IBM Flex System FC5022 Product Manual
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IBM Flex System FC5022 16Gb SAN Scalable Switches
IBM Redbooks Product Guide
The IBM Flex System™ FC5022 16Gb SAN Scalable Switch is a Gen 5 Fibre Channel (FC) high-density,
48-port switch that operates at 16 and 8 Gbps FC speeds and is used in the IBM Flex System chassis.
The switch provides 28 internal ports to compute nodes by way of the Flex midplane and 20 external
SFP+ ports, as shown in Figure 1. The FC5022 SAN switch module delivers a scalable embedded option
for IBM Flex System users connecting to 8 or 16 Gbps FC storage, deploying a new storage area network
(SAN) or connecting to an existing SAN in their enterprise. The switch offers end-to-end 16 Gb with
backwards compatibility to 8 Gb and 4 Gb to the SAN connectivity. Monitoring and management are
simplified using end-to-end Brocade tools, such as Web Tools and the Brocade Network Advisor (BNA).
Figure 1 shows the switch module.
Figure 1. IBM Flex System FC5022 16 Gb SAN Scalable Switch
Did you know?
Only the FC5022 provides up to 48 FC ports in an embedded form factor that provides the Flex System a
unique differentiation in the market including:
Increased server density. The 28 internal FC ports allow up to 28 Information ITEs in a single chassis,
which lowers the average server cost of the solution.
Greater reliability. When used with 4-port FC mezzanine adapters, the 28 internal ports enable
greater path redundancy and increased solution availability with no single point of failure.
Multi-chassis Scalability. The 20 external SFP+ ports allow for scaling up to 18 chassis without the
use of external FC switches, such as FC top-of-rack (ToR) switches, thereby greatly reducing the
overall cost of the Flex Solution.
IBM Flex System, a new category of computing and the next generation of Smarter Computing, offers
intelligent workload deployment and management for maximum business agility. This chassis delivers
high-speed performance complete with integrated servers, storage, and networking for multi-chassis
management in datacenter compute environments. Furthermore, its flexible design can meet the needs of
varying workloads with independently scalable IT resource pools for higher utilization and lower cost per
workload. While increased security and resiliency protect vital information and promote maximum uptime,
the integrated, easy-to-use management system reduces setup time and complexity, providing a quicker
path to ROI.
IBM Flex System FC5022 16Gb SAN Scalable Switches 1
Part number information
The part numbers to order the switch and optional upgrades are shown in Table 1.
Table 1. Part numbers and feature codes for ordering
Feature code
Description Part number
Switch modules
IBM Flex System FC5022 16 Gb SAN Scalable Switch 88Y6374 A1EH / 3770
(x-config / e-config)
IBM Flex System FC5022 24-port 16 Gb SAN Scalable Switch
(includes two 16 Gb SFPs)
IBM Flex System FC5022 24-port 16 Gb ESB SAN Scalable Switch 90Y9356 A2RQ / 3771
Features on Demand upgrades
IBM Flex System FC5022 16 Gb SAN Scalable Switch (Upgrade 1,
12-ports)
IBM Flex System FC5022 16 Gb SAN Scalable Switch (Upgrade 2,
24-ports)
IBM Flex System FC5022 16 Gb Fabric Watch Upgrade 00Y3320 A3HN / ESW3
IBM Flex System FC5022 16 Gb ISL/Trunking Upgrade 00Y3322 A3HP / ESW4
00Y3324 A3DP / ESW5
88Y6382 A1EP / 3772
88Y6386 A1EQ / 3773
The part numbers for the switches include the following items:
One IBM Flex System FC5022 16 Gb SAN Scalable Switch (12-port or 24-port or 24-port with ESB)
Two 16 Gb SFP+ optical transceivers (included with 24-port 16 Gb SAN Scalable Switch, part number
00Y3324)
Important Notices Flyer
Warranty Flyer
Documentation CD-ROM
The part numbers for the Features on Demand upgrades include the following items:
Features on Demand Activation Flyer
Upgrade authorization key
The switch does not include a serial management cable, however, IBM Flex System Management Serial
Access Cable, part number 90Y9338, is supported and contains two cables, a mini-USB-to-RJ45 serial
cable and a mini-USB-to-DB9 serial cable, either of which can be used to connect to the switch locally for
configuration tasks and firmware updates.
IBM Flex System FC5022 16Gb SAN Scalable Switches 2
The FC5022 12-port and 24-port ESB SAN switches come without SFP+ media, which must be ordered
separately to provide outside connectivity. The FC5022 24-port SAN switch (part number 00Y3324)
comes standard with two Brocade 16 Gb SFP+ transceivers. Additional SFP+ can be ordered, if required.
Table 2 lists the supported SFP+ options.
