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What’s the Difference Between Fibre Channel and Ethernet Switches?

Neo
Switch Specialist · Jan 17, 20234400Switches

Fiber optic switch is a high-speed network transmission relay device, also called Fibre Channel switch, SAN switch, which uses fiber optic cable as the transmission medium compared to ordinary switches. There are two main types of fiber optic switches, one is the FC switch used to connect to storage. The other is Ethernet switch, the port is fiber optic interface, and the appearance of the ordinary electrical interface, but the interface type is different. So what is the difference between Fibre Channel and Ethernet switches? In this article, we will explain the difference between these two in detail.

What is a Fibre Channel Switch?

Fibre Channel (FC) is designed for storage area networks (SANs) and is a high-speed network technology used to connect computer data storage to servers. The Fibre Channel standard supports three main topologies: point-to-point, arbitrated loop, and switched fabric to deliver ordered and lossless raw data in. In the switch fabric topology (only one switch is required), all devices are connected and communicate through the switch. Fibre Channel switches are network devices that are Fibre Channel Protocol (FCP) compatible and feature high performance, low latency and lossless transmission in a Fibre Channel fabric. Fibre Channel switches are known as one of the main components in a SAN and play an important role in interconnecting multiple storage ports and servers.

What is an Ethernet Switch?

Ethernet is defined by IEEE 802.3. An Ethernet switch is a switch that transmits data based on Ethernet, a local area network that uses a shared bus-type transmission media approach. Ethernet switches are structured so that each port is connected directly to the host computer and operates in full duplex. Ethernet switches can connect many pairs of ports simultaneously, allowing each pair of communicating hosts to transfer data conflict-free as if they were the exclusive communication medium.

An Ethernet switch is essential when deploying an Ethernet network. It is the basic network facility that bridges Ethernet devices together. Typically, a LAN switch is likely to be an Ethernet-based switch with electrical or optical ports, with varying numbers of ports. Ethernet switches are available in rates of 10G, 25G, 40G, 100G and even higher.

Ethernet switch

What is the Difference Between a Fibre Channel Switch and an Ethernet Switch?

Fibre Channel switches are primarily used for SANs, while Ethernet switches are primarily used for LANs, and the differences between them are analyzed in terms of reliability, transmission speed and cost.

Reliability

Fibre Channel switches are lossless, while Ethernet switches have the risk of frame loss. Fibre Channel is often compared to Ethernet as a lossless protocol. For a Fibre Channel switch, it works smoothly without losing a frame, and data frames must be delivered in sequence. Fibre Channel switches send signals when they connect to other devices, so those devices stop sending frames to avoid frame loss. This is in contrast to Ethernet switches, which start dropping frames when the network is congested and rely on higher layer protocols (such as TCP) to ensure that everything works properly.

Transmission Rate

The Fibre Channel switch started with a maximum transfer rate of 1Gbps and has grown to 128Gbps, with 8Gbps, 16Gbps, and 32Gbps versions still available. And Ethernet switches range from Fast Ethernet (10/100Mbps), Gigabit Ethernet (10/100/1000Mbps), 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10/100/1000/10,000Mbps) to even 40/100Gbps. today, most Fibre Channel networks are available at 8Gbps or 16Gbps. While most Ethernet installations are typically 1Gbps/10Gbps for home networks and 40Gbps/100Gbps for data center networks. in general, the effective rate of 8GFC networks is close to 10GbE, so the difference is almost negligible. And 16GFC is much faster than 10GbE. In short, the actual transmission rate of each switch will depend on the particular operating environment.

Cost

Cost is also a factor to consider. In most cases, Ethernet switches are much cheaper than Fibre Channel switches. However, Fibre Channel switches are primarily used in data center storage environments, while Ethernet switches can be found in all types of networks: from small homes, to large offices, to large data centers. For data center networks, 8Gbps Fibre Channel switches are typically cheaper than 10Gbps Ethernet switches, while 16G fiber switches cost roughly the same as 10GbE. For enterprises, many companies have already invested a lot of time and effort into their Fibre Channel networks, and switching to Ethernet means additional costs to reboot, so Ethernet switches are not always a wise choice in this situation.

More importantly, maintenance is also a factor that should be considered. In large IT systems, if an Ethernet switch fails, most administrators can handle it. However, when a problem occurs with a Fibre Channel switch, organizations need to turn to the manufacturer.

Conclusion

Overall, there are significant differences between Fibre Channel switches and Ethernet switches. For new network implementations, Ethernet switches are a good choice if you are not building Fibre Channel. However, as a long-term solution for enterprise-class data storage, Fibre Channel switches are recommended. Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) reduces the cost of a Fibre Channel solution by eliminating the need to purchase HBAs (host bus adapters). In short, using a Fibre Channel switch, an Ethernet switch or choosing a Fibre Channel over Ethernet solution all depends on your needs.

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