Detecting, Troubleshooting, and Preventing Congestion in Storage Networks

The complete practical guide to architect storage networks for maximum efficiency, and to quickly troubleshoot congestion issues.

Data is the most important entity in a data center. In addition to being stored securely for the long term, data must be accessible to applications with low latency so that high performance can be maintained 24/7. To meet this performance goal of applications, the storage infrastructure services must be designed accordingly.

In Detecting, Troubleshooting, and Preventing Congestion in Storage Networks, leading Cisco experts take a practical approach to explaining the congestion handling mechanisms of the transport technologies like FC, FCoE, RoCE, and TCP. The authors share proven troubleshooting methodology developed through years of firsthand experience as well as analytical techniques for monitoring the storage fabrics and gaining predictive insights.

Through real-world experiences and case study examples, you'll learn what questions to ask, how to start planning, what exists today, what components still must evolve, and how to drive value in building custom applications in detecting congestion in large-scale storage networks.

• Optimize user experience with faster resolution of congestion in storage networks in production data centers
• Master congestion handling mechanisms in technologies like FC, FCoE, RoCE, and TCP
• Applicable to networks connected to all storage array types and vendors including Dell, HPE, IBM, NetApp, Hitachi
• Real-world case studies and troubleshooting methodology ensuring storage SLAs are consistently met
• Increase uptime with custom analytical tools for predicting and resolving congestion
• Boost storage infrastructure efficiency in a hybrid cloud model
• Save on employee training and reduce support ticket hassles with vendors

Paresh Gupta, CCIE No. 36645, has almost two decades of experience in the computer industry. Currently, as a senior leader of Technical Marketing Engineering for Cisco, he drives the technical and market evolution of products, technologies, and solutions such as SAN Analytics, Nexus Dashboard, UCS, MDS, and Nexus switches. He has been testing and validating congestion in storage networks for many years. In his multiple roles, he has invented/patented many ideas, developed many features, and trained thousands of people in sales, partner, and customer communities. Paresh is the creator of the fullblown traffic monitoring apps for Cisco UCS Servers (UTM) and MDS switches (MTM). Hundreds of organizations use Paresh’s apps in production around the world.

Edward Mazurek, CCIE No. 6448, has more than 40 years of experience in the computer networking industry. The first 18 were with IBM, supporting products such as Virtual Machine (VM) and VTAM. He has spent the last 22+ years with the Cisco TAC. As a principal engineer, he supports data center networking technologies, including storage-area networking, Fibre Channel, and FCoE in the MDS, UCS, and Nexus 5000, 6000, 7000, and 9000 series. He holds two CCIEs―SNA/IP Integration (2000) and Storage Area Networking (SAN)―and is presently a CCIE Emeritus. Ed has spearheaded the congestion-handling mechanisms on the Cisco MDS 9000 switches and Nexus 9000 switches. Based on his deep understanding, Ed developed an app that is being used by other Cisco engineers and continues to be in high demand by various partners. In addition to inventing multiple features on Cisco products, Ed holds multiple patents in the field of network congestion.