Lenovo RackSwitch G8124E

The Lenovo RackSwitch™ G8124E (as shown in the following figure) delivers exceptional performance that is lossless and low latency. In addition, the G8124E delivers excellent cost savings as you consider acquisition costs, energy costs, plus its feature-rich design with when it comes to virtualization, CEE/FCoE, high availability, and its enterprise class Layer 2 and Layer 3 functionality.

With support for 1 Gb Ethernet or 10 Gb Ethernet, the G8124E switch is designed for those clients that use 10 GbE today or plan to in the future. This switch is the first top of rack (TOR) 10 GbE switch that supports Lenovo Virtual Fabric, which helps clients significantly reduce cost and complexity when it comes to the I/O requirements of most virtualization deployments. Virtual Fabric can help clients reduce the number of multiple I/O adapters down to a single dual-port 10 GbE adapter and reduce the required number of cables and upstream switch ports.

Figure 1. Lenovo RackSwitch G8124E

The G8124E switch is designed to support several types of configurations from a server or downstream switches: 1 Gb, 10 Gb, virtual NIC, Converged Enhanced Ethernet (CEE/FCoE), and iSCSI. This single switch can handle all of these workloads and can connect to an upstream 1 Gb or 10 Gb infrastructure, or both.

The G8124E supports data center bridging (DCB), which is the IEEE’s group of protocols that provide Lossless Ethernet and allows for clients to reduce the costs of implementing FCoE by using port aggregation before connecting to more costly upstream gateway devices.

The G8124E can be configured in "easy connect" mode to allow for transparent and simple connectivity to the upstream network, which enables easy connectivity to upstream Cisco, Juniper, or other networks without changing those networks.

Virtual Fabric helps clients reduce costs and complexity in environments where they need four or more NICs per server. A perfect example is virtualization, where clients often need as many as eight NICs per dual-port 10 GbE adapter installed in a server.

The G8124E can help clients reduce the complexity of managing VMs and VM migration with VMready® feature that makes the network VM-aware.

The RackSwitch G8124E switch is considered particularly suited for the following customers:

• Customers who need ultra-low latency 10 GbE networking
• Customers who need to converge their SAN and LAN and need a FCoE transit switch
• Customers who need ways to reduce cost (CAPEX):
  • Converge LAN and SAN traffic
  • Purchase fewer adapters, transceivers, and cables per server
  • Reduce upstream switching costs; fewer ports
• Customers who need to reduce complexity (OPEX):
  • Fewer adapters to manage
  • Manage fewer cables, which helps reduce potential points of failure
  • Ability to standardize on Ethernet from all servers; Ethernet for all connectivity in a rack
  • Ability to push out FC split to the end of the row

The RackSwitch G8124E offers the following features and benefits:

• High performance

  The 10 GbE low latency (as low as 570 nanoseconds) switch provides the best combination of extremely low latency, non-blocking line-rate switching, and ease of management.

• Lower power and better cooling

  The G8124E uses as little power as two 60 W light bulbs, which is a fraction of the power consumption of most competitive offerings. The G8124E rear-to-front cooling design reduces data center air conditioning costs by having airflow match the servers in the rack. In addition, variable speed fans assist in automatically reducing power consumption.

• Virtual Fabric

  Virtual Fabric can help customers address I/O requirements for multiple NICs while also helping reduce cost and complexity. Virtual Fabric allows for the carving up of a physical NIC into multiple virtual NICs (up to 4 vNICs per 10 Gb physical port) and creates a virtual pipe between the adapter and the switch for improved performance, availability, and security while reducing cost and complexity.

• VM-aware networking

  VMready software on the switch helps reduce configuration complexity while significantly improving security levels in virtualized environments. VMready automatically detects virtual machine movement from one physical server to another 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 switch includes Layer 3 functionality, which provides security and performance benefits as inter-VLAN traffic stays within the chassis. 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 interoperate seamlessly with other vendors' upstream switches.

