What is Fibre Channel over Ethernet FCoE?
Fibre Channel over Ethernet FCoE Definition: A lightweight encapsulation protocol, and it lacks the reliable data transport of the TCP layer.
Understanding Fibre Channel over Ethernet FCoE
Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) is a network protocol that wraps Fibre Channel frames inside Ethernet frames, allowing storage traffic to travel over the same physical infrastructure used for regular data communication. Operating at the data link layer, FCoE bypasses the traditional TCP overhead and its associated reliability features. It is standardized by INCITS T11 and is a key component in converged network architectures where storage and data traffic share a unified network.
Organizations deploy FCoE to streamline data center operations while ensuring security through measures such as network segmentation, strict access controls, and encryption for sensitive storage data. For example, a data center might use FCoE to consolidate storage and regular network traffic on one physical network, utilizing VLANs and switch-level controls to keep storage resources secure.
Related terms: Storage Area Network (SAN), Converged Networking, Fibre Channel, iSCSI, Software-Defined Storage, Data Center Networking, Storage Security.