Data center bridging (DCB) is used to manage the bandwidth, relative priority, and flow control of multiple traffic types when sharing the same network link, for example, when sharing a datalink between networking and storage protocols. DCB enables information exchange with the peers about the features that support converged network by using LLDP. The information is related to the configurations affecting the integrity of network packets especially in heavy traffic environments, such as data centers. DCB enables efficient network infrastructure by consolidating storage area network (SAN) and local area network (LAN) and thereby reducing operational and management costs in data centers.
You can configure DCB features such as priority-based flow control (PFC) for the prevention of packet loss and enhanced transmission selection (ETS) for bandwidth sharing among packets based on class of service (CoS) priorities. For more information, see Chapter 6, Managing Converged Networks by Using Data Center Bridging.