Brocade Communications Systems SilkWorm 3900 User Manual

The Brocade®SilkWorm®3900
32-port, auto-sensing Fibre Channel
switch provides an intelligent and
cost-effective solution to meet a
wide range of Storage Area
Network (SAN) requirements.
As the latest addition to the Brocade
2 Gbit/sec fabric switch family,
the SilkWorm 3900 is ideal for
organizations that face rapidly
changing storage requirements.

With the performance capabilities
of an enterprise switch and the
cost-effectiveness of a modular
switch solution, the SilkWorm 3900
enables a flexible SAN infrastructure.
Designed for midsize to large storage
networks, the SilkWorm 3900
enables organizations to implement a

SAN infrastructure that best meets
their current needs and expands
seamlessly as their storage requirements
evolve.The SilkWorm 3900 provides a
complete solution for a departmental
SAN fabric, as a small core, or an
edge switch extending the reach of
an enterprise core-to-edge SAN
built around Brocade SilkWorm
Directors (see Figure 1).

Based on a third-generation
Brocade intelligent architecture,
the SilkWorm 3900 provides a
highly available, scalable, and secure
foundation for SAN applications
such as high-speed data backup,
server and storage consolidation,
remote mirroring, and long-distance
data replication.

Increased Flexibility for Evolving
SAN Requirements

Highlights

• Provides 32 ports in a 1.5U enclosure
along with auto-sensing 1 and
2 Gbit/sec interfaces for seamless
integration with existing fabrics

• Leverages Brocade Advanced Fabric
Services to provide the highest
levels of SAN performance, security,
and manageability

• Meets mission-critical availability
requirements with network resiliency,
automatic data path rerouting, hot
code activation, and redundant,
hot-pluggable components

• Increases performance by employing
Brocade Inter-Switch Link (ISL) Trunking
to create a data path with up to
8 Gbit/sec throughput per trunk

• Provides substantial cost savings by
supporting a SAN infrastructure that
increases productivity, maximizes IT
resource utilization, and reduces
capital expenditures

• Supports FICON

®

and FICON in-band

management (CUP)

SILKWORM 3900

The 2 Gbit/sec Brocade SilkWorm 3900

Enterprise Fabric Switch provides an entry

point to enterprise SANs, improving availability,

performance, and manageability at an

attractive price.

SILKWORM SWITCH FAMILY

HIGH AVAILABILITY FOR
BUSINESS CONTINUANCE

By combining the proven reliability of
the SilkWorm switch family with a wide
range of hardware and software availability
features—such as non-disruptive upgrades
of switch software—the SilkWorm 3900
supports a SAN fabric capable of delivering
overall system availability greater than

99.999 percent.

The core-to-edge SAN model uses
redundant fabrics, hot-pluggable
components, and multiple data paths to
help ensure high availability across the
fabric. In addition, Brocade Fabric Shortest
Path First (FSPF) enables the fabric to
automatically isolate problems and reroute
traffic around failed links onto alternate
paths. As a result, the SilkWorm 3900
provides a SAN infrastructure solution that
is designed to meet the most demanding
business continuance requirements.

INDUSTRY-LEADING PERFORMANCE

The SilkWorm 3900 provides numerous
business advantages for organizations that
want to increase application performance
and operational productivity. It can deliver
up to 128 Gbit/sec of aggregated through­put, with 32 ports capable of 2 Gbit/sec
full-duplex performance.To achieve even
higher performance, organizations can use

Brocade ISL Trunking, which combines as
many as four ISLs into a single logical ISL
with up to 8 Gbit/sec throughput.

Fibre Channel speed is also possible at
longer distances for remote operations.
By leveraging the Brocade Extended
Fabrics feature and Dense Wave Division
Multiplexing (DWDM) technology, storage
networks can span up to 100 km over
Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs) at
high speed—significantly enhancing
disaster recovery operations.

A DESIGN TO LEVERAGE INTELLIGENCE IN
THE FABRIC

To help maximize IT investments and
reduce costs, the SilkWorm 3900 is
designed to leverage the industry’s only
intelligent fabric services architecture.
The proven intelligence in the Brocade
Fabric OS®and third-generation Brocade
ASIC technology enables the high levels
of security, management, and performance
required by the most demanding
SAN environments.

Organizations can utilize leading capabilities
such as frame filtering and Brocade
Advanced Fabric Services to unlock the
intelligence of the Brocade SAN fabric
for a variety of applications. For instance,
Brocade Advanced Zoning enables
organizations to implement robust,

SILKWORM 3900

Figure 1. The SilkWorm 3900
provides a reliable building block
for departmental SANs and a
high-performance edge switch for
enterprise core-to-edge SANs.

1 Gbit/sec

SilkWorm Family

3900

3200

Small Core

3900

8 Gbit/sec

Trunk

SilkWorm Family

3800

2 Gbit/sec

hardware-enforced zoning based on
World Wide Name (WWN).
Advanced Performance Monitoring
provides fabric-wide performance
analysis to support tasks such as load
balancing and application charge-back.
And ISL Trunking provides
8 Gbit/sec throughput to support
high-performance applications.

OPEN SAN MANAGEMENT

The SilkWorm 3900 simplifies SAN
management by networking core
and edge switches under a common
management platform based on
Brocade Fabric OS. An embedded
real-time operating system, Fabric OS
includes standard management inter­faces, a full range of management
tools, and a Brocade Fabric Access API
that supports third-party SAN manage­ment applications.This open systems
approach enables heterogeneous device
connectivity, automatic data routing,
and a seamless upgrade path among
all SilkWorm products.

