Allied Telesis SwitchBlade x8100 User Manual
Technical Guide
®
SwitchBlade x8100 Series System Overview
Next Generation Intelligent Layer 3+ Chassis Switches
SwitchBlade x8100 Series | System Overview
Contents
Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................................. 3
SwitchBlade x8100 Series – Chassis .......................................................................................................................... 4
SwitchBlade x8100 Series – Chassis .......................................................................................................................... 5
SwitchBlade x8100 Series – Control and Line Cards .................................................................................. 6
CFC400 Control Card............................................................................................................................................6
CFC960 Control Card ............................................................................................................................................7
SwitchBlade x8100 Series – Power Supplies and Cooling .......................................................................8
System PSUs ...................................................................................................................................................................8
PoE PSUs ........................................................................................................................................................................... 8
System cooling ............................................................................................................................................................... 9
SwitchBlade x8100 Series – Internal Architecture .........................................................................................10
Data plane connectivity ..........................................................................................................................................10
Data plane load balancing .....................................................................................................................................11
Data plane trafc management ........................................................................................................................11
Control plane connectivity ..................................................................................................................................12
Control card synchronization ............................................................................................................................ 13
CPU trafc prioritization and rate limiting ...............................................................................................14
SwitchBlade x8100 Series – Switch Star tup ........................................................................................................15
Switch star tup operation ......................................................................................................................................15
Managing the chassis .................................................................................................................................................15
Chassis reboot ...............................................................................................................................................................15
CFC fast failover ........................................................................................................................................................15
Hot-swapping CFCs .................................................................................................................................................. 15
Hot-swapping line cards ......................................................................................................................................... 15
Software upgrading ...................................................................................................................................................16
Incompatible software releases ........................................................................................................................ 16
CFC disabled master .............................................................................................................................................. 16
System information .................................................................................................................................................... 17
Appendix A: SwitchBlade x8100 Series Network Solutions ......................................19
Solution 1 – SwitchBlade x8100 (CFC400) network core resiliency .................................. 20
Solution 2 – SwitchBlade x8100 (CFC400) distributed network with EPSRing ........ 21
Solution 3 – SwitchBlade x8100 (CFC960) complete network core resilience .........22
Solution 4 – SwitchBlade x8100 (CFC960) distributed collapsed backbone ............... 23
Solution 5 – SwitchBlade x8100 Series as AMF master ................................................................24
| SwitchBlade x8100 Series System Overview alliedtelesis.com2
SwitchBlade x8100 Series | System Overview
Introduction
The SwitchBlade x8100 Series next generation intelligent Layer 3+ chassis switches are designed to deliver high availability, wire-speed
performance, and a high port count. Allied Telesis advanced features make them the ideal solution for the modern enterprise network
where resiliency, reliability and high performance are the key requirements.
The SwitchBlade x8100 is available in 6-slot and 12-slot models, with an extensive range of connectivity options. Dual control cards are
partnered with the line card slots. Gigabit and 10 Gigabit line card options ensure a system capable of meeting the requirements of
today’s networks, and the exibility to expand when required.
Two control card options, the CFC400 and CFC960, are available, which allow the SwitchBlade x8100 Series to be deployed in
medium to large scale networks. The CFC960 is a more powerful control card to suppor t larger networks, and can double the
backplane bandwidth of the chassis. It also supports advanced features like VCStack Plus and VRF-Lite. VCStack Plus allows two chassis
to be stacked together into a single vir tual unit. This creates a powerful and completely resilient network core, which can even be
distributed over long distance
The SwitchBlade x8100 Series, along with other Allied Telesis SwitchBlade and X Series switches, runs the AlliedWare Plus operating
system, providing an industry standard CLI and a comprehensive feature-set. As an alternative to the CLI, a GUI (Graphical User
Interface) allows for web based monitoring and conguration of the SwitchBlade x8100 Series.*
This document provides an over view of the SwitchBlade x8100 Series hardware, internal architecture and switch operation. Appendix
A highlights two CFC400 based network scenarios and two CFC960 based network scenarios where the SwitchBlade x8100 Series
can provide powerful solutions. A 5th scenario shows how the SwitchBlade x8100 Series can be the center of an Allied Telesis
Management Framework (AMF) network. AMF automates many everyday network administration tasks. The complete network can
be managed as a single virtual device with powerful centralized management features. Growing the network can be accomplished with
plug-and-play simplicity, and network node recovery is fully zero-touch.
