The Cisco MDS 9124

• Exceptional flexibility and scalability-The Cisco MDS 9124 offers up to 24 autosensing Fibre Channel ports capable of speeds of 4, 2, and 1 Gbps in a compact 1RU form-factor chassis with 4 Gbps of dedicated bandwidth for each port and an aggregate platform bandwidth of 192 Gbps. The base configuration has 8 active ports with flexibility to upgrade onsite to 16 and 24 ports, in 8-port increments, with the Cisco MDS 9124 On-Demand Port Activation Licenses. The Cisco MDS 9124 is an ideal platform as a standalone departmental SAN switch and as an edge switch in enterprise core-edge SANs. The 1RU compact design is ideal for space-constrained environments where maximum port density per rack is imperative.

• Intelligent storage networking services at an affordable price-The Cisco MDS 9124, powered by Cisco MDS 9000 SAN-OS/NX-OS Software, offers intelligent storage networking capabilities such as virtual SANs (VSANs), PortChannels, quality of service (QoS), and security for cost-effective design, deployment, and management of departmental and enterprise SANs.

• Highly available platform for mission-critical deployments-The Cisco MDS 9124 is designed for environments where downtime is not an option. It offers nondisruptive software upgrades, dual hot-swappable AC or DC power supplies (with integrated FANs for optional redundancy), VSANs for fault isolation, and PortChannels for Inter-Switch Link (ISL) resiliency.

• Comprehensive security framework-The Cisco MDS 9124 supports RADIUS and TACACS+, port security, fabric binding, Fibre Channel Security Protocol (FC-SP) host-to-switch and switch-to-switch authentication, Secure FTP (SFTP), Secure Shell Version 2 (SSHv2) and Simple Network Management Protocol Version 3 (SNMPv3) implementing Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), VSANs, hardware-enforced zoning, broadcast zones, and per-VSAN role-based access control (RBAC).

• Simplified storage management-The Cisco MDS 9124 includes built-in storage network management, with all features available through a command-line interface (CLI) or Cisco Fabric Manager, a centralized management tool with task-based wizards that simplify management of a standalone switch or multiple switches and fabrics.

• Sophisticated diagnostics-Industry-leading intelligent diagnostics such as Fibre Channel Ping, Fibre Channel Traceroute, Switched Port Analyzer (SPAN), Cisco Fabric Analyzer, and integrated call-home capability enhance reliability, facilitate faster problem resolution, and reduce service costs.

• Reduced total cost of ownership (TCO)-Common platform architecture and the use of Cisco MDS 9000 SAN-OS Software intelligent storage-networking services across all Cisco MDS 9000 family switches reduce ongoing operating expenses by providing a consistent set of provisioning, management, and diagnostic capabilities.

Figure 1. The Cisco MDS 9124