Lenovo G8264 Product Manual

RackSwitch G8264

Product Guide

The RackSwitch™ G8264 that leverages 10Gb SFP+ and 40Gb QSFP+ Ethernet technology is specifically designed
for the data center. It is ideal for today's big data, cloud, and optimized workload solutions. It is an enterprise class
Layer 2 and Layer 3 full featured switch that delivers line-rate, high-bandwidth switching, filtering, and traffic
queuing without delaying data. Large data-center grade buffers help keep traffic moving, while the redundant power
and fans along with numerous high availability features help provide high availability for business sensitive traffic.

The RackSwitch G8264, shown in Figure 1, is ideal for latency sensitive applications such as high performance
computing clusters and financial applications. In addition to the 10 Gb Ethernet (GbE) and 40 GbE connections, the
G8264 also has the capability for traditional 1 GbE connections. The G8264 supports the newest protocols including
Data Center Bridging/Converged Enhanced Ethernet (DCB/CEE) for Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) in addition
to iSCSI and network-attached storage (NAS).

Figure 1. RackSwitch G8264

Did you know?

The G8264 supports Virtual Fabric, which helps clients significantly reduce cost and complexity related to I/O
requirements of many virtualization deployments. Virtual Fabric helps reduce the number of multiple I/O adapters to
a single dual-port 10 G adapter and reduces the number of cables and required upstream switch ports. By using
Virtual Fabric, you can carve a dual-port 10 G server adapter into 8 virtual network interface cards (vNICs) and
create dedicated virtual pipes between the adapter and switch for optimal performance, higher availability, and
improved security. With Virtual Fabric, you can make dynamic changes and allocate bandwidth per vNIC so that
you can adjust it over time without downtime.

The RackSwitch G8264 is the first 10 GbE switch to offer benefits of OpenFlow. OpenFlow is the new open
application programming interface (API) that enables the network administrator to easily configure and manage
virtual networks that control traffic on a “per-flow” basis. It creates multiple independent virtual networks and
related policies without dealing with the complexities of the underlying physical network and protocols. With
OpenFlow, clients can easily create user-controlled virtual networks, optimize performance dynamically, and
minimize complexity when used with an industry compliant OpenFlow controller.

RackSwitch G8264 1

Part number information

The part numbers to order the switch and additional options are shown in Table 1.

Table 1. Part numbers and feature codes for ordering

Description Part number Feature code for

MTM 7309-HC3

Feature code for
MTM 7309-HC4

Switch

RackSwitch G8264 (Rear to Front) 7309G64 A1AC None

RackSwitch G8264 (Front to Rear) 730964F None A1AD

Miscellaneous options

Console Cable Kit Spare 90Y9462 A2MG A2MG

Adjustable 19" 4 Post Rail Kit 00D6185 A3KP A3KP

Recessed 19" 4 Post Rail Kit 00CG089 None A51M

iDataPlex Rail Kit 90Y3535 None A1SZ

Air Inlet Duct for 483 mm RackSwitch 00D6060 A3KQ None

Hot-Swappable, Front-to-Rear Power Supply Spare 49Y7937 None A2MJ

Hot-Swappable, Rear-to-Front Power Supply Spare 49Y7938 A2MH None

Hot-Swappable, Front-to-Rear Fan Assembly Spare 00D6073 None A54J

Hot-Swappable, Rear-to-Front Fan Assembly Spare 00D6071 A54K None

The part numbers for the G8264 switches include the following items:

One RackSwitch G8264 with two power supplies and four fan assemblies (rear-to-front airflow or front-to­rear airflow)

Generic Rack Mount Kit (2-post)

Console Cable Kit that includes:

RJ-45 (plug) to RJ-45 (plug) serial cable (1 m)
Mini-USB to RJ-45 (jack) adapter cable (0.2 m) with retention clip
DB-9 to RJ-45 (jack) adapter

Warranty Flyer

Important Notices Flyer

Documentation CD-ROM

Note: Power cables are not included and must be ordered separately (see Table 2 for details).

