During an upgrade of rack servers, you replace separate Fibre Channel HBAs and Ethernet NICs with dual-port converged network adapters (CNAs). Each CNA is cabled to an access-layer switch that is intended to provide Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE). You create virtual Fibre Channel (vFC) interfaces on the switch and bind them to the 10 GbE ports, but the vFC interfaces stay down and the operating system reports no Fibre Channel fabric. The Ethernet interfaces on the same ports are up and carrying IP traffic.
Which switch configuration change is MOST likely required before the CNAs will establish their FCoE links?
Enable Data Center Bridging with Priority Flow Control on the switch ports.
Activate Rapid Spanning Tree PortFast Edge on the access interfaces.
Aggregate each CNA port into an LACP port-channel with the switch.
Disable jumbo frames by setting the interface MTU back to 1500 bytes.
FCoE traffic must traverse a lossless Ethernet link. Losslessness is delivered by IEEE Data Center Bridging features-chiefly Priority Flow Control (PFC, 802.1Qbb)-which are negotiated between the switch and the CNA with DCBX. When PFC is not enabled or the DCBX negotiation fails, the switch marks the vFC interface "FCoE down," so the CNA never completes the FCoE Initialization Protocol. Enabling Data Center Bridging with the appropriate PFC settings lets the switch and CNA agree on a no-drop traffic class; once the link is lossless, FIP succeeds and the vFC interface comes up. Adjusting MTU, forming an LACP port-channel, or toggling Spanning Tree features affects only standard Ethernet operation and does not satisfy FCoE's mandatory lossless requirement, leaving the vFC link down.
Ask Bash
Bash is our AI bot, trained to help you pass your exam. AI Generated Content may display inaccurate information, always double-check anything important.
What is Data Center Bridging (DCB) and why is it critical for FCoE?
Open an interactive chat with Bash
What is the purpose of Priority Flow Control (PFC) in an FCoE environment?
Open an interactive chat with Bash
What role does the Data Center Bridging Exchange (DCBX) protocol play in this setup?