• Fault tolerance

  These switches learn alternative routes automatically and perform faster convergence if there is a link, switch, or power failure. The switch uses proven technologies, such as L2 trunk failover, advanced VLAN-based failover, VRRP, Hot Links, IGMP V3 snooping, and OSPF.

• Converged fabric

  The switch supports CEE/DCB 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 deployment and management of server network connectivity while maintaining the high availability and robustness that is required for storage transactions.

• Transparent networking capability

  With a simple configuration change to Easy Connect mode, the RackSwitch G8124E becomes a transparent network device that is invisible to the core, which eliminates network administration concerns of Spanning Tree Protocol configuration and interoperability and 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.

The front panel of the RackSwitch G8124E is shown in the following figure.

Figure 2. Front panel of the RackSwitch G8124E

The front panel of the G8124E features the following components:

• LEDs that display the status of the switch and the network.
• One Mini-USB RS-232 console port that provides another means to configure the switch.
• 24x SFP/SFP+ ports to attach SFP/SFP+ transceivers for 1 Gb or 10 Gb Ethernet connections or DAC cables for 10 Gb Ethernet connections.
• Two RJ-45 10/100/1000 Mb Ethernet ports for out-of-band management.

The rear panel of the RackSwitch G8124E is shown in the following figure.

Figure 3. Rear panel of the RackSwitch G8124E

The rear panel of the G8124E features the following components:

• Two redundant fixed 275 W AC (100 - 240 V) power supplies (IEC 320-C14 power connector)
• Six fixed fans that provide N+1 redundancy

The following table lists the RackSwitch G8124E system specifications.

The following table lists the G8124E switch models.

The part numbers for the G8124E switches include the following items:

• One Lenovo RackSwitch G8124E switch
• Generic Rack Mount Kit (2-post)
• Console Cable Kit:
  • 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
• Documentation package

Configuration notes:

• Power cables are not included and must be ordered together with the switch (see "Power supplies and cables" for details).
• SFP/SFP+ transceivers and cables are not included and must be ordered together with the switch (see "Transceivers and cables" for details).

With the flexibility of the G8124E switch, customers can choose the following connectivity technologies:

• For 1 GbE links, customers can use RJ-45 SFP transceivers with UTP cables up to 100 meters. For longer distances, the 1000BASE-SX transceiver can support distances up to 220 meters with 62.5 µ (OM1) or up to 550 meters on 50 µ (OM2) multi-mode fiber optic cables, or the 1000BASE-LX transceiver can support distances up to 10 kilometers on single-mode fiber optic cables (1310 nm).

• For 10 GbE links, customers can use direct-attached copper (DAC) SFP+ cables for in-rack cabling for distances up to 7 meters or SFP+ active optical cables (AOCs) for distances up to 20 meters. These cables have SFP+ connectors on each end, and they do not need separate transceivers. For distances up to 30 meters, the 10GBASE-T SFP+ transceiver can be used with Category 6a or 7 RJ-45 UTP cables.

  For longer distances, the 10GBASE-SR transceiver can support distances up to 300 meters on OM3 or up to 400 meters on OM4 multimode fiber optic cables. The 10GBASE-LR transceivers can support distances up to 10 kilometers on single mode fiber optic cables.

  For extended distances, the 10GBASE-ER transceivers can support distances up to 40 kilometers on single mode fiber optic cables.

The supported cables and transceivers are listed in the following table.

The network cables that can be used with the switch are listed in the following table.

Note: The software features that are listed in this section are based on Networking OS 8.4.