Table 2. Supported SFP+ transceivers
Feature code
Description Part number
16 Gb FC SFP+ transceivers
Brocade 16 Gb SFP+ Optical Transceiver 88Y6393 A22R / 5371
SFP+ Transceiver 16 Gbps 10 km LW 98Y2178 None / 2611
SFP+ Transceiver 16 Gbps 10 km LW 8-Pack 98Y2179 None / 2618
8 Gb FC SFP+ transceivers
Brocade 8Gb SFP+ SW Optical Transceiver 88Y6416 5084 / 5370
SFP Transceiver 8 Gbps 10 km LW 45W1216 None / 2821
SFP Transceiver 8 Gbps 10 km LW 8-Pack 45W1218 None / 2828
SFP Transceiver 8 Gbps 25 km ELW 45W2283 None / 2881
(x-config / e-config)
Table 3 provides a feature comparison by model for IBM Flex System FC5022 switches.
Table 3. Feature comparison by model
Feature 24-port 16 Gb ESB
SAN switch
Number of licensed ports 24 24 12
Number of SFP+ included 0 2 x 16 Gb SFP+ 0
Full fabric Included Included Included
Access Gateway Included Included Included
Advanced zoning Included Included Included
Enhanced Group Management Included Included Included
ISL Trunking Included Optional Optional
Adaptive Networking Included Included Included
Fabric Vision* Included Not available Not available
Advanced Performance Monitoring Included Not available Not available
Fabric Watch Included Optional Optional
Extended Fabrics Included Not available Not available
Server Application Optimization Included Not available Not available
24-port 16 Gb SAN
switch
16 Gb SAN switch
* With Fabric OS 7.2 and above, the Brocade Fabric Vision functionality is included with the 24-port 16 GB ESB SAN
switch, but may not be displayed as an individual license key. The functionality may instead be displayed along with
the Fabric Watch and Advanced Performance Monitoring license descriptions with the added verbiage "Fabric Vision
Capable."
IBM Flex System FC5022 16Gb SAN Scalable Switches 3
Table 4 provides compatibility information for the switch modules and Features on Demand upgrades for
them.
Table 4. Features on Demand upgrade compatibility
Part
Features on Demand upgrade
IBM Flex System FC5022 16 Gb SAN
Scalable Switch (Upgrade 1, 12-ports)
IBM Flex System FC5022 16 Gb SAN
Scalable Switch (Upgrade 2, 24-ports)
IBM Flex System FC5022 16 Gb Fabric
Watch Upgrade
IBM Flex System FC5022 16 Gb
ISL/Trunking Upgrade
* This feature is already included in the bundle.
number
88Y6382 No No Yes
88Y6386 Yes Yes Yes
00Y3320 No* Yes Yes
00Y3322 No* Yes Yes
24-port 16 Gb ESB
SAN switch
24-port 16 Gb
SAN switch
16 Gb SAN
switch
With Brocade's Dynamic Ports on Demand (DPOD) feature, ports are licensed in one of two methods: as
they come online or as selected by the administrator. With the 16 Gb SAN switch, the first 12 ports
reporting (on a first-come, first-served basis) on boot-up are assigned licenses. These 12 ports can be
any combination of external or internal Fibre Channel (FC) ports. After all port licenses have been
assigned, you can manually move those licenses from one port to another. Because this is dynamic, no
defined ports are reserved except ports 0 and 29. The 24-port 16 Gb SAN switches have the same
behavior; the only difference is the number of ports, which is 24.
Table 5 shows the total number of port licenses on the switch after applying compatible port upgrades.
Note: A maximum of one upgrade of each type (one Upgrade 1 and one Upgrade 2) is supported per one
switch module. Upgrade 1 and Upgrade 2 can be applied independently of each other.
Table 5. Ports on Demand upgrades
Total number of port licenses
24-port 16 Gb ESB
Ports on Demand upgrade
Included with base 24 24 12
Upgrade 1, 88Y6382 only (adds 12 port licenses) Not supported Not supported 24
Upgrade 2, 88Y6386 only (adds 24 port licenses) 48* 48* 36
Both Upgrade 1, 88Y6382 and Upgrade 2,
88Y6386 (add 36 port licenses)
* With the dual-port FC adapters installed in compute nodes, up to 34 ports (14 internal, 20 external) can be utilized.
The remaining 14 internal ports require use of the 4-port FC adapters in the server's ITE.
SAN switch
Not supported Not supported 48*
24-port 16 Gb SAN
switch
12-port 16 Gb
SAN switch
IBM Flex System FC5022 16Gb SAN Scalable Switches 4
Benefits
The switches offer the following key benefits:
Exceptional price/performance for growing SAN workloads
The FC5022 16 Gb Switch delivers exceptional price/performance for growing SAN workloads
through a combination of market-leading 1600 MB/sec throughput per port and an affordable
high-density, 12-port to 48-port form factor.
