With its multiprotocol connectivity, the Cisco 4-Port 10 Gb/sec FC Switching Module easily integrates the FICON protocol, FICON CUP management, and switch cascading facilitate mainframe integration.
The Cisco MDS 9000 4-Port 10 Gb/sec FC Switching Module delivers uncompromising performance, with 10 Gb/sec link bandwidth, 80 Gb/sec of continuous aggregate bandwidth, and the intelligence and advanced features required for multilayer SANs.
The Fibre Channel standard 10 Gb/sec interfaces provide high Fibre Channel switching performance fort ISLs and inter-datacenter connection over a metro optical infrastructure.
High-performance ISLs
The module supports up to 16 links in a single PortChannel. The links can span any sped-matched ports on any module within a chassis for added scalability and resilience.
Up to 4095 buffer-to-buffer credits can be assigned to a single Fibre Channel port, providing industry-leading extension of storage networks up to 800 kilometers at 10 Gb/sec while maintaining full link bandwidth.
Industry-Leading Port Density
Intelligent scalability
The Cisco MDS 9000 4-Port 10-Gb/sec Fibre Channel Switching Module offers industry-leading port density, scaling from 4 to 528 ports per chassis. Up to 44 10-Gb/sec ports can be integrated into a single chassis, and 132 ports can be integrated into a single 42-unit rack.
Because building a large-scale storage network requires more than just high port density, Cisco Systems has introduced innovative features that make multilayer storage networks a reality. VSANs, Inter-VSAN Routing (IVR), advanced traffic management, hardware-enabled serviceability, and comprehensive security features make the Cisco MDS 9000 Family the platform of choice for businesses requiring high scalability and low TCO.
Virtual SANs
More efficient utilization
Ideal for efficient, secure SAN consolidation, VSANs allow more efficient storage network utilization by creating hardware-based isolated environments within a single physical SAN fabric or switch. Each VSAN can be zoned as a typical SAN and maintains its own fabric services for added scalability and resilience.
VSANs allow the cost of SAN infrastructure to be shared among more users, while ensuring absolute segregation of traffic and retaining independent control of configuration on a VSAN-by-VSAN basis.
Integrated SAN routing
In another step toward deploying the most efficient, cost-effective, consolidated storage networks, the Cisco MDS 9000 Family 4-Port 10-Gb/sec Fibre Channel Switching Modules also support IVR routing functionality for Fibre Channel.
IVR allows selective transfer of data traffic between specific initiators and targets on different VSANs while maintaining isolation of control traffic within each VSAN. With IVR, data can transit VSAN boundaries while maintaining control plane isolation, thereby maintaining fabric stability and availability.
Integrated IVR eliminates the need for external routing appliances, greatly increasing routing scalability while delivering line-rate routing performance, simplifying management, and eliminating the challenges associated with maintaining separate systems. Integrated IVR means lower total cost of SAN ownership.
Integrated Mainframe Support
Mainframe-ready
The Cisco 4-Port 10-Gb/sec Fibre Channel Switching Module is mainframe ready, with full support for IBM zSeries FICON and Linux environments. Qualified by IBM for attachment to all FICON-enabled devices in an IBM zSeries operating environment, the module supports transport of the FICON protocol in cascaded fabrics, as well as intermix of FICON and open systems Fibre Channel Protocol (FCP) on the same switch.
Increased SAN utilization
VSANs simplify intermix of SAN resources between z/OS, mainframe Linux, and open systems environments, allowing for increased SAN utilization and simplified SAN management. VSAN-based intermix mode eliminates the uncertainty and instability often associated with zoning-based intermix techniques.
VSANs also greatly reduce the probability of a misconfiguration or component failure in one VSAN affecting operation in other VSANs. VSAN-based management access control simplifies partitioning of SAN management responsibilities between mainframe and open systems environments, enhancing security.
FICON VSANs can be managed using the integrated Cisco Fabric Manager; the Cisco command-line interface (CLI); or IBM CUP-enabled management tools, including IBM SA/390, Resource Measurement Facility (RMF), or Dynamic Channel Path Management (DCM).
Advanced Traffic Management
Simplified deployment and utilization
Advanced traffic management capabilities integrated into every Cisco MDS 9000 Family 4-Port 10-Gb/sec Fibre Channel Switching Module simplify deployment and optimization of large-scale fabrics.
Virtual Output Queuing: Ensures line-rate performance on each port, independent of traffic pattern, by eliminating head-of-line blocking.
Up to 4095 buffer-to-buffer credits: Can be assigned to an individual port for optimal bandwidth utilization across distance.
PortChannels: Allow users to aggregate up to 16 physical ISLs into a single logical bundle, providing optimized bandwidth utilization across all links. The bundle can consist of any speed-matched ports from any module in the chassis, ensuring that the bundle can remain active even in the event of a module failure.
Fabric Shortest Path First (FSPF):Based multipathing provides the intelligence to load balance across up to 16 equal cost paths and, in the event of a switch failure, dynamically reroute traffic.
QoS: Can be used to manage bandwidth and control latency to prioritize critical traffic.
FCC: An end-to-end feedback-based congestion control mechanism that augments the Fibre Channel buffer-to-buffer credit mechanism to provide enhanced traffic management.
Superior Diagnostics and Troubleshooting
Proactive health monitoring
Managing large-scale storage networks requires proactive diagnostics, tools to verify connectivity and route latency, and mechanisms for capturing and analyzing traffic.
The Cisco MDS 9000 Family integrates advanced analysis and debug tools. Power-on self-test (POST) and online diagnostics provide proactive health monitoring. The Cisco MDS 9000 Family 4-Port 10-Gb/sec Fibre Channel Switching Modules provide the integrated hardware functionality required to implement diagnostic capabilities such as Fibre Channel Traceroute for detailing the exact path and timing of flows and Switched Port Analyzer (SPAN) and Remote Switched Port Analyzer (RSPAN) to intelligently capture network traffic. After traffic has been captured, it can then be analyzed with the Cisco Fabric Analyzer, an embedded Fibre Channel analyzer.
Comprehensive port-based and flow-based statistics enable sophisticated performance analysis and service-level agreement (SLA) accounting. With the Cisco MDS 9000 Family, Cisco Systems delivers a comprehensive toolset for troubleshooting and analysis of storage networks.
Robust Security
Protects your sensitive data
Addressing the need for failproof security in storage networks, the Cisco MDS 4-Port 10-Gb/sec Fibre Channel Switching Module-offer an extensive security framework to protect highly sensitive data crossing today's enterprise networks. The module employs intelligent packet inspection at the port level, including the application of ACLs for hardware enforcement of zones, VSANs, and advanced Port Security features.
Extended zoning capabilities are enabled to ensure that logical unit numbers (LUNs) are accessible only by specific hosts (LUN zoning), to limit SCSI read commands for a certain zone (read-only zoning), and to restrict broadcasts to only the selected zones (broadcast zones).
VSANs are used to achieve higher security and greater stability by providing complete isolation among devices that are connected to the same physical SAN. IVR enables controlled sharing of resources between VSANs. In addition, FC-SP provides switch-switch and host-switch Diffie-Hellman Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol (DH-CHAP) authentication supporting RADIUS or TACACS+ to help ensure that only authorized devices access protected storage networks.