The RackSwitch G8124E has the following software features:

• Scalability and performance:
  • Media access control (MAC) address learning with automatic updates
  • Up to 128 IP interfaces per switch (interfaces 127 and 128 are reserved for switch management)
  • Static and LACP (IEEE 802.3ad) link aggregation
  • Broadcast/multicast storm control
  • IGMP snooping to limit flooding of IP multicast traffic
  • IGMP filtering to control multicast traffic for hosts that are participating in multicast groups
  • Configurable traffic distribution schemes over trunk links that are based on source and destination IP or MAC addresses, or both
  • Fast port forwarding and fast uplink convergence for rapid STP convergence
• Availability and redundancy:

  • IEEE 802.1D STP for providing L2 redundancy
  • IEEE 802.1s Multiple STP (MSTP) for topology optimization
  • IEEE 802.1w Rapid STP (RSTP) provides rapid STP convergence for critical delay-sensitive traffic, such as voice or video
  • Per-VLAN Rapid STP (PVRST) enhancements
  • Layer 2 Trunk Failover to support active/standby configurations of network adapter teaming on compute nodes
  • Hot Links provides basic link redundancy with fast recovery for network topologies that require Spanning Tree to be turned off
• VLAN support:

  • Up to 4095 VLANs supported per switch, with VLAN numbers 1 - 4095 (VLAN 4095 is used by the management network.)
  • Port-based VLANs
  • 802.1Q VLAN tagging
  • Private VLANs
• Security:
  • VLAN-based, MAC-based, and IP-based access control lists (ACLs)
  • 802.1x port-based authentication
  • Multiple user IDs and passwords
  • User access control
  • Radius, TACACS+ and LDAP/LDAPS authentication and authorization
  • NIST 800-131A Encryption
  • Selectable encryption protocol
  • Secure Input/Output Module (SIOM) policy: Secure and Legacy modes
• Quality of Service (QoS):
  • Support for IEEE 802.1p, IP ToS/DSCP, and ACL-based (MAC/IP source and destination addresses and VLANs) traffic classification and processing
  • Traffic shaping and re-marking that is based on defined policies
  • Eight output Class of Service (COS) queues per port for processing qualified traffic
  • IPv4/IPv6 ACL metering
• IP v4 Layer 3 functions:
  • Host management
  • IP forwarding
  • IP filtering with ACLs, up to 127 IPv4 ACLs supported
  • VRRP for router redundancy
  • Up to 128 static routes
  • Routing protocols (RIP v1, RIP v2, OSPF v2, BGP)
  • DHCP Relay
  • IGMP snooping
  • Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM) in Sparse Mode (PIM-SM) and Dense Mode (PIM-DM).
• IPv6 Layer 3 functions:
  • IPv6 host management
  • IPv6 forwarding
  • Support for OSPF v3 routing protocol
  • IPv6 filtering with ACLs, up to 128 IPv6 ACLs supported
• Virtualization:
  • Virtual NICs (vNICs) with Ethernet, iSCSI, or FCoE traffic on vNICs
  • Virtual link aggregation groups (vLAGs)
    • Two switches (vLAG peers) act as a single virtual entity for a multi-port aggregation
    • vLAG Peer Gateway for improved usage of the inter-switch link between the vLAG peers
    • Two-tier vLAGs with VRRP enables active/active VRRP support to reduce routing latency
  • VMready support:
    • Up to 2,048 virtual entities (VEs)
    • Automatic VE discovery
    • Up to 1,024 local or distributed VM groups for VEs
    • NMotion® feature for automatic network configuration migration
• Converged Enhanced Ethernet:
  • Priority-Based Flow Control (PFC) (IEEE 802.1Qbb) extends 802.3x standard flow control to allow the switch to pause traffic that is based on the 802.1p priority value in each packet’s VLAN tag.
  • Enhanced Transmission Selection (ETS) (IEEE 802.1Qaz) provides a method for allocating link bandwidth that is based on the 802.1p priority value in each packet’s VLAN tag.
  • Data Center Bridging Capability Exchange Protocol (DCBX) (IEEE 802.1AB) allows neighboring network devices to exchange information about their capabilities.
• Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE):

