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IBM BNT RackSwitch G8124
IBM System x at-a-glance guide
The IBM BNT RackSwitch G8124 delivers exceptional performance that is both lossless and low latency.
In addition, the G8124 delivers excellent cost savings as you consider acquisition costs, energy costs,
plus its feature-rich design with when it comes to virtualization, CEE/FCoE, high availability, and its
enterprise class Layer 2 and Layer 3 functionality.
With support for 1G or 10G, this switch is designed for those clients that are leveraging 10G Ethernet
today or have plans to in the future. This is the first Top of Rack 10Gb switch for IBM System x designed
to support IBM Virtual Fabric, which helps clients significantly reduce cost and complexity when it comes
to the I/O requirements of most virtualization deployments today. Virtual Fabric can help clients reduce
the number of multiple I/O adapters down to a single dual-port 10G adapter, in addition to reducing the
number of cables and upstream switch ports required. Virtual Fabric allows clients to carve up a dual-port
10G adapter into eight virtual NICs (vNICs) and create dedicated virtual pipes between the adapter and
the switch for optimal performance, plus higher availability and better security. This functionality provides
the ability to dynamically allocate bandwidth per vNIC in increments of 100 Mb, while being able to adjust
over time without downtime. Figure 1 shows the IBM BNT RackSwitch G8124.
Figure 1. IBM BNT RackSwitch G8124
Did you know
Did you know that:
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The G8124 switch is designed to support a number of separate types of configurations from a server
or downstream switches: 1 Gb, 10 Gb, virtual NIC, Converged Enhanced Ethernet (CEE/FCoE), and
iSCSI. This single switch can handle all these workloads and can connect to an upstream 1 Gb or 10
Gb infrastructure, or both.
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The G8124 is designed to support data center bridging (DCB), which is the IEEE’s group of protocols
that provide Lossless Ethernet and allows for clients to reduce the costs of implementing FCoE by
leveraging port aggregation before connecting to more costly upstream gateway devices.
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IBM Virtual Fabric helps clients reduce costs and complexity in environments where they need four or
more NICs per server. A perfect example is virtualization, where clients often need as many as eight
NICs per server.
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IBM is a leader in helping clients reduce the complexity of managing VM’s and VM migration with their
VMready product, which makes the network VM aware.
IBM BNT RackSwitch G8124 1
Part number information
Table 1 shows the part numbers for ordering these modules and additional options for them.
Table 1. IBM part numbers and feature codes for ordering
Description IBM System x part number Power Systems MTM/FC
IBM BNT RackSwitch G8124R 0446017
IBM BNT RackSwitch G8124F 7309BF9
IBM BNT RackSwitch G8124DC 7309BD5
IBM BNT RackSwitch G8124ER 7309BR6 1455-24E
IBM BNT RackSwitch G8124EF 7309BF7
1 Gb options
IBM BNT SFP RJ45 Transceiver 81Y1618 EB29
IBM BNT SFP SX Transceiver 81Y1622 EB2A
IBM BNT SFP LX Transceiver 90Y9424
IBM BNT SFP ZX Transceiver 90Y9418
0.6 m Blue Cat5e Cable 40K5679
1.5 m Blue Cat5e Cable 40K8785
3 m Blue Cat5e Cable 40K5581
10 m Blue Cat5e Cable 40K8927
25 m Blue Cat5e Cable 40K8930
10 Gb options
IBM BNT SFP+ SR Transceiver 46C3447 EB28
IBM BNT SFP+ LR Transceiver 90Y9412
IBM BNT SFP+ ER Transceiver 90Y9415
1m IBM Passive DAC SFP+ Cable 90Y9427
3m IBM Passive DAC SFP+ Cable 90Y9430
5m IBM Passive DAC SFP+ Cable 90Y9433
8.5m IBM Passive DAC SFP+ Cable 90Y9436
Miscellaneous options
IBM BNT 19" Flexible 4 Post Rail Kit 49Y4284
BNT G8124 1 Year Software upgrade License 90Y3515
1 m LC-LC Fiber Cable (networking) - Optical 88Y6851
5 m LC-LC Fiber Cable (networking)- Optical 88Y6854
25 m LC-LC Fiber Cable (networking) - Optical 88Y6857
Note: Small form-factor pluggable plus (SFP+) and SFP transceivers are not included.
IBM BNT RackSwitch G8124 2
With the flexibility of the G8124 switch, clients can take advantage of the technologies that they require for
multiple environments. For 10 Gb uplinks, they have a choice of either SFP+ transceivers (SR or LR) for
longer distances or more cost-effective and lower-power-consuming options such as SFP+
direct-attached cables (DAC or Twinax cables), which can be 1 - 8.5 meters in length and are ideal for
connecting chassis together, connecting to a Top of Rack switch, or even connecting to an adjacent rack.
The G8124 module part numbers include the following items:
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One IBM BNT RackSwitch G8124
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Generic Rail Mount Kit (2-post)
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BNT Mini-USB to DB9 serial cable (3 m)
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Publication Group
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An IBM limited 3-year hardware warranty
Models shipped after April 5, 2011 include a 3-year software license, providing entitlement to upgrades
over that period.
Power cables need to be ordered separately at no additional charge. Table 2 lists these options.