Enhanced server performance while using 16 Gb Gen 5 FC technology
IBM testing demonstrates that using 16 Gb FC adapters on the server and the FC5022 modules can
help achieve the following server enhancements, even if 8 Gb FC storage is used:
o Up to 30-50% better virtual machine density and higher number of concurrent users due to
increased storage bandwidth
o Up to 20-40% fewer servers required to support the workload specified
o Twice lower number and higher speed of inter-switch links required in scalable SANs
o Higher reliability and availability of services due to fewer number of components used to build the
solution
o Twice faster access to the business critical data
o Lower acquisition costs due to fewer number of systems and components
o Shorten ROI time frame and decrease overall TCO with the efficient utilization of server resources
and lower power, cooling, and management costs
o See IBM Redpaper “Positioning IBM Flex System 16 Gb Fibre Channel Fabric for
Storage-Intensive Enterprise Workloads” for details:
http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/redp4921.html?Open
Superior scalability both for internal and external ports that reduces costs and increases availability
The FC5022 16 Gb switch is the only switch that provides up to 28 internal server facing FC ports,
which allows the Flex Chassis to scale to 28 server ITEs in a single chassis (when using double
density half-width ITEs) that lowers the overall per-server cost of the solution. These 28 internal ports
also enable greater path redundancy for ITEs using the 4-port FC mezzanine adapters. Additionally,
the FC5022 offers an industry leading 20 external SFP+ ports that allows for multi-chassis scalability
up to 18 chassis without the use of external FC switches, thereby greatly reducing the overall cost of
the Flex Solution.
Accelerating fabric deployment and serviceability with Brocade ClearLink and Fabric Vision
Brocade ClearLink is a feature supported by the FC5022 16 Gb Switch that enables administrators to
quickly identify and isolate 16 Gbps optic, port, and cable problems, reducing fabric deployment and
diagnostic times. Brocade Fabric Vision Technology offers innovative diagnostic, monitoring, and
management capabilities to help administrators avoid problems, maximize application performance,
and reduce operational costs.
A building block for virtualized, private cloud storage
The FC5022 16 Gb Switch supports multi-tenancy in cloud environments through VM-aware
end-to-end visibility and monitoring, Quality of Service (QoS), and fabric-based advanced zoning
features. The FC5022 enables secure long distance extensions to virtual private or hybrid clouds with
dark fiber support, as well as in-flight encryption and data compression.
Simplified interconnect to existing SAN environments with Brocade Access gateway (NPIV)
operational mode
All models of the FC5022 16 Gb Switch can be deployed as a full-fabric switch or as an Access
Gateway, which simplifies fabric topologies and heterogeneous fabric connectivity. Access Gateway
IBM Flex System FC5022 16Gb SAN Scalable Switches 5
mode utilizes N_Port ID Virtualization(NPIV)switch standards to present physical and virtual servers
_
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directly to the core of SAN fabrics. This makes it transparent to the SAN fabric, greatly reducing
management of the network edge. The IBM SAN Scalable Switch in Access Gateway mode can
connect servers to NPIV-enabled SAN fabrics, including IBM, Brocade B-Series, other vendor
Brocade SAN fabrics, or Cisco SAN fabrics.
Maximizing investments
To help optimize technology investments, IBM offers a single point of serviceability backed by
industry-renowned education, support, and training. In addition, the IBM 16/8 Gbps SAN Scalable
Switch is in the ServerProven® program, ensuring compatibility among a variety of IBM and partner
products. IBM recognizes that customers deserve the most innovative, expert integrated systems
solutions.
Features and specifications
The FC5022 16 Gb Switches have the following features and specifications:
Internal ports
28 internal full-duplex 16/8 Gb FC ports
Internal ports operate as F_ports (fabric ports) in native mode or in access gateway mode
Two internal full-duplex 1 GbE ports connected to the chassis management module
Support for the 2-port and 4-port FC adapter cards
External ports
20 external ports for 16 Gb SFP+ or 8 Gb SFP+ transceivers supporting 4 Gb, 8 Gb, and 16 Gb
port speeds (supported SFP+ modules are listed in Table 2). Ports are activated with the Dynamic
Ports on Demand feature.
External ports can operate as F
or as N_ports NPIV (node ports) in Access Gateway mode
One external 1 GbE port (1000BASE-T) with RJ-45 connector for switch configuration and
management
One RS-232 serial port (mini-USB connector) that provides an additional means to configure the
switch module
Access Gateway mode (N
Power-on self-test diagnostics and status reporting
Inter-Switch Link (ISL) Trunking (licensable or included with the 24-port ESB model), which allows up
Port ID Virtualization - NPIV) support
to eight ports (at 16, 8, or 4 Gbps speeds) to combine to form a single, logical ISL with a speed of up
to 128 Gbps (256 Gbps full duplex) for optimal bandwidth utilization, automatic path failover, and load
balancing
Fabric OS (FOS) version 7.0.x or higher, which delivers distributed intelligence throughout the
network and enables a wide range of value-added applications, such as Advanced Web Tools and
Advanced Fabric Services (on certain models)
Supports up to 768 Gbps I/O bandwidth
420 million frames switch per second, 0.7 microseconds latency
8192 buffers for up to 3750 km extended distance at 4 Gbps FC (Extended Fabrics license required)
In-flight 64 Gbps FC compression and decompression support on up to two external ports (no license
required)
ports (fabric ports) or E_ports (expansion ports) in native mode
IBM Flex System FC5022 16Gb SAN Scalable Switches 6
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