  • FC-BB5 FCoE specification compliant
  • FCoE transit switch operations
  • FCoE Initialization Protocol (FIP) support for automatic ACL configuration
  • Link Aggregation Group (LAG) support for FCoE traffic
  • Supports 2,048 FCoE sessions with FIP Snooping by using Class ID ACLs
• Manageability:
  • Industry-standard command line interface (isCLI)
  • Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP V1 and V3)
  • Telnet interface for CLI
  • Secure Shell (SSH) v1 and v2 for CLI
  • Secure Copy (SCP) for uploading and downloading the switch configuration via secure channels
  • Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP) for discovering network devices
  • Serial interface for CLI
  • Scriptable CLI
  • Dual software images
  • Firmware image update via TFTP, FTP, and Secure FTP (sFTP)
  • Network Time Protocol (NTP) for switch clock synchronization
  • Netconf (XML)
  • Lenovo XClarity (optional) for discovery, inventory, monitoring and events
• Monitoring:
  • Switch LEDs for port status and switch status indication
  • Remote Monitoring (RMON) agent to collect statistics and proactively monitor switch performance
  • Port mirroring for analyzing network traffic passing through switch
  • Change tracking and remote logging with syslog feature
  • sFlow agent for monitoring traffic in data networks (separate sFlow analyzer required elsewhere)

The switch supports the following Ethernet standards:

• IEEE 802.1AB Data Center Bridging Capability Exchange Protocol (DCBX)
• IEEE 802.1D Spanning Tree Protocol (STP)
• IEEE 802.1p Class of Service (CoS) prioritization
• IEEE 802.1s Multiple STP (MSTP)
• IEEE 802.1Q Tagged VLAN
• IEEE 802.1Qbb Priority-Based Flow Control (PFC)
• IEEE 802.1Qaz Enhanced Transmission Selection (ETS)
• IEEE 802.1x port-based authentication
• IEEE 802.1w Rapid STP (RSTP)
• IEEE 802.3 10BASE-T Ethernet
• IEEE 802.3ab 1000BASE-T copper twisted pair Gigabit Ethernet
• IEEE 802.3ad Link Aggregation Control Protocol
• IEEE 802.3ae 10GBASE-SR short range fiber optics 10 Gb Ethernet
• IEEE 802.3ae 10GBASE-LR long range fiber optics 10 Gb Ethernet
• IEEE 802.3ae 10GBASE-ER extended range fiber optics 10 Gb Ethernet
• IEEE 802.3u 100BASE-TX Fast Ethernet
• IEEE 802.3x Full-duplex Flow Control
• IEEE 802.3z 1000BASE-SX short range fiber optics Gigabit Ethernet
• IEEE 802.3z 1000BASE-LX long range fiber optics Gigabit Ethernet

The G8124E switch has two load-sharing, 275 W AC (100 - 240 V) redundant fixed power supplies. Each power supply has an individual IEC 320-C14 connector.

The G8124E switch ships standard without any AC power cables. The part numbers and feature codes to order the power cables (two power cables are required per switch) are listed in the following table.

* Available for factory-built custom configurations and solutions only.

The G8124E switch includes a 2-post rack mount kit.

For 4-post rack installations, the G8124E switch supports the optional adjustable 19-inch, 4-post rail kit and the air inlet duct (optional for the 4-post rail kit; supported only with the models with rear to front airflow).

When the G8124E switch (front to rear airflow) is installed in the Intelligent Cluster Rack (Machine Type 1410) or Enterprise Rack (Machine Type 9363) as a part of a NeXtScale System solution, the recessed 19-inch 4-post rail kit is required.

The following table lists rack installation options for the G8124E switches with rear to front and front to rear airflow.

