Data Center Bridging (DCB)

Microsoft released a new feature that can be found in it’s recent editions of Windows Server 2016, and the client OS,  Windows 10. Though it has been available in Windows Server 2012, but we will be focusing on the usefulness of this feature.

Screenshot follows (Windows 10 Enterprise):

So, What does it mean? According to Microsoft, “IEEE 802.1 Data Center Bridging (DCB) is a collection of standards that defines a unified 802.3 Ethernet media interface, or fabric, for local area network (LAN) and storage area network (SAN) technologies. DCB extends the current 802.1 bridging specification to support the coexistence of LAN-based and SAN-based applications over the same networking fabric within a data center. DCB also supports technologies, such as Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) and iSCSI, by defining link-level policies that prevent packet loss.”

Source: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/network/overview-of-data-center-bridging

Couldn’t have said it better. Some good read links:

1. Install Data Center Bridging (DCB) in Windows Server 2016 or Windows 10

   Cisco IEEE 802.1 Data Center Bridging
   
   Data Center Bridging Task Group
   
   IEEE 802.1