skip to main content

QLogic 20-Port 8 Gb and 4/8 Gb SAN Switch Modules for BladeCenter

Product Guide (withdrawn product)

Home
Top
Author
Updated
15 Jun 2011
Form Number
TIPS0693
PDF size
10 pages, 264 KB

Abstract

The QLogic 20-port 8 Gb and 4/8 Gb SAN Switch Modules for BladeCenter are a high-speed addition to the BladeCenter switch portfolio. Each module helps enable scalability in storage area network (SAN) size and complexity while maintaining ease of management. These modules are full-fabric Fibre Channel (FC) switches which enables high performance SAN connectivity of up to 8 Gbps.

Introduction

The QLogic 20-port 8 Gb and 4/8 Gb SAN Switch Modules for BladeCenter are a high-speed addition to the BladeCenter switch portfolio. Each module helps enable scalability in storage area network (SAN) size and complexity while maintaining ease of management. These modules are full-fabric Fibre Channel (FC) switches which enables high performance SAN connectivity of up to 8 Gbps.

Figure 1 shows the QLogic 20-port 4/8 Gb SAN Switch Module.
QLogic 20-port 4/8 Gb SAN Switch Module for BladeCenter
Figure 1. QLogic 20-port 4/8 Gb SAN Switch Module for BladeCenter

Did you know?

The switch connects to the midplane directly, without having to use cables or small form-factor pluggable (SFP) modules. By eliminating these components for up to 14 servers, the resulting savings alone cover the BladeCenter chassis investment.

These switch modules are licensed to operate in either full-fabric mode or intelligent pass-thru mode. These modules allow BladeCenter integration with any open-standards-based SAN, whether it is an enterprise open-system fabric functionality using the full-fabric mode or the module with transparent switching functionality using the intelligent pass-thru mode.

Part number information

Table 1 shows the part number to order these modules.

Table 1. Part number and feature code for ordering

Description Part number Feature code
QLogic 20-port 8 Gb SAN Switch Module for BladeCenter 44X1905 5478
QLogic 20-port 4/8 Gb SAN Switch Module for BladeCenter 88Y6406 A24C

Each part number includes the following items:

  • One QLogic 20-port 8 Gb SAN Switch Module, or QLogic 20-port 4/8 Gb SAN Switch Module
  • The Documentation CD
  • The IBM Important Notices document

Each switch comes without small form-factor pluggable plus (SFP+) modules, and they must be ordered additionally. Table 2 lists the part numbers that are supported.

Table 2. Supported SFPs and SFPs+ for QLogic 20-port 8 Gb and 4/8 Gb SAN Switch Modules

Description Part number Feature code
IBM 8 Gb SFP+ SW Optical Transceiver 44X1964 5075
4 Gbps SW SFP Transceiver 39R6475 4804
4 Gbps shortwave SFP transceiver pair 26K7941 2410
4 Gbps SW SFP Transceiver 4 Pack 22R4897 2414
4 Gbps SW SFP Transceiver 22R4902 2410

Features

The QLogic 20-port 8 Gb and 4/8 Gb SAN Switch Module have the following features:

