IBM MDS 9506 User Manual

Intelligent storage networking for IBM System Storage IT

The Cisco MDS 9506 for IBM System Storage offers dual Supervisor-2 Modules with up to 192 Fibre Channel ports in a 7U enclosure

Highlights

■

High-availability design with

support for non-disruptive

ﬁrmware upgrades

■

Includes Virtual SAN (VSAN)

capability for SAN consolidation

into virtual SAN islands on a

single physical fabric

■

Enterprise, SAN Extension over

, Mainframe and Storage

Services Enabler and Fabric

Manager Server Packages pro-

vide added intelligence and

value

High performance and manageability

for SANs

The Cisco MDS 9506 for

IBM System Storage™ supports

1, 2 and 4 Gbps Fibre Channel switch

connectivity and intelligent network

services to help improve the security,

performance and manageability

required to consolidate geographically

dispersed storage devices into a large

enterprise SAN.

Improved internal bandwidth for higher

scalability

The Cisco MDS 9506 for IBM System

Storage utilizes two Supervisor-2

Modules designed for high availability

and performance. The Supervisor-2

Module combines an intelligent control

module and a high-performance cross-

bar switch fabric in a single unit. It uses

Fabric Shortest Path First (FSPF) multi-

path routing, which provides intelligence

to load balance across a maximum of

16 equal-cost paths and to dynamically

reroute traffic if a switch fails.

simpliﬁcation and business continuity solutions

Cisco MDS 9506 for IBM System Storage

■

Provides Fibre Channel

throughput of up to 4 Gbps per

port and up to 64 Gbps with

each PortChannel Inter-Switch

Link connection

■

Offers scalability from 12 to

192 Fibre Channel ports

■

Offers 10 Gbps ISL ports for

inter-Data Center links over

metro optical networks

■

Offers Gigabit Ethernet IP, GbE

ports for iSCSI or FCIP connec-

tivity over global networks

Each Supervisor-2 Module provides the

necessary crossbar bandwidth to

deliver full system performance in the

Cisco MDS 9506 director with up to

four Fibre Channel switching modules.

It is designed to eliminate the impact on

system performance of the loss or

removal of a single crossbar module.

Connectivity, compatibility and traffic

management

The Cisco MDS 9506 for IBM System

Storage r

equires a minimum of one and

allows a maximum of four switching

modules. These modules are available

in either a 12-, 24- and 48-port 4 Gbps

conﬁgurations, allowing the Cisco MDS

9506 to support 12 to 192 Fibre

Channel ports per chassis. Optionally, a

4-port 10 Gbps Fibre Channel module

is available for high performance Inter-

Switch Link (ISL) connections over

metro optical networks.

Switching modules are hot-swappable

with small form-factor pluggable (SFP)

optic transceivers and support LC inter-

faces. The PortChannel capability

allows users to aggr

egate up to

16 physical Inter-Switch Links into a

single logical bundle, pr

oviding opti-

mized bandwidth utilization across all

links.

12-, 24- and 48-port switching modules:

Conﬁguring the switch for the application

environment

The 12-port 4 Gbps Fibr

e Channel

switching module is designed to

deliver high performance for the most

demanding storage networking applica-

tions. Autosensing 1, 2 and 4 Gbps

ports deliver up 96 Gbps of continuous

aggregate bandwidth, which provides

up to 8 Gbps throughput per port. The

12-port switching module is well suited

for attaching highest-performance

4 Gbps enabled servers and storage

subsystems as well as to connect to

other switches using 4 Gbps ISL

connections.

The 24-port 4 Gbps Fibr

e Channel

switching module is designed for

high performance storage networking

applications. Twenty-four autosensing

1, 2 and 4 Gbps ports are designed

deliver sustained bandwidth r

equired to

meet the performance requirements of

enterprise-class storage and servers.

Port bandwidth reservation enables

1, 2 or 4 Gbps switching bandwidth to

be dedicated to a port, including high-

est performance ISL ports. The 24-port

switching module is well suited for

attaching high performance servers and

storage subsystems as well as for con-

necting to other switches using ISL

connections.

The 48-port 4 Gbps Fibr

e Channel

switching module is designed to

deliver an optimal balance of perform-

ance and port density. Forty-eight

autosensing 1, 2 and 4 Gbps ports are

designed deliver sustained bandwidth

required to meet a wide range perform-

ance requirements for a mixture of SMB

and enterprise-class storage and

servers. Port bandwidth reservation

enables 1, 2 or 4 Gbps switching band-

width to be ﬂexibly dedicated to ports

to meet a wide range of application

requirements. This module is designed

to provide a low-cost means of attach-

ing lower performance servers and

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