MDS 9000 Family 12-Port 4-Gbps Fibre Channel

Product Overview

12-Port 4-Gbps Fibre Channel Switching Module

For the most demanding storage networking environments, the Cisco MDS 9000 Family 12-Port 4-Gbps Fibre Channel Switching Module delivers uncompromising performance. The 4-Gbps ports deliver up to 96 Gbps of full-duplex bandwidth, making the Cisco 12-Port Fibre Channel Switching Module ideal for attachment of the highest performance 4-Gbps-enabled storage subsystems and for ISL connections between switches. With its multiprotocol capability, the Cisco 12-Port 4-Gbps Fibre Channel Switching Module transparently integrates FICON protocol, FICON CUP management, and switch cascading to enable mainframe connectivity. VSANs allow hardware-based separation of Fibre Channel and FICON traffic switched on a single physical SAN, increasing overall TCO without compromising scalability, availability, manageability, and network security.

24-Port 4-Gbps Fibre Channel Switching Module

For high-performance storage networking environments, the Cisco MDS 9000 Family 24-Port 4-Gbps Fibre Channel Switching Module delivers an ideal balance of performance and scalability. Twenty-four auto-sensing 1/2/4-Gbps ports delivers 96 Gbps of total bandwidth required to meet the performance demands of today's enterprise-class storage arrays and servers. Bandwidth is allocated across four 6-port port-groups, providing 24 Gbps of full-duplex bandwidth per port-group. Port Bandwidth Reservation, a unique Cisco feature available on the Cisco 24-Port 4-Gbps Fibre Channel Switching Module, enables switching bandwidth to be dedicated to a port, enabling optimal bandwidth allocation for any application, including high-performance ISLs.

48-Port 4-Gbps Fibre Channel Switching Module

Storage network consolidation moves to a new level with the transport optimization provided by the Cisco MDS 9000 Family 48-Port 4-Gbps Fibre Channel Switching Module. With Cisco MDS 9000 Family 4-Gbps Fibre Channel switching modules, network architects can allocate bandwidth optimally to meet specific application requirements while decreasing the switching footprint and lowering overall storage network deployment cost. The Cisco 48-Port 4-Gbps Fibre Channel Switching Module delivers 96 Gbps of total bandwidth and extremely high port density, enabling 528 ports per chassis and 1584 ports per rack. Bandwidth is allocated across four 12-port port-groups, providing 24 Gbps of full-duplex bandwidth per port-group. Port Bandwidth Reservation, a feature unique to Cisco available on the Cisco 48-Port 4-Gbps Fibre Channel Switching Module, enables switching bandwidth to be dedicated to a port, enabling the flexible bandwidth allocation needed to meet a wide range of application requirements.

All Cisco 4-Gbps Fibre Channel switching modules are 1/2/4-Gbps autosensing compatible, hot-swappable and include hot-swappable, Small Form-Factor Pluggable (SFP) LC interfaces. Individual ports can be configured with Cisco 4-Gbps short-wave, or long-wave SFPs for connectivity up to 10 kilometers at 4 Gbps. Additionally, ports can be configured with Cisco 2-Gbps coarse wave division multiplexing (CWDM) SFPs for connectivity up to 100 kilometers at 2 Gbps. Up to 250 buffer credits per port are supported for maximum extensibility without requiring additional licensing. With the Cisco Enterprise Package, up to 4095 buffer credits can be allocated to an individual port, enabling full link bandwidth over thousands of kilometers with no degradation in link utilization.

By combining Cisco 12-port, 24-port and 48-port DWDM-XFP-51.72= Channel switching modules in a single, modular chassis, customers can design storage networks optimized for cost and performance in a wide range of application environments. This application-optimized approach to port deployment can reduce the number of switches and ISLs required in a storage network, in many cases eliminating the need for core-edge network topologies. Fewer switches simplify management and reduce deployment and operational costs, resulting in significantly lower TCO. Figure 1 shows the Cisco MDS 9000 Family 4-Gbps Fibre Channel switching modules.

Figure 1. Cisco MDS 9000 Family 4-Gbps Fibre Channel Switching Modules