  • Six external autosensing Fibre Channel ports (2 Gbps, 4 Gbps, or 8 Gbps for 8 Gb SFP+ transceivers, and 1 Gbps, 2 Gbps, or 4 Gbps for 4 Gb SFP transceivers) that operate at a maximum speed of 8 Gbps
  • The QLogic 20-port 8 Gb SAN Switch Module has 14 internal Fibre Channel ports that operate as F_ports (fabric ports) at 2, 4, or 8 Gbps, depending on FC expansion cards installed into blades
  • The QLogic 20-port 4/8 Gb SAN Switch Module has 14 internal Fibre Channel ports that operate as F_ports (fabric ports) at 2 Gbps, 4 Gbps, or 8 Gbps, depending on FC expansion cards installed into blades and the I/O module bays the switch is installed in:
    • When installed in an MSIM (BladeCenter H only) or MSIM-HT (BladeCenter HT only), the internal ports operate at up to 8 Gbps
    • When installed in standard I/O module bays 3 or 4, the internal ports operate at up to 4 Gbps
    • When installed in a BladeCenter T chassis, the internal ports operate at 2 Gbps
  • Two internal full-duplex 100 Mbps Ethernet interfaces
  • External ports that can operate as F_ports (fabric ports), FL_ports (fabric loop ports), or E_ports (expansion ports)
  • Power-on self-test diagnostics and status reporting
  • Support for Non-Disruptive Code Load Activation (NDCLA)
  • Registered State Change Notification (RSCN)
  • Support for standards-based FC-SW2 interoperability
  • Error detection
    • Cyclic redundancy check (CRC)
    • 8-byte and 10-byte conversion
    • Parity
    • Long frame and short frame
    • D_ID mismatch
    • S_ID mismatch
  • Frame bundling
    • No frame bundling (frames are intermixed from different source ports)
    • Soft lockdown (The I/O module waits for the sequence to be completed or a gap in the frame traffic to occur before it services requests from a different port.)
  • Configurable Fabric Address Notification (FAN)
  • Support for up to 239 switches depending on the configuration
  • 8 Gb switch fabric aggregate bandwidth: 320 Gbps at full duplex
  • Maximum frame size: 2148 bytes (2112 byte payload)
  • Nonblocking architecture to prevent latency
  • Support for the Call Home function
  • Support for Domain Name Service (DNS)
  • Support for Internet Protocol (IP) Version 6
  • Support for Internet Protocol security (IPsec)
  • Support for separate trap community strings for each trap address
  • Support for Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) Version 3
  • Support for vital product data (VPD)
  • Optional SFP+ modules

The following software feature comes with the switch module:

  • QuickTools Web interface

The switch supports the following fabric management (all management connections go through the management module):

  • Web interface through QuickTools
  • Command-line interface (CLI) through the Telnet program
  • Enterprise Fabric Suite 2007 application
  • Switch SNMP agent, which enables a network management workstation to receive configuration values, traffic information, and FC failure data through SNMP and the Ethernet interface

Supported BladeCenter chassis and expansion cards

The QLogic 20-port 8 Gb and 4/8 Gb SAN Switch Modules are supported in the BladeCenter chassis as listed in Table 3. The switch module fits in a standard I/O bay (bays 3 & 4) and, with the addition of the Multi-Switch Interconnect Module (MSIM) in the BladeCenter H and HT, can also fit in a high-speed I/O bay (bays 7-10). Installing both QLogic 20-port 8 Gb and 4/8 Gb SAN Switch Modules in the one chassis is not supported.

Table 3. BladeCenter chassis that support the QLogic 20-port 8 Gb and 4/8 Gb SAN Switch Modules

I/O module Part number BladeCenter S BladeCenter E BladeCenter H BladeCenter T BladeCenter HT MSIM MSIM-HT
QLogic 20-port 8 Gb SAN Switch Module 44X1905
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
QLogic 20-port 4/8 Gb SAN Switch Module 88Y6406
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y

Speed maximums with the QLogic 20-port 8 Gb SAN Switch Module:

  • When the I/O module is installed in an MSIM (BladeCenter H) or MSIM-HT (BladeCenter HT) or switch bays 3 or 4 of a BladeCenter E, S, H or HT chassis, both the internal ports and external ports operate at speeds up to 8 Gbps.
  • When the I/O module is installed in switch bays 3 or 4 of a BladeCenter T chassis, the internal ports operate at 2 Gbps, and the external ports operate at speeds up to 8 Gbps.

Speed maximums with the QLogic 20-port 4/8 Gb SAN Switch Module:

  • When the I/O module is installed in an MSIM (BladeCenter H) or MSIM-HT (BladeCenter HT), both the internal ports and external ports operate at speeds up to 8 Gbps.
  • When the I/O module is installed in switch bays 3 or 4 of a BladeCenter E, S, H or HT chassis, the internal ports operate at speeds up to 4 Gbps, and the external ports operate up to 8 Gbps.
  • When the I/O module is installed in switch bays 3 or 4 of a BladeCenter T chassis, the internal ports operate at 2 Gbps, and the external ports operate at speeds up to 8 Gbps.