The G8264 switch supports up to two hot-swap power supplies (two power supplies come standard with the switch)
and up to four hot-swap fan assemblies (four fan assemblies come standard with the switch). Spare power supplies
and fan assemblies can be ordered, if required. Each Power Supply Spare option contains one hot-swap power
supply (rear-to-front or front-to-rear), and each Fan Assembly Spare option contains one hot-swap fan assembly
(rear-to front or front-to-rear).

The G8264 switch also comes standard with the Console Cable Kit for management through a serial interface.
Spare serial management cables can be ordered, if required. The Console Cable Kit Spare option contains the
following items:

RJ-45 (plug) to RJ-45 (plug) serial cable (1 m)

RackSwitch G8264 2

Mini-USB to RJ-45 (jack) adapter cable (0.2 m) with retention clip

DB-9 to RJ-45 (jack) adapter

The G8264 switch supports optional adjustable 19-inch, 4-post rack installation kit, part number 00D6185.
Optionally, Air Inlet Duct, part number 00D6060, can be ordered with the G8264 (rear-to-front airflow) switch for 4­post rack installations.

The G8264 (front-to-rear airflow) switch optionally supports recessed 19-inch, 4-post rack kit (00CG089) which is
used when the switch is installed in the 1410 Intelligent Cluster Rack, 9363 Enterprise Rack, or PureFlex System
Rack with NeXtScale System. The G8264 (front-to-rear airflow) switch also supports 4-post iDataPlex rack kit
(90Y3535) which is used when the switch is installed in the iDataPlex Rack.

The G8264 switch ships standard without any AC power cables. Table 2 lists the part numbers and feature codes to
order the power cables (two power cables are required per switch).

Table 2. Power cables

Description Part number Feature code for

MTM 7309-HC3 and
7309-HC4

Rack power cables

1.5m, 10A/100-250V, C13 to IEC 320-C14 Rack Power Cable 39Y7937 6201

2.8m, 10A/100-250V, C13 to IEC 320-C20 Rack Power Cable 39Y7938 6204

4.3m, 10A/100-250V, C13 to IEC 320-C14 Rack Power Cable 39Y7932 6263

Country-specific power cords

European 10A line C13 to CEE 7/7 (2.8M) 39Y7917 6212

Denmark 10A line C13 to DK2-5A (2.8M) 39Y7918 6213

Switzerland 10A line C13 to SEV 1011 (2.8M) 39Y7919 6216

Israel 10A line C13 to SI 32 (2.8M) 39Y7920 6218

South Africa 10A line C13 to SABS 164/1 (2.8M) 39Y7922 6214

United Kingdom 10A line C13 to BS 1363 (2.8M) 39Y7923 6215

Australia/NZ 10A line C13 to SAA-AS C112 (2.8M) 39Y7924 6211

Korea 7A line C13 to KETI 15A/250V (2.8M) 39Y7925 6219

India 6A line C13 to Fig 68 (2.8M) 39Y7927 6269

China 6A line C13 to GB 2099.1 (2.8M) 39Y7928 6210

Brazil 10A line C13 to NBR 6147 (2.8M) 39Y7929 6223

Argentina 10A line C13 to IRAM 2063 (2.8M) 39Y7930 6222

10A/250V C13 to NEMA 6-15P 2.8m power cord 46M2592 A1RF

Japan 10A/100V C13 to JIS C-8303 2.8m power cord 46M2593 A1RE

Supported cables and transceivers

With the flexibility of the G8264 switch, clients can take advantage of the technologies that they require for multiple
environments:

For 1 GbE links, clients can use RJ-45 SFP transceivers with UTP cables up to 100 m. Clients that need
longer distances can use a 1000BASE-SX transceiver, which can drive distances up to 220 meters by using

62.5 µ multi-mode fiber and up to 550 meters with 50 µ multi-mode fiber, or the 1000BASE-LX transceivers
that support distances up to 10 kilometers using single-mode fiber (1310 nm).

