HP 6120XG HP ProCurve Series 6120 Blade Switches Advanced Traffic Management G - Page 260

Data Center Bridging Exchange

Page 260 highlights

Converged Enhanced Ethernet on the HP ProCurve 6120XG Switch Data Center Bridging Exchange Data Center Bridging Exchange Data Center Bridging Exchange (DCBX) defines a protocol for the discovery and negotiation of Data Center Bridging (DCB) configuration information with a directly connected peer. It must be enabled in order to use Enhanced Transmission Selection (ETS) and Priority-based Flow Control (PFC). DCBX is used for the following: ■ Discovering the capabilities of a peer device, and whether the peer supports features such as Enhanced Transmission Selection (ETS) or Priority-based Flow Control (PFC). ■ Detecting misconfiguration of features between two link peers. This is feature-specific because some features permit asymmetric configuration. ■ Configuring DCB features in the link peer if the peer accepts the configuration. DCBX used the Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP) for exchanging parameters between two link peers. LLDP advertises connectivity and management information by transmitting specific LLDP TLVs. Being able to identify device capabilities and configuration on each end of a peer link allows the discovery of mismatched configurations. DCB parameters are classified into two categories, local parameters and exchanged parameters. Only the exchanged parameters are used with DCBX, as they are the type of parameter sent to each peer via LLDP TLVs. Exchanged parameters can be symmetric or asymmetric. Symmetric parameters have values that must match between the link peers; for example, the PFC TLV is symmetric. Asymmetric parameters, such as the Enhanced Transmission Selection (ETS) TLV, do not need to match. For example, it is not necessary to ensure that the Guaranteed Minimum Bandwidth (GMB) for both transmission directions is the same-traffic will most likely flow without issues if the parameters are not an exact match. The TLVs supported by DCBX for the HP ProCurve 6120XG switch are: ■ Enhanced Transmission Selection (ETS)-A set of TLVs that communi- cate the ETS configuration and recommendation of the device. 6-11

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6-11
Converged Enhanced Ethernet on the HP ProCurve 6120XG Switch
Data Center Bridging Exchange
Data Center Bridging Exchange
Data Center Bridging Exchange (DCBX) defines a protocol for the discovery
and negotiation of Data Center Bridging (DCB) configuration information
with a directly connected peer. It must be enabled in order to use Enhanced
Transmission Selection (ETS) and Priority-based Flow Control (PFC). DCBX
is used for the following:
Discovering the capabilities of a peer device, and whether the peer
supports features such as Enhanced Transmission Selection (ETS) or
Priority-based Flow Control (PFC).
Detecting misconfiguration of features between two link peers. This is
feature-specific because some features permit asymmetric configuration.
Configuring DCB features in the link peer if the peer accepts the config-
uration.
DCBX used the Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP) for exchanging param-
eters between two link peers. LLDP advertises connectivity and management
information by transmitting specific LLDP TLVs. Being able to identify device
capabilities and configuration on each end of a peer link allows the discovery
of mismatched configurations.
DCB parameters are classified into two categories, local parameters and
exchanged parameters. Only the exchanged parameters are used with DCBX,
as they are the type of parameter sent to each peer via LLDP TLVs. Exchanged
parameters can be symmetric or asymmetric. Symmetric parameters have
values that must match between the link peers; for example, the PFC TLV is
symmetric. Asymmetric parameters, such as the Enhanced Transmission
Selection (ETS) TLV, do not need to match. For example, it is not necessary
to ensure that the Guaranteed Minimum Bandwidth (GMB) for both transmis-
sion directions is the same—traffic will most likely flow without issues if the
parameters are not an exact match.
The TLVs supported by DCBX for the HP ProCurve 6120XG switch are:
Enhanced Transmission Selection (ETS)—A set of TLVs that communi-
cate the ETS configuration and recommendation of the device.