SierraNet M328Q

Fibre Channel provides a secure, bi-directional, physical or logical point-to-point, low latency connection between two devices at a time. Like other serial interfaces such as Serial Attached SCSI (SAS), in Fibre Channel data is transmitted over the physical medium in serial fashion as opposed to parallel methods, which are used in SCSI and ATA physical interfaces. Serial transmission enables much longer connection distances as compared to parallel transmission methods, because far fewer signal lines are required, thereby reducing noise created by multiple signal lines all switching at the same time (cross talk).

A primary use for Fibre Channel is in the transport of block oriented storage traffic in SAN (Storage Area Network) applications. There are also specialized upper layer Fibre Channel protocols that are used in Defense and Avionics applications, to transport video streams for heads-up displays, for example.

Fibre Channel is designed to work with either optical fiber physical medium or copper cables in many connector and cable type configurations. Copper cables are relatively inexpensive, but they are useable only for shorter distances, in the range of 5-meters at 16GbFC and 3-meters at 32GbFC. In general, the higher the transmission speed, the shorter the distance that can be reliably supported by copper cable technology. A variety of copper solutions are available, the most commonly used being Direct Attach Copper (DAC) cabling in both SFP (Small Form-factor Pluggable) and QSFP (Quad Small Form-factor Pluggable) configurations. SFP and QSFP optical cabling solutions are also available, supporting reliable transmission distances greater than 10 meters, up to about 10 kilometers.

Fibre Channel is a layered protocol, and is modeled loosely on the OSI model for networks. In the OSI model, and in the case of Fibre Channel, each layer provides specific services and makes the results available to the next layer.  Figure 1 below compares the defined OSI layer to the defined Fibre Channel layers.

The layers in the table represent different functions and services that exist within the Fibre channel protocol definition. As with the other communication standards, protocol level analysis is often focused at the link layer (FC-2) and above.

Fibre Channel, like any network architecture, transports blocks of application information, called data payloads. Before sending a payload over the physical link, additional Fibre Channel specific control bytes are added to both the start and the end of the payload data. The combination of the control bytes and the payload data is called a frame, which is the basic unit of information in Fibre Channel.

Fibre Channel transfers data through switched or direct point-to-point connections which work by creating session specific connections between the source and destination devices. These connections last only until the transfer is completed and can be temporarily preempted by higher priority transfer requests.

Connections are made on Fibre Channel systems through “interconnect components” such as switches, hubs, and bridges. The ability of Fibre Channel to use different interconnect devices makes it flexible and scalable depending on user needs. A fully switched Fibre Channel network is called a Fabric topology. Fabric topology permits multiple alternative paths to be established between any two ports in the Fabric.

Fibre Channel protocol is designed to support very low latency and high data transfer rates. The currently approved standard supporting up to 32Gb/S is generally referred to as 32GFC. Server virtualization and storage virtualization are broad trends that are driving the need for higher bandwidth. The need for high bandwidth in the network infrastructure is just now beginning to drive the replacement of previous product generations of 4,8 and 16GFC by 32GFC and soon, 64GFC.

Fibre Channel is a good choice for any environment with many servers needing lossless access to centralized storage, computer data centers for example. Because of this, Fiber Channel enjoys over 80% market share as the network interface used in external storage systems such as SAN environments.

• 1U form-factor with rack mount kits
• Two QSFP+ FlexPorts, supporting 10/25/40/50/100Gbps Ethernet, and up to 32G Fibre Channel over optical or copper connections
• Advanced, multi-state triggering & filtering
• Digital Phy, re-timed capture
• Standard 128G recording buffer
• Dynamic memory allocation
• Extensive Ethernet protocols supported, including FCoE, NVMe/oF, RoCE and iSCSI
• Multiple trace view formats
• Seamless WireShark integration
• USB 3.0 & Gigabit Ethernet Host Interfaces for fast upload and easy management

The SierraNet M328Q™ is the most cost effective, advanced and fully integrated Ethernet and Fibre Channel data capture, protocol verification, and frame/data modification systems available for developers and protocol test engineers. The M328Q protocol analysis systems provide engineers with 100% recording of all Fibre Channel and Ethernet related traffic at full line rates on all ports while maintaining the link integrity through the digital probe technology.