*The G UI for a C FC9 60 based system will be available Q2 2014
SwitchBlade x8100 Series System Overview | 3
SwitchBlade x8100 Series | System Overview
SwitchBlade x8100 Series – Chassis
The SwitchBlade x8112 is a 7 rack unit modular chassis
A number of components have specic positions in the chassis:
comprising:
■ 2 Controller Fabric Card (CFC) slots
■ 10 Line card slots
■ 2 System PSU bays
■ 2 PoE PSU bays
■ Fan tray
■ System PSUs use the 2 right hand bays
■ PoE PSUs use the 2 left hand bays
■ CFCs use slots 5 & 6
■ Line cards use slots 1-4, 7-12
All of the above system components are hot-swappable to maximise system uptime during maintenance or reconguration.
PoE PSU bays System PSU bays
10 x Line card slots
7RU
2 x Control Fabric
card slots
Fan-tray bay
The rear of the chassis provides power cord receptacles for the system and PoE power supplies. The backplane of the SwitchBlade
x8112 is completely passive for high reliability, and is maintenance free. There are 3 extra small covers on the rear of the chassis for
easy access to system components. The left-hand cover provides access to the chassis ID EPROM, and the right-hand covers provide
access to the opto-couplers, used for PSU isolation.
System power
cord receptacles
PoE power
cord receptacles
Chassis ID
EPROM cover
| SwitchBlade x8100 Series System Overview alliedtelesis.com4
PSU opto-coupler
covers
SwitchBlade x8100 Series | System Overview
PSU opto-coupler
SwitchBlade x8100 Series – Chassis
The SwitchBlade x8106 is a 4 rack unit modular chassis
A number of components have specic positions in the chassis:
comprising:
■ 2 Controller Fabric Card (CFC) slots
■ 4 Line card slots
» A 5th Line card can replace one CFC
■ 2 System PSU bays
■ 2 PoE PSU bays
■ Fan tray
■ System PSUs use the 2 right hand bays
■ PoE PSUs use the 2 left hand bays
■ Line cards use slots 1-4
■ A CFC uses slots 5
■ A CFC or Line card uses slots 6
All of the above system components are hot-swappable to maximise system uptime during maintenance or reconguration.
PoE PSU bays System PSU bays
4RU
4 x Line card slots
Fan-tray bay
1 x Control Fabric
card slot
1 x Control Fabric
or Line card slot
The rear of the chassis provides power cord receptacles for the system and PoE power supplies. The backplane of the SwitchBlade
x8106 is completely passive for high reliability, and is maintenance free. There are 3 extra small covers on the rear of the chassis for
easy access to system components. The left-hand cover provides access to the chassis ID EPROM, and the right-hand covers provide
access to the opto-couplers, used for PSU isolation.
System power
cord receptacles
PoE power
cord receptacles
Chassis ID
EPROM cover
covers
SwitchBlade x8100 Series System Overview | 5
SwitchBlade x8100 Series | System Overview
SwitchBlade x8100 Series – Control and Line Cards
■ SBx81CFC960 (Controller Fabric Card)
■ SBx81CFC400 (Controller Fabric Card)
■ SBx81GT24 (24 x 10/100/1000T Line Card)
■ SBx81GT40 (40 x 10/100/1000T RJ.5 Line Card)
■ SBx81GP24 (24 x 10/100/1000T PoE+ Line Card)
■ SBx81GS24a (24 x 100/1000 SFP Line Card)
■ SBx81XS6 (6 x 10Gbps (SFP+) Line Card)
Note: The SwitchBlade x8100 Series shares hardware design with
the Layer-2 SwitchBlade x3100 Series chassis. To ensure no possible
conicts if an incorrect card is installed - if a SwitchBlade x3100 line
card is put into a SwitchBlade x8100 chassis it will not power up,
and is held in reset.
With 10 line card slots available, the SwitchBlade x8112
supports:
■ 400 GbE copper ports
■ 240 GbE copper ports with PoE+
■ 240 GbE ber ports (SFP)
■ 60 10GbE por ts (SFP+)
■ or any combination
When using 5 line card slots, the SwitchBlade x8106 supports:
■ 200 GbE copper por ts
■ 120 GbE copper por ts with PoE+
■ 120 GbE ber por ts (SFP)
■ 30 10GbE por ts (SFP+)
■ or any combination
CFC400 Control Card
As shown above the CFC400 control card includes a standard
RS-232 asynchronous port, and an Ethernet port for out of
band management. It also includes a USB connector, allowing
the easy transfer of les and additional storage as required (the
USB connector supports USB storage devices only). Centralised
LEDs provide status of all 12 card slots, along with CFC, PSU
and fan tray.
In keeping with our commitment to environmentally friendly
processes and products, the SwitchBlade x8100 Series
is designed to reduce power consumption and minimize
hazardous waste. Features include the use of high efciency
power supplies and low power chip sets. The CFC400 also
include an ECO-Switch button on the front panel
allowing conservation of additional power by
turning off all diagnostic LED indicators across the
chassis when they are not required.
