a feeling customers who have purchased storage arrays with FCoE interfaces with the intention of hooking the arrays up directly to a UCS are going to be a bit upset when this information becomes more widely known.
If I’m working from incorrect or incomplete information, please feel free to speak up in the comments.
At first I was extremely shocked to hear this, this is pretty big news and I would be upset as a customer if I wasn’t able to directly attach my FCoE-enabled storage array directly to the UCS Fabric Interconnect.
After doing some research of my own I found the following;
Posted under Good Reading, Storage
This post was written by Rick Scherer on July 27, 2009
A big issue for companies making the upgrade to vSphere 4 Enterprise Plus from their existing VI3 Enterprise License wasn’t the low $295 price per CPU (VMware Part VS4-ENT-ENT-PL-UG-PROMO), it was the hassle of having to renew their SnS Entitlement! What if your company just renewed their 1 Year Enterprise SnS? You’d basically need to purchase another 1 Year Enterprise Plus SnS. Even though it would push out your support another year, this additional cost could be quite high for some companies, especially if you have dozens or even hundreds of hosts!
Customers complained and VMware Listened…
VMware will be releasing a 2 Month Enterprise Plus SnS package for customers in this exact boat. The price will be reasonably priced at $140 per CPU for Platinum and $120 per CPU for Gold (both estimated retail). Well thank you VMware! IMHO the best thing you could have done was just given all your Enterprise customers a free upgrade to Enterprise Plus, but I suppose this is the 2nd best thing I could ask for….seeing that I’m upgrading about 20 licenses in the next week.
For more information on the Enterprise to Enterprise Plus upgrade promotion, please contact your local VMware Retailer! There is also an upgrade promotion that includes the Nexus 1000V Virtual Switch (VMware Part VS4-N1K-UG-C), this is priced at $795 per CPU.
Posted under vSphere
This post was written by Rick Scherer on June 25, 2009
Rodos posted a very nice blog covering the big events that involved VMware in 2008. Like he states, I do not believe this is the entire list, but I tell you what….It has definietely been busy enough for me, I am ready for a little R&R - 2009 is sure to be even busier!
Posted under Good Reading, VMware
This post was written by Rick Scherer on December 18, 2008