The SierraNet M328Q hardware platform and Net Protocol Suite™ user interface provides the highest level of performance and flexibility available in the market.  SierraNet offers developers, test and support engineers with a compact, extremely flexible, multi-function protocol analyzer and traffic impairment platform.

The SierraNet M328Q employs Teledyne LeCroy’s leading FlexPort™ technology providing ultimate flexibility in analysis of traditional or converged Ethernet and Fibre Channel products in a single platform and the flexibility to add protocol specific features, functionality, and speed support at the time of purchase or later by simply adding optional license keys.  

Each SierraNet FlexPort pair can probe both Ethernet – 25GbE, 50GbE (25GbE x 2 links) up to 100Gbps Ethernet (25GbE x 4 links) – and Fibre Channel – from 32GFC x 1 link to 32GFC x 4 links – links over standard QSFP DAC, AOC or optical transceiver and MPO Fibre configurations, and eliminates the need for separate “single function” blades, pods, or adapters found in some competitive products. 

In addition to FlexPort technology, the SierraNet M328Q’s sophisticated analysis software, the Net Protocol Suite, provides unmatched flexibility with customized data displays that easily and quickly navigate users to specific events of interest.  Decoding in the Net Protocol Suite’s multiple trace views provide superior visibility for troubleshooting low level to application layer issues, decoding traffic per the supported specifications and their associated encoding schemes, and the zero-time search and filter capabilities easily find Ethernet and Fibre Channel events in a contextual and intuitive way.  In a multi-protocol environment, Teledyne LeCroy’s CrossSync™ can synchronize and correlate traces with our other leading protocol analysis tools, such as the PCI Express Gen3 and Gen4 Summit analyzers, to understand how traffic, stimulus, and/or errors propagate across bridges or adapters.

The SierraNet M328Q platform is Compact, Portable, and Light Weight. The SierraNet is currently the Smallest (1U) and lightest (9.5lbs) Fibre Channel and Ethernet protocol analyzer and traffic modification platform in the market, saving valuable real estate and rack space in customer labs and is the best portable solution for engineers on the move. SierraNet provides users the lowest cost of ownership per engineer, and the lack of maintenance or support fees for subsequent years of operation means strained budgets are not tapped just to keep up with evolving specifications and advancements.

The SierraNet M328Q offers the fastest and most convenient access to the data that engineers need with either a USB3.0 or GE interface. As USB is Plug and Play, this is particularly useful when capturing large amounts of data is necessary, but a quick connection to the analyzer is required, such as at a customer site. In addition to the performance and ease-of-use of the USB3.0 interface, a Gigabit Ethernet Host Interface is also standard on the SierraNet platforms, and the IP Address set-up menus on the front panel eliminate the time and complexity required to configure an analyzer via a null-modem cable and hyper-terminal interface used on competitive products.

The SierraNet M328Q also offers the best Time-Stamp Resolution in the market. The SierraNet family has been enhanced with a 1ns time-stamp resolution/accuracy, setting a new industry standard for trace analysis and for timing measurements required for testing high performance SAN products, particularly where latency is a key metric of success.

Additionally, the SierraNet family's Advanced State Machines are easy to use and help Engineers Trigger, Filter, and Inject errors with surgical precision with up to 4 sequencers and up to 24 states per sequencer to concisely target areas of interest and save precious time. When the user can not accurately define the conditions associated with a problem and needs to capture a broad swath of traffic to identify a cause of an issue, the SierraNet will dynamically assign the largest and most flexible recording memory in the industry to one port or spread the memory use across all eight ports based on the traffic profile.