The name CFC400 is derived from the fact that these control
cards will provide 40 gigabits bandwidth per line card slot.
40Gbps x 10 line card slots (SBx8112) = 400Gbps (CFC400)
SwitchBlade x8112 with dual CFC400 = 800Gbps switching fabric.
SwitchBlade x8106 with dual CFC400 = 320Gbps switching fabric.
| SwitchBlade x8100 Series System Overview alliedtelesis.com6
SwitchBlade x8100 Series | System Overview
CFC960 Control Card
The CFC960 shown above provides all of the same connectors
and front panel information as the CFC400 shown previously,
plus 4 x 10GbE SFP+ ports. The SFP+ ports can be used for
standard 10GbE connectivity (ber only) or for stacking two
SwitchBlade x8100 Series chassis together into a single virtual
unit using VCStack Plus. As the stacking connectors are ber the
two chassis do not need to be collocated, but can be kilometres
apart – perfect for a distributed core environment, or datamirroring solution (as shown in Appendix A).
The name CFC960 is derived from the fact that these control
cards can provide up to 80Gbps bandwidth per line card slot.
80Gbps x 10 line card slots (SBx8112) = 800Gbps
4 SFP+ front panel ports = 80Gbps
Inter CFC link = 80Gbps
Total = 960Gbps (CFC960)
SwitchBlade x8112 with dual CFC960 = 1.92Tbps switching fabric.
SwitchBlade x8106 with dual CFC960 = 960Gbps switching fabric.
SwitchBlade x8100 Series System Overview | 7
SwitchBlade x8100 Series | System Overview
SwitchBlade x8100 Series – Power Supplies
and Cooling
The SwitchBlade x8100 Series includes AC and DC system
power supply options. Optional PoE power supplies will supply
power to endpoints when used with the SBx81GP24 line card.
The power supplies and fan tray available are:
The two system and two PoE power supplies have individual
power cord receptacles on the rear of the chassis, so each
can be fed from separate power sources if desired to further
increase reliability and resiliency. For specic power outlet
requirements (dependent on voltage in your country) see the
installation guide.
■ SBxPWRSYS1 (1200W AC System Power Supply)
■ SBxPWRSYS1-80 (1200W DC System Power Supply)
■ SBxPWRPOE1 (1200W AC PoE Power Supply)
■ SBxFAN12 (Fan tray for 12 slot chassis)
■ SBxFAN06 (Fan tray for 6 slot chassis)
System PSUs
As with other Allied Telesis advanced switches using modular
power supplies, one PSU is enough to power the complete
SwitchBlade x8100 system. A second power supply will loadshare and provide redundancy. PSUs and the fan tray are all hotswappable so no downtime is encountered during maintenance.
PoE PSUs
A PoE power supply (SBxPWRPOE1) will t into the system
PSU bay, but they are electronically keyed so it will not power
up and the chassis won’t boot. Correct PSU placement must be
observed for the system to function correctly.
The SwitchBlade x8100 Series supports PoE+, which supplies
the higher power required from a new generation of network
attached devices. These new devices, such as pan tilt and zoom
IP security cameras, touch screen displays and so on, frequently
require more than the 12.95W available with standard PoE
(IEEE 802.3af ). PoE+ (IEEE 802.3at) can provide up to 30W of
power, with a powered device able to draw up to 25.5W.
The SwitchBlade x8100 Series supports one or two 1200W
PoE PSUs, so 2400W maximum. This allows power to be
supplied to 80 devices (at the maximum PoE+ specication
of 30W) or 155 devices (at the maximum PoE specication of
15.4W). For devices like IP phones which require less power
(class 2 PoE of around 7W) then a larger number can be
supported.
The SwitchBlade x8100 will quite likely be connected to a
number of different PoE devices, such as IP phones, security
cameras and so on, with each type of device requiring different
power levels. Power budgeting manages the allocation of power
to the devices connected to SBx81GP24 PoE line cards. This
ensures the most efcient use of the 2400W available, and
support for the maximum number of PoE devices.
As with other AlliedWare Plus switches that support PoE,
priority can be set for specic ports (low, high, and critical). This
ensures that important devices continue to receive power even
if the total power budget is exceeded, with power delivered
rst to critical, then high, and then low priority devices. Power
capacity for a por t can be set to anything from 4W to 30W, and
PoE can also be disabled for a port if desired.
More information on PoE and its operation can be found in the
System and PoE power cord receptacles
| SwitchBlade x8100 Series System Overview alliedtelesis.com8
SwitchBlade x8100 Series software reference manual.
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