Table 2. Additional cables to be ordered separately
Part number Description
39Y7917 Power Cord Europe AC plug 10A/250 V; OPT
39Y7918 Power Cord Europe (Denmark) AC plug 10A/250 V; OPT
39Y7919 Power Cord Europe (Switzerland) AC plug 10A/250 V; OPT
39Y7920 Power Cord Europe (Israel) AC plug 10A/250 V; OPT
39Y7922 Power Cord Europe (South Africa) AC plug 10A/250 V; OPT
39Y7923 Power Cord UK AC plug 13A/250 V; OPT
39Y7924 Power Cord Australia AC plug 10A/250 V; OPT
39Y7925 Power Cord Korea AC plug 10A/250 V; OPT
39Y7926 Power Cord Japan AC plug 10A/250 V; OPT
39Y7927 Power Cord India AC plug 10A/250 V; OPT
39Y7928 Power Cord China AC plug 16A/250 V; OPT
39Y7929 Power Cord Brazil AC plug 16A/250 V; OPT
39Y7930 Power Cord Uruguay/Argentina AC plug 16A/250 V; OPT
39Y7931 Power Cord US/Canada AC plug 10A/250 V; OPT
IBM BNT RackSwitch G8124 3
Benefits
The IBM BNT RackSwitch G8124 offers the following benefits:
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High performance: The 10G Low Latency (<700 nanoseconds) switch provides the best combination
of extremely low latency, non-blocking line-rate switching and ease of management.
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Lower power and better cooling: The G8124 uses as little power as two 60 W light bulbs, which is a
fraction of the power consumption of most competitive offerings. Unlike side-cooled switches, which
can cause heat recirculation and reliability concerns, the G8124’s rear-to-front cooling design reduces
data center air conditioning costs by having airflow match the servers in the rack. In addition, variable
speed fans assist in automatically reducing power consumption.
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Virtual Fabric can help customers address I/O requirements for multiple NIC’s while also helping
reduce cost and complexity. Virtual Fabric for IBM allows for the carving up of a physical NIC into
multiple virtual NICs (2 - 8 vNICs) and creates a virtual pipe between the adapter and the switch for
improved performance, availability, and security while reducing cost and complexity. (Planned
support for late 2010.)
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VM aware Networking: VMready™ software on the switch helps reduce configuration complexity while
significantly improving security levels in virtualized environments. VMready automatically detects
virtual machine movement from one physical server to another, and instantly reconfigures each VM’s
network policies across VLANs to keep the network up and running without interrupting traffic or
impacting performance. VMready works with all leading VM providers such as VMware, Citrix, Xen,
and Microsoft.
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Layer 3 functionality: The switch includes Layer 3 functionality, which provides security and
performance benefits as inter-VLAN traffic stays within the chassis. This switch also provides the full
range of Layer 3 protocols from static routes for technologies such as Open Shortest Path First
(OSPF) and Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) for enterprise customers.
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Active MultiPath (AMP) effectively doubles bandwidth by allowing all uplink ports to be active/active,
eliminating cross-stack traffic and providing up to 900 Gbps aggregate bandwidth between servers.
Built-in fault tolerance constant health checking ensures maximum availability.
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Seamless Interoperability: IBM switches interoperate seamlessly with other vendors' upstream
switches. Tolly Reports: Tolly Functionality and Certification: RackSwitch G8000 and G8124 and
Cisco Catalyst Interoperability Evaluation.
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Fault tolerance: These switches learn alternate routes automatically and perform faster convergence
in the unlikely case of a link, switch, or power failure. The switch uses proven technologies, such as
L2 trunk failover, advanced VLAN-based failover, VRRP, HotLink, Uplink Failure Detection (UFD),
IGMP V3 snooping, and OSPF.
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Converged fabric: The switch is designed to support CEE and connectivity to FCoE gateways. CEE
helps enable clients to combine storage, messaging traffic, VoIP, video, and other data on a common
data center Ethernet infrastructure. FCoE helps enable highly efficient block storage over Ethernet for
consolidating server network connectivity. As a result, clients can deploy a single server interface for
multiple data types, which can simplify both deployment and management of server network
connectivity, while maintaining the high availability and robustness required for storage transactions.
IBM BNT RackSwitch G8124 4
Features and specifications
In the following sections we list the features and specifications.
Performance
The performance specifications are:
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100% line rate performance
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Latency under 700 nanoseconds
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480 Gbps non-blocking switching throughput (full duplex)
Hardware features
For these models:
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IBM BNT RackSwitch G8124R (Rear-to-Front) IBM PN 0446017
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Rear-to-Front airflow – ideal for servers or blade chassis with ports in back of rack
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IBM BNT RackSwitch G8124F (Front-to-Rear) IBM PN 7309BF9
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Front-to-Rear airflow – ideal for IBM iDataplex or when needing ports in front of rack
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IBM BNT RackSwitch G8124DC (DC Power) IBM PN 7309CD9
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Rear-to-Front airflow – ideal for servers or blade chassis with ports in back of rack
Enhanced models:
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IBM BNT RackSwitch G8124E-R (Rear-to-Front) IBM PN 7309BR6
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Rear-to-Front airflow – ideal for servers or blade chassis with ports in back of rack
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IBM BNT RackSwitch G8124E-F (Front-to-Rear) IBM PN 7309BF7
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Front-to-Rear airflow – ideal for IBM iDataplex or when needing ports in front of rack
These are the hardware features:
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Interface options
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Twenty-four 10G SFP+ fiber connectors
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2x 10/100/1000 Ethernet RJ45 ports for Management
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One mini-USB Console port for management
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Server-like port orientations, enabling short and simple cabling
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Active DAC support for interoperability with Cisco Nexus 5k and Brocade
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Dimensions: 17.3” wide, 15” deep, 1 RU high
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Weight: 6.40 kg (14.08 lb)
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Rack Installation Kit
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Generic Rail Mount Kit (2-post)
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BNT Horizontal Rack Mount Kit
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Can be mounted vertically or horizontally
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LEDs
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System LEDs to indicate status
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LEDs to indicate master/member
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Airflow
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Rear-to-front cooling
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Redundant variable speed fans for reduced power draw
IBM BNT RackSwitch G8124 5
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