The G8124E switch features the following approximate dimensions and weight:

• Height: 44 mm (1.7 in.)
• Width: 439 mm (17.3 in.)
• Depth: 381 mm (15.0 in.)
• Weight: 6.4 kg (14.1 lb)

The G8124E switch is supported in the following operating environment:

• Temperature: 0 - 40 ºC (32 - 104 ºF).
• Relative humidity: Non-condensing, 10 - 90%
• Altitude: up to 3,050 m (10,000 feet)
• Acoustic noise: Less than 65 dB
• Airflow: Front-to-rear or rear-to-front cooling with variable speed fans for reduced power draw
• Electrical input: 50-60 Hz, 100-240 V AC auto-switching
• Electrical power: 200 W (typical)
• Heat dissipation: 1,100 BTU/hour (maximum)

The RackSwitch G8124E comes with a 3-year Customer Replaceable Unit (CRU) hardware limited warranty with 9x5 Next Business Day (NBD) Parts Delivered and includes a 3-year software license, which provides entitlement to upgrades over that period. The options that are installed in the switch assume the switch’s base warranty and any Lenovo warranty service upgrade for the switch.

Some regions might have different warranty terms and conditions than the standard warranty. This is due to local business practices or laws in the specific region. Local service teams can assist in explaining region-specific terms when needed. Examples of region-specific warranty terms are second or longer business day parts delivery or parts-only base warranty.

If warranty terms and conditions include onsite labor for repair or replacement of parts, Lenovo will dispatch a service technician to the customer site to perform the replacement. Onsite labor under base warranty is limited to labor for replacement of parts that have been determined to be field-replaceable units (FRUs). Parts that are determined to be customer-replaceable units (CRUs) do not include onsite labor under base warranty.

If warranty terms include parts-only base warranty, Lenovo is responsible for delivering only replacement parts that are under base warranty (including FRUs) that will be sent to a requested location for self-service. Parts-only service does not include a service technician being dispatched onsite. Parts must be changed at customer’s own cost and labor and defective parts must be returned following the instructions supplied with the spares parts.

Also available are Lenovo Services warranty maintenance upgrades and post-warranty maintenance agreements, with a well-defined scope of services, including service hours, response time, term of service, and service agreement terms and conditions.

Lenovo warranty service upgrade offerings are region-specific. Not all warranty service upgrades are available in every region. For information about Lenovo warranty service upgrade offerings that are available in your region, refer to the following resources:

• Service part numbers in Lenovo Data Center Solutions Configurator (DCSC):
  http://dcsc.lenovo.com/#/services
• Lenovo Services Availability Locator
  https://lenovolocator.com/

In general, the following Lenovo warranty service upgrades are available:

• Warranty and maintenance service upgrades:
  • 3, 4, or 5 years of warranty service coverage
  • 1-year or 2-year post-warranty extensions
  • Foundation Service: 9x5 service coverage with next business day onsite response
  • Essential Service: 24x7 service coverage with 4-hour onsite response or 24-hour committed repair (available only in select regions)
  • Advanced Service: 24x7 service coverage with 2-hour onsite response or 6-hour committed repair (available only in select regions)
• Premier Support

  Premier Support service offers direct access to Lenovo’s most advanced technicians for faster troubleshooting with single point of contact for end-to-end problem resolution and collaborative third-party software support.

• Basic Hardware Installation Services

  Lenovo experts can seamlessly manage the physical installation of your server, storage, or networking hardware. Working at a time convenient for you (business hours or off shift), the technician will unpack and inspect the systems on your site, install options, mount in a rack cabinet, connect to power and network, check and update firmware to the latest levels, verify operation, and dispose of the packaging, allowing your team to focus on other priorities.

