Cisco MDS 9216i

product OVERVIEW

The Cisco MDS 9216i brings new capability to the fabric switch market. Sharing a consistent architecture with the Cisco MDS 9500 Series, the Cisco MDS 9216i integrates both Fibre Channel and IP storage services in a single system to allow maximum flexibility in user configurations. With 14 2-Gbps Fibre Channel ports, two Gigabit Ethernet IP storage services ports, and a modular expansion slot, the Cisco MDS 9216i is ideally suited for enterprise storage networks that require high-performance SAN extension or cost-effective IP storage connectivity.

This high level of integration gives Cisco MDS 9216i users the benefits of a multi protocol system without sacrificing Fibre Channel port density. The expansion slot on the Cisco MDS 9216i allows for the addition of any Cisco MDS 9000 Family switching module, so users can add additional Fibre Channel ports and/or additional IP ports. Alternatively, the expansion slot can be used for a variety of Cisco MDS 9000 Family services modules, thereby providing an unparalleled level of storage services in a single, highly available 3-rack unit (RU) system.

Figure 1. Cisco MDS 9216i Multilayer Fabric Switch

KEY FEATURES AND BENEFITS

The Cisco MDS 9216i Multilayer Fabric Switch is designed for building mission-critical enterprise storage networks that take advantage of the cost-effectiveness and ubiquity of IP for more robust business continuance services. Using both Fibre Channel and IP in a single module, the Cisco MDS 9216i offers the following important features:

• Integrated Fibre Channel and IP storage services in an optimized form factor-Supports 14 2-Gbps Fibre Channel interfaces for high-performance storage area network (SAN) connectivity and two Gigabit Ethernet ports for Fibre Channel over IP (FCIP) and Small Computer System Interface over IP (iSCSI) storage services.

• Integrated hardware-based VSANs and Inter-VSAN Routing (IVR)-Enables deployment of large-scale multisite and heterogeneous SAN topologies. Integration into port-level hardware allows any port within a system or fabric to be partitioned into any VSAN. Integrated hardware-based inter-VSAN routing provides line-rate routing between any ports within a system or fabric without the need for external routing appliances.

• High-performance Inter-Switch Links (ISLs)-Supports up to 16 Fibre Channel links in a single PortChannel. Links can span any port on any module within a chassis for added scalability and resilience. Up to 3500 buffer-to-buffer credits can be assigned to a single Fibre Channel port to extend storage networks over unprecedented distances.

• Intelligent network services-Uses virtual SAN (VSAN) technology for hardware-enforced, isolated environments within a single physical fabric; access control lists (ACLs) for hardware-based intelligent frame processing; and advanced traffic management features such as Fibre Channel Congestion Control (FCC) and fabric-wide quality of service (QoS) to facilitate migration from SAN islands to enterprise-wide storage networks.

• Advanced FICON services-Supports FICON environments, including cascaded FICON fabrics, VSAN-enabled intermix of mainframe and open systems environments, and N_Port ID virtualization for mainframe Linux partitions. CUP (Control Unit Port) support enables in-band management of Cisco MDS 9200 Series switches from the mainframe management console.

• Comprehensive network security framework-Supports RADIUS and TACACS+, Fibre Channel Security Protocol (FC-SP), Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP), Secure Shell (SSH) Protocol, and Simple Network Management Protocol Version 3 (SNMPv3) implementing Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), VSANs, hardware-enforced zoning, ACLs, and per-VSAN role-based access control. Additionally, the Gigabit Ethernet ports offer IP security (IPSec) authentication, data integrity, and hardware-assisted data encryption for FCIP and iSCSI.

• Sophisticated diagnostics-Provides intelligent diagnostics, protocol decoding, and network analysis tools as well as integrated Call Home capability for added reliability, faster problem resolution, and reduced service costs.

• Open platform for intelligent storage applications-Provides the intelligent services necessary for hosting and/or accelerating storage applications such as network-hosted volume management, data migration and backup. Storage services modules can be installed in any Cisco MDS 9500 or MDS 9200 series chassis to provide application hosting and/or acceleration intelligence in the fabric.

• FCIP for remote SAN extension

– Simplifies data-protection and business continuance strategies by enabling backup, remote replication, and other disaster recovery services over WAN distances using open-standard FCIP tunneling.

– Optimizes utilization of WAN resources for backup and replication by tunneling up to three virtual ISLs on a single Gigabit Ethernet port and enabling hardware-based compression, hardware-based encryption, FCIP Write Acceleration, and FCIP Tape Acceleration.

– Preserves Cisco MDS 9000 Family enhanced capabilities, including VSANs, advanced traffic management, and network security across remote connections.

• iSCSI for extension of SAN to Ethernet-attached servers

– Extends the benefits of Fiber Channel SAN-based storage to Ethernet-attached servers at a lower cost than possible using Fibre Channel interconnect alone.

– Increases storage utilization and availability through consolidation of IP and Fiber Channel block storage.

– Transparent operation preserves the capability of existing storage management applications