Encapsulation Methods for Transport of Fibre Channel Traffic over MPLS Networks
RFC 6307

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Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)                     D. Black, Ed.
Request for Comments: 6307                               EMC Corporation
Category: Standards Track                                 L. Dunbar, Ed.
ISSN: 2070-1721                                      Huawei Technologies
                                                                 M. Roth
                                                                Infinera
                                                              R. Solomon
                                                        Orckit-Corrigent
                                                              April 2012

                 Encapsulation Methods for Transport of
                Fibre Channel Traffic over MPLS Networks

Abstract

   A Fibre Channel pseudowire (PW) is used to carry Fibre Channel
   traffic over an MPLS network.  This enables service providers to take
   advantage of MPLS to offer "emulated" Fibre Channel services.  This
   document specifies the encapsulation of Fibre Channel traffic within
   a pseudowire.  It also specifies the common procedures for using a PW
   to provide a Fibre Channel service.

Status of This Memo

   This is an Internet Standards Track document.

   This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
   (IETF).  It represents the consensus of the IETF community.  It has
   received public review and has been approved for publication by the
   Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG).  Further information on
   Internet Standards is available in Section 2 of RFC 5741.

   Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
   and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
   http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6307.

Black, et al.                Standards Track                    [Page 1]
RFC 6307                    FC Encapsulation                  April 2012

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2012 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.

   This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
   Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
   (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
   publication of this document.  Please review these documents
   carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
   to this document.  Code Components extracted from this document must
   include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
   the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
   described in the Simplified BSD License.

Table of Contents

   1. Introduction ....................................................3
      1.1. Transparency ...............................................3
      1.2. Bandwidth Efficiency .......................................4
      1.3. Reliability ................................................5
      1.4. Conventions Used in This Document ..........................5
   2. Reference Model .................................................6
   3. Encapsulation ...................................................8
      3.1. The Control Word ..........................................10
      3.2. MTU Requirements ..........................................11
      3.3. Mapping of FC Traffic to PW Packets........................11
           3.3.1. FC Data Frames (PT=0) and FC Login Frames (PT=1) ...11
           3.3.2. FC Primitive Sequences and Primitive
                  Signals (PT=2) .....................................12
           3.3.3. FC PW Control Frames (PT=6) ........................14
      3.4. PW Failure Mapping ........................................15
   4. Signaling of FC Pseudowires ....................................15
   5. Timing Considerations ..........................................15
   6. Security Considerations ........................................17
   7. Applicability Statement ........................................17
   8. IANA Considerations ............................................18
   9. Acknowledgments ................................................19
   10. Normative References ..........................................19
   11. Informative References ........................................20

Black, et al.                Standards Track                    [Page 2]
RFC 6307                    FC Encapsulation                  April 2012

1.  Introduction

   Fibre Channel (FC) is a high-speed communications technology, used
   primarily for Storage Area Networks (SANs).  Within a single site
   (e.g., data center), an FC-based SAN connects servers to storage
   systems, and FC can be extended across sites.  When FC is extended
   across multiple sites, the most common usage is storage replication
   in support of recovery from disasters (e.g., flood or fire that takes
   a site out of operation).  This is particularly the case over longer
   distances where network latency results in unacceptable performance