What Is Fibre Channel Over Ethernet (FCoE)?
SearchStorage, Thursday, December 7,2023
Fibre Channel Over Ethernet (FCoE) is the encapsulation and transmission of Fibre Channel (FC) frames over enhanced Ethernet networks, combining the advantages of Ethernet for information-sharing across a local area network (LAN) and the storage management capabilities of FC as used in a storage area network (SAN).
It allows both types of traffic to pass through the same physical cable while preserving the benefits of the FC protocol. Some organizations use FCoE to completely converge their LAN and SAN networks.
For low-end storage, businesses may find iSCSI sufficient; when performance, reliability, and low latency are paramount, an FC SAN is the right choice. FCoE sits somewhere between the two, offering a balance between performance and cost and a way to gradually transition from a traditional and far more expensive FC SAN to more affordable Ethernet-based solutions.
Here's what you need to know about the FCoE storage technology...