For 10 GbE server or upstream network connectivity, clients can use direct-attached copper (DAC) SFP+

RackSwitch G8264 3

cables for in-rack cabling and distances up to 7 m. These DAC cables have SFP+ connectors on each end,
and they do not need separate transceivers. For longer distances, the 10GBASE-SR transceiver can support
distances up to 300 meters over OM3 multimode fiber or up to 400 meters over OM4 multimode fiber. The
10GBASE-LR transceivers can support distances up to 10 kilometers on single mode fiber. For extended
distances, the 10GBASE-ER transceivers can support distances up to 40 kilometers on single mode fiber.
To increase the number of available 10 GbE ports, clients can split out four 10 GbE ports for each 40 GbE
port using QSFP+ DAC Breakout Cables for distances up to 5 meters. For distances up to 100 m, optical
MTP-to-LC break-out cables can be used with the 40GBASE-SR4 transceiver, but Lenovo does not supply
these optical breakout cables.

For 40 GbE to 40 GbE connectivity, clients can use the affordable QSFP+ to QSFP+ DAC cables for
distances up to 7 meters. For distances up to 100 m, the 40GBASE-SR4 QSFP+ transceiver can be used
with OM3 multimode fiber with MTP connectors or up to 150 m when using OM4 multimode fiber with MTP
connectors. For distances up to 10 km, the 40GBASE-LR QSFP+ transceiver can be used with single mode
fiber with LC connectors.

Table 3 lists the supported cables and transceivers.

Table 3. Supported transceivers and direct-attach cables

Description Part

number

Feature code
(MTM 7309­HC3 / 7309­HC4)