The QLogic 20-port 8 Gb and 4/8 Gb SAN Switch Modules support the expansion cards listed in Table 4. Table 4 also lists the chassis bays in which the switch modules must be installed when used with each expansion card.

Table 4. Expansion card support and Chassis I/O bay support

Supported expansion cards Part number Bay 1 (Standard) Bay 2 (Standard) Bay 3 (Standard) Bay 4 (Standard) Bay 5 (Bridge) Bay 6 (Bridge) Bay 7 (High-speed) Bay 8 (High-speed) Bay 9 (High-speed) Bay 10 (High-speed)
QLogic 4 Gb FC Expansion Card (CFFv) 41Y8527 N N Y Y N N N N N N
QLogic 4 Gb FC Expansion Card (CIOv) 46M6065 N N Y Y N N N N N N
QLogic Ethernet and 8 Gb FC Card (CFFh) 44X1940 N N N N N N N Y N Y
Emulex 8Gb Fibre Channel Exp. Card (CIOv) 46M6140 N N Y* Y* N N N N N N
QLogic 8Gb Fibre Channel Exp. Card (CIOv) 44X1945 N N Y* Y* N N N N N N

* The internal ports of the QLogic 20-port 4/8 Gb SAN Switch Module operate at speeds up to 4 Gbps (with BladeCenter T, the maximum is 2 Gbps)

Connectors and LEDs

The front panel of the QLogic 20-port 8 Gb and 4/8 Gb SAN Switch Module contain the following components, as shown in Figure 4:

  • Information LEDs that display the status of the I/O module and its network connections.
  • Six external Fibre Channel ports to connect Fibre Channel devices and switches. These ports are labeled 0, 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19 (from top to bottom) on the I/O module.

Front panel of the I/O module
Figure 4. Front panel of the I/O module

Table 7 lists the LEDs on the front panel and their meanings.

Table 7. LEDs on the front panel


LED name
LED description

OK
This green LED is at the top left of the I/O module on the front panel and indicates that the module is working properly.

! (I/O module fault)
This amber LED is at the top right of the I/O module on the front panel. This LED indicates that the I/O module has a fault. If the I/O module fails the POST, this fault LED is lit.

External port logged-in (LOG)
There are six green external port logged-in (LOG) LEDs. When one of these LEDs is lit, it indicates that there is a connection (or link) to a device on that port.

External port activity (TX/RX)
There are six green external port activity (TX/RX) LEDs. When one of these LEDs flashes, it indicates that data is being received or transmitted (that is, activity is occurring) on that port. The flash frequency is proportional to the amount of traffic on that port.

External port fault (!)
There are six amber external port fault (!) LEDs. When an external port fault LED is lit, it indicates that the external port has failed the internal, external, or online port diagnostics tests.

Operating environment

The environment has the following temperature and altitude:

  • Operating:
    • 10 - 52 °C (50 - 125 °F) at an altitude of 0 to 914 m (0 to 3,000 ft)
    • 10 - 49 °C (50 - 20 °F) at an altitude of 0 to 3,000 m (0 to 10,000 ft)
  • Non-operating:
    • 40 - 65 °C (-40 - 149 °F) at an altitude of 0 to 12,000 m (0 to 39,370 ft)

The environment has the following humidity levels:

  • Operating: 8% to 80%, noncondensing
  • Non-operating: 5% to 80%, noncondensing

Related product families

Product families related to this document are the following:

Trademarks

Lenovo and the Lenovo logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Lenovo in the United States, other countries, or both. A current list of Lenovo trademarks is available on the Web at https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/legal/copytrade/.

The following terms are trademarks of Lenovo in the United States, other countries, or both:
Lenovo®
BladeCenter®

Other company, product, or service names may be trademarks or service marks of others.