To simplify SAN administration
and reduce management costs,
the SilkWorm 3900 supports the
following functions:

• Simple Network Management
Protocol (SNMP)-based interfaces to

access switch information

• Switch management through a
command line interface,
WEB TOOLS, or Fabric Manager

• End-to-end fabric visibility through
Advanced Performance Monitoring

• Real-time health monitoring
through Fabric Watch

• Third-party SAN management
application development through
SMI-S and the Fabric Access API

SEAMLESS UPGRADES AND
INVESTMENT PROTECTION

To protect existing investments,
the SilkWorm 3900 provides backward
and forward compatibility with the
SilkWorm family of switches. In addi­tion, translative mode capabilities
enable legacy private loop devices to
join the Fibre Channel SAN fabric.

The SilkWorm 3900 integrates with
heterogeneous environments that
include operating systems such as
Windows NT, UNIX, z/OS, and
Linux—giving organizations the flexi­bility to select storage solutions that best
match their particular needs. As a result,
these organizations can more easily
implement cost-efficient and highly
manageable enterprise SAN fabrics.

HIGHER FABRIC SECURITY FOR
CRITICAL INFORMATION

The SilkWorm 3900 is designed to
provide the highest level of SAN fabric
security to help organizations safeguard
their critical information. For example,
Brocade Zoning logically groups a SAN
fabric into secure zones to help ensure
that SAN-attached devices can access
only their authorized storage resources.
Advanced Zoning provides even more
control over the fabric through robust
hardware-enforced zoning by WWN.
These capabilities enable organizations
to simplify administration while
significantly increasing their control
over data access.

MAXIMIZING SAN INVESTMENTS

Brocade and its partners offer
complete SAN solutions to meet a
wide range of technology and business
requirements.These solutions include
education and training, support,
service, and professional services to
help optimize SAN investments.
For more information, contact an
authorized Brocade sales partner or
visit www.brocade.com.

SILKWORM SWITCH FAMILY

SilkWorm

Directors

8 Gbit/sec

Trunk

SilkWorm 3900

Edge Fabric Switches

Systems Architecture

Fibre Channel ports 32 universal ports (E, F, and FL)

Interoperability SilkWorm 2000, 3000, and 12000 switches

Performance Auto-sensing of 1 Gbit/sec and 2 Gbit/sec

port speeds

ISL Trunking Up to four 2.125 Gbit/sec ports per trunk; up to

8.5 Gbit/sec per ISL trunk

Aggregate bandwidth 128 Gbit/sec end-to-end

Switch core Non-blocking

Fabric latency <2.1 µsec. with no contention, cut-through routing

Maximum frame size 2112-byte payload

Classes of service Class 2, Class 3, Class F (inter-switch frames)

Port types FL_Port, F_Port, and E_Port; self-discovery based on

switch type (U_Port); optional port type control

Data traffic types Fabric switches support unicast, multicast

(256 groups), and broadcast

Media types Hot-pluggable, industry-standard Small Form-Factor

Pluggable (SFP), LC connector; Short-Wavelength
Laser (SWL); Long-Wavelength Laser (LWL);
Extended Long-Wavelength Laser (ELWL); distance
depends on fiber optic cable and port speed

Laser Short-wave, long-wave, and extended long-wave

Fabric services Simple Name Server, Registered State Change

Notification (RSCN), Alias Server (multicast),
and Brocade Zoning, Advanced Zoning,
Extended Fabrics, Fabric Watch, ISL Trunking,
and Remote Switch (some services are optional)

Options Redundant power supply, and rack-mount kit

Management

Supported software Telnet, SNMP, WEB TOOLS, and

Fabric Manager (optional)

Management access 10/100 Ethernet (RJ-45), serial port

Diagnostics POST and embedded online/offline diagnostics

Mechanical Specifications

Enclosure Back-to-front airflow, power from rear

1.5U, 19-in.–EIA compliant

Size Depth: 58.56 cm (23.06 in)

Height: 6.55 cm (2.58 in.)
Width: 42.86 cm (16.87 in.)

Weight Single power supply weight: 14.33 kg (31.60 lbs)

Double power supply weight: 16.24 kg (35.80 lbs)

Mounting option Rack-mountable in standard rack; Telco-style

mid-mounting

Environment

Temperature Operating: 10° C to 40° C (50° F to 104° F)

Nonoperating: -25° C to 70° C (-13° F to 158° F)

Humidity Operating: 20% to 85% non-condensing at 40° C

(104° F)
Nonoperating: 10% to 85% non-condensing,
at 70° C (158° F)

Altitude Operating: up to 3,000 m (9,800 ft)

Nonoperating: up to 12 km (40,000 ft)

Shock Operating: 80 G, 2.4ms, half-sine

Nonoperating: 20 G, 11 milliseconds, half-sine wave

Vibration Operating: 0.5 G, 5-500 Hz

Non-operating: 2.0 G, 5-500 Hz

Power

AC Input Nominal: 100 to 240 VAC auto-ranging; 5.0 A

Frequency 47 to 63 Hz

SILKWORM 3900

© 2004 Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 10/04 GA-DS-454-03

Brocade, the Brocade B weave logo, Fabric OS,Secure Fabr ic OS, and SilkWorm are registered trademarks of Brocade Communications Systems,Inc., in the United States
and/or in other countries. FICON is a registered trademark of IBM Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. All other brands, products,or service names are or may
be trademarks or service marks of, and are used to identify, products or services of their respective owners.

Notice:This document is for informational pur poses only and does not set forth any warranty,expressed or implied, concerning any equipment, equipment feature, or
service offered or to be offered by Brocade.Brocade reserves the right to make changes to this document at any time, without notice, and assumes no responsibility for its
use.This informational document descr ibes features that may not be currently available. Contact a Brocade sales office for information on feature and product availability.
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For information about supported SAN standards, visit
www.brocade.com/sanstandards