Maximum
quantity
supported

SFP transceivers - 1 GbE

Lenovo 1000BASE-T SFP Transceiver (does not support 10/100 Mbps) 00FE333 A5DL 48

Lenovo 1000BASE-SX SFP Transceiver 81Y1622 3269 48

Lenovo 1000BASE-LX SFP Transceiver 90Y9424 A1PN 48

SFP+ transceivers - 10 GbE

Lenovo 10GBASE-SR SFP+ Transceiver 46C3447 5053 48

Lenovo 10GBASE-LR SFP+ Transceiver 90Y9412 A1PM 48

Lenovo 10GBASE-ER SFP+ Transceiver 90Y9415 A1PP 6

Optical cables for 1 GbE SFP SX and 10 GbE SFP+ SR transceivers

Lenovo 0.5m LC-LC OM3 MMF Cable 00MN499 ASR5 48

Lenovo 1m LC-LC OM3 MMF Cable 00MN502 ASR6 48

Lenovo 3m LC-LC OM3 MMF Cable 00MN505 ASR7 48

Lenovo 5m LC-LC OM3 MMF Cable 00MN508 ASR8 48

Lenovo 10m LC-LC OM3 MMF Cable 00MN511 ASR9 48

Lenovo 15m LC-LC OM3 MMF Cable 00MN514 ASRA 48

Lenovo 25m LC-LC OM3 MMF Cable 00MN517 ASRB 48

Lenovo 30m LC-LC OM3 MMF Cable 00MN520 ASRC 48

SFP+ passive direct-attach cables - 10 GbE

Lenovo 0.5m Passive SFP+ DAC Cable 00D6288 A3RG 48

Lenovo 1m Passive SFP+ DAC Cable 90Y9427 A1PH 48

Lenovo 1.5m Passive SFP+ DAC Cable 00AY764 A51N 48

Lenovo 2m Passive SFP+ DAC Cable 00AY765 A51P 48

Lenovo 3m Passive SFP+ DAC Cable 90Y9430 A1PJ 48

Lenovo 5m Passive SFP+ DAC Cable 90Y9433 A1PK 48

Lenovo 7m Passive SFP+ DAC Cable 00D6151 A3RH 48

RackSwitch G8264 4

SFP+ active direct-attach cables - 10 GbE

Lenovo 1m Active SFP+ DAC Cable 95Y0323 A25A 48

Lenovo 3m Active SFP+ DAC Cable 95Y0326 A25B 48

Lenovo 5m Active SFP+ DAC Cable 95Y0329 A25C 48

Lenovo 1m Active DAC SFP+ Cable (replaces 95Y0323) 00VX111 AT2R 48

Lenovo 3m Active DAC SFP+ Cable (replaces 95Y0326) 00VX114 AT2S 48

Lenovo 5m Active DAC SFP+ Cable (replaces 95Y0329) 00VX117 AT2T 48

QSFP+ transceiver and cables - 40 GbE

Lenovo 40GBASE-SR4 QSFP+ Transceiver 49Y7884 A1DR 4

Lenovo 40GBASE-LR4 QSFP+ Transceiver 00D6222 A3NY 4

Optical cables for 40 GbE QSFP+ SR4 transceivers

Lenovo 10m QSFP+ MTP-MTP OM3 MMF Cable 90Y3519 A1MM 4

Lenovo 30m QSFP+ MTP-MTP OM3 MMF Cable 90Y3521 A1MN 4

Lenovo 10m QSFP+ MTP-MTP OM3 MMF Cable (replaces 90Y3519) 00VX003 AT2U 4

Lenovo 30m QSFP+ MTP-MTP OM3 MMF Cable (replaces 90Y3521) 00VX005 AT2V 4

QSFP+ breakout cables - 40 GbE to 4x10 GbE

Lenovo 1m Passive QSFP+ to SFP+ Breakout DAC Cable 49Y7886 A1DL 4

Lenovo 3m Passive QSFP+ to SFP+ Breakout DAC Cable 49Y7887 A1DM 4

Lenovo 5m Passive QSFP+ to SFP+ Breakout DAC Cable 49Y7888 A1DN 4

QSFP+ direct-attach cables - 40 GbE

Lenovo 1m Passive QSFP+ DAC Cable 49Y7890 A1DP 4

Lenovo 3m Passive QSFP+ DAC Cable 49Y7891 A1DQ 4

Lenovo 5m Passive QSFP+ DAC Cable 00D5810 A2X8 4

Lenovo 7m Passive QSFP+ DAC Cable 00D5813 A2X9 4

Benefits

The RackSwitch G8264 is considered particularly suited for these environments:

The G8264 supports several types of configurations: 1 GbE, 10 GbE, 40 GbE, vNIC, Converged Enhanced
Ethernet (CEE/DCB), NAS, and iSCSI.

The G8264 with SFP+ technology is the ideal solution for clients who are looking for low latency and low
power consumption.

The G8264 supports stacking for up to eight switches using a single switch image and configuration file that
shares one IP address and one management interface for simplified management.

The G8264 supports Data Center Bridging (DCB), the group of protocols from IEEE that provide lossless
Ethernet and that allow clients to reduce the costs of implementing either:

NAS or iSCSI convergence and priority-based flow control
FCoE by aggregating switch ports before connecting to more costly upstream Fibre Channel gateway
devices.

The G8264 can be configured in easy connect mode to allow for transparent and simple connectivity to the
upstream network, enabling easy connectivity to upstream Cisco, Juniper or other networks without having to
change those networks.

Lenovo is a leader in network virtualization, offering the on-switch VMready® software that reduces the
complexity of managing virtual machines (VMs) in the network. For more information, see VMready at:

http://www.ibm.com/systems/networking/software/vmready

The G8264 is SDN ready with its OpenFlow support. With OpenFlow, you can easily create user-controlled
virtual networks, optimize performance dynamically, and minimize complexity when used with an OpenFlow
controller.

RackSwitch G8264 5

The G8264 plays a vital role with Virtual Fabric, which reduces costs and complexity in environments where
four or more NICs are needed per server. An example is virtualization, where clients often need up to eight
NICs per server. For more information, see Virtual Fabric at:

http://www.ibm.com/systems/networking/software/virtualfabric.html

The RackSwitch G8264 offers the following benefits:

High performance
The 10 Gb/40 Gb switch provides the best combination of low latency, non-blocking line-rate switching, and
ease of management. It has a throughput of 1.28 Tbps.

Lower power and better cooling
The RackSwitch G8264 uses as little as 330 W of power, 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 front-to-rear or rear-to-front cooling design of the G8264 reduces data center air conditioning
costs by having airflow match the servers in the rack. In addition, variable speed fans help to automatically
reduce power consumption.

Stacking
With the G8264, a single switch image and configuration file can be used for up to eight switches, sharing
only one IP address and one management interface.