For service definitions, region-specific details, and service limitations, please refer to the following documents:

• Lenovo Statement of Limited Warranty for Infrastructure Solutions Group (ISG) Servers and System Storage
  http://pcsupport.lenovo.com/us/en/solutions/ht503310
• Lenovo Data Center Services Agreement
  http://support.lenovo.com/us/en/solutions/ht116628

The switch conforms to the following regulations:

• Safety certifications:
  • UL60950-1
  • CAN/CSA 22.2 No.60950-1
  • EN 60950-1
  • IEC60950-1
  • NOM NYCE 019
  • GOST R MEK 60950-1
  • GB4943-2001
• Electromagnetic compatibility certifications:
  • FCC 47CFR Part 15 Class A
  • EN 55022 Class A
  • ICES-003 Class A
  • VCCI Class A
  • AS/NZS CISPR 22 Class A
  • CISPR 22 Class A
  • EN 55024
  • EN 300386
  • CE
• Environmental: Reduction of Hazardous Substances (ROHS) 6

The following table lists the network switches with rear-to-front airflow that are offered by Lenovo that can be used with the RackSwitch G8124E for ThinkSystem and Flex System network connectivity.

The following table lists the network switches with front-to-rear airflow that are offered by Lenovo that can be used with the RackSwitch G8124E for NeXtScale System network connectivity.

For more information, see the list of Product Guides in the Top-of-rack Switches category:
http://lenovopress.com/servers/options/switches

The following table lists the external storage systems that are currently offered by Lenovo that can be used with the RackSwitch G8124E for external NAS or iSCSI SAN storage connectivity.

* Available only in EMEA.

^ Available only in PRC.
† Available worldwide except Latin America.
‡ Available only in Latin America.

The following table lists the rack cabinets that are offered by Lenovo that can be used in RackSwitch G8124E solutions.

For more information, see the list of Product Guides in the Rack cabinets category:
http://lenovopress.com/servers/options/racks?rt=product-guide

The following table lists the power distribution units (PDUs) that are offered by Lenovo that can be used in RackSwitch G8124E solutions.

For more information, see the list of Product Guides in the Power Distribution Units category:
http://lenovopress.com/servers/options/pdu

The following table lists the uninterruptible power supply (UPS) units that are offered by Lenovo that can be used in RackSwitch G8124E solutions.

For more information, see the list of Product Guides in the Uninterruptible Power Supply Units category:
http://lenovopress.com/servers/options/ups#rt=product-guide

Lenovo Financial Services reinforces Lenovo’s commitment to deliver pioneering products and services that are recognized for their quality, excellence, and trustworthiness. Lenovo Financial Services offers financing solutions and services that complement your technology solution anywhere in the world.

We are dedicated to delivering a positive finance experience for customers like you who want to maximize your purchase power by obtaining the technology you need today, protect against technology obsolescence, and preserve your capital for other uses.

We work with businesses, non-profit organizations, governments and educational institutions to finance their entire technology solution. We focus on making it easy to do business with us. Our highly experienced team of finance professionals operates in a work culture that emphasizes the importance of providing outstanding customer service. Our systems, processes and flexible policies support our goal of providing customers with a positive experience.

We finance your entire solution. Unlike others, we allow you to bundle everything you need from hardware and software to service contracts, installation costs, training fees, and sales tax. If you decide weeks or months later to add to your solution, we can consolidate everything into a single invoice.

Our Premier Client services provide large accounts with special handling services to ensure these complex transactions are serviced properly. As a premier client, you have a dedicated finance specialist who manages your account through its life, from first invoice through asset return or purchase. This specialist develops an in-depth understanding of your invoice and payment requirements. For you, this dedication provides a high-quality, easy, and positive financing experience.

For your region specific offers please ask your Lenovo sales representative or your technology provider about the use of Lenovo Financial Services. For more information, see the following Lenovo website:
http://www.lenovofs.com

For more information about the RackSwitch G8124E, see the following publications that are available at the RackSwitch G8124E InfoCenter:
http://systemx.lenovofiles.com/help/topic/com.lenovo.rackswitch.g8124e.doc/rs_g8124e.html

• RackSwitch G8124E Installation Guide
• RackSwitch G8124E Application Guide
• RackSwitch G8124E Industry Standard CLI Command Reference

For discussions on various Lenovo networking topics, visit the Data Center Networking Community Forum:
http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Datacenter-Networking/ct-p/nh_eg