Virtual Fabric
The G8264 can help customers address I/O requirements for multiple NICs while reducing cost and
complexity. Virtual Fabric allows you to carve a physical NIC into multiple virtual NICs (between 2 - 8 vNIC)
and to create a virtual pipe between the adapter and the switch for improved performance, availability, and
security.

VM-aware Networking
VMready software on the switch simplifies configuration and improves security in virtualized environments.
VMready automatically detects virtual machine movement between physical servers 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 Hyper-V.

Layer 3 functionality
The G8264 includes Layer 3 functionality, which provides security and performance benefits, as inter-VLAN
traffic stays within the switch. 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.

Seamless interoperability
RackSwitch switches perform seamlessly with other vendors' upstream switches.

Fault tolerance
RackSwitch 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 like L2 trunk failover, advanced
VLAN-based failover, VRRP, and HotLink.

Multicast
The G8264 supports IGMP Snooping v1, v2, and v3 with 2 K IGMP groups. It also supports Protocol
Independent Multicast (PIM), such as PIM Sparse Mode or PIM Dense Mode.

Converged fabric
The G8264 switch supports 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.

OpenFlow enabled
The RackSwitch G8264 is the first 10 GbE switch to offer benefits of OpenFlow. OpenFlow is the new open

RackSwitch G8264 6

API that enables the network administrator to easily configure and manage virtual networks that control traffic
on a “per-flow” basis. It creates multiple independent virtual networks and related policies without dealing
with the complexities of the underlying physical network and protocols. The G8264 is also the ideal switch to
use with industry compliant OpenFlow controllers.

Transparent networking capability
With a simple configuration change to Easy Connect Mode, the RackSwitch G8264 becomes a transparent
network device, invisible to the core, eliminating network administration concerns of Spanning Tree Protocol
configuration/interoperability, VLAN assignments and avoids any possible loops.

By emulating a host NIC to the data center core, it accelerates the provisioning of VMs by eliminating the
need to configure the typical access switch parameters.

Table 4 compares the features of the RackSwitch G8264 with the RackSwitch G8264T.

Table 4. Comparison of the RackSwitch G8264 and RackSwitch G8264T features

RackSwitch G8264 RackSwitch G8264T

Port types Based on SFP+ Based on 10GBase-T

Latency Lower latency - 880 nanosecond 3.2 microseconds

Stacking Yes No

Typical power Lower power - 330 watts Competitive versus other 10GBase-T - 385 W

Copper cable length Up to 7 m Up to 100 m

Total distance Up to 40 km with Transceiver Limited to 100 m

TCO Less than other SFP+ Lower TCO – for 100 m and less (based on adapter,

cables and switch)

Features and specifications

Note: Features and specifications listed in this section are based on Networking OS 7.9.

The RackSwitch G8264 has the following features and specifications:

Form factor: 1U rack mount switch

RackSwitch G8264 Rear-to-Front version for ports located in the rear of the rack matching System
x®, BladeCenter® and Flex System® designs
RackSwitch G8264 Front-to-Rear version for ports located in the front of the rack matching airflow of
iDataPlex® ® and NeXtScale™ System designs

Ports

48 ports for 1 Gb or 10 Gb Ethernet SFP/SFP+ transceivers (support for 1000BASE-SX, 1000BASE-LX,
1000BASE-T, 10GBASE-SR, 10GBASE-LR, or 10GBASE-ER) or SFP+ direct-attach copper cables.
SFP+ modules and DAC cables are not included and must be purchased separately.
4 ports for 40 Gb Ethernet QSFP+ transceivers, QSFP+ to QSFP+ DAC cables, or QSFP+ to 4x 10 Gb
SFP+ break-out cables. QSFP+ modules and DAC cables are not included and must be purchased
separately.
One 10/100/1000 Ethernet port (RJ-45 connector) for out of band (OOB) management
One RS-232 serial port (mini-USB connector) that provides an additional means to configure the
switch
One USB port for mass storage devices

Scalability and performance

1 Gb, 10 Gb, and 40 Gb Ethernet ports for bandwidth optimization and performance
Up to 64 10 Gb Ethernet SFP+ connections (with optional break-out cables)
Non-blocking architecture with wire-speed forwarding of traffic and aggregated throughput of 1.28
Tbps

RackSwitch G8264 7