DS-C9132T-MEK9 Cisco MDS 9132T 32-Gbps 32-Port Fibre Channel Switch

Product overview

The next-generation Cisco^® MDS 9132T 32-Gbps 32-Port Fibre Channel Switch (Figure 1) provides high-speed Fibre Channel connectivity from the server rack to the SAN core. It empowers small, midsize, and large enterprises that are rapidly deploying cloud-scale applications using extremely dense virtualized servers, providing the dual benefits of greater bandwidth and consolidation. Small-scale SAN architectures can be built from the foundation using this low-cost, low-power, non-blocking, line-rate, and low-latency, bi-directional airflow capable, fixed standalone SAN switch connecting both storage and host ports. Medium-size to large-scale SAN architectures built with SAN core directors can expand 32-Gbps connectivity to the server rack using these switches either in switch mode or Network Port Virtualization (NPV) mode. Additionally, investing in this switch for the lower-speed (4- or 8- or 16-Gbps) server rack gives you the option to upgrade to 32-Gbps server connectivity in the future using the 32-Gbps Host Bus Adapter (HBA) that are available today. The Cisco^® MDS 9132T 32-Gbps 32-Port Fibre Channel switch also provides unmatched flexibility through a unique port expansion module (Figure 2) that provides a robust cost-effective, field swappable, port upgrade option. This switch also offers state-of-the-art SAN analytics and telemetry capabilities that have been built into this next-generation hardware platform. This new state-of-the-art technology couples the next-generation port ASIC with a fully dedicated Network Processing Unit designed to complete analytics calculations in real time. The telemetry data extracted from the inspection of the frame headers are calculated on board (within the switch) and, using an industry-leading open format, can be streamed to any analytics-visualization platform. This switch also includes a dedicated 10/100/1000BASE-T telemetry port to maximize data delivery to any telemetry receiver including Cisco Data Center Network Manager.

Cisco MDS 9132T 32-Gbps 32-Port fibre channel switch

Cisco MDS 9132T 32-Gbps 16-Port fibre channel port expansion module

Main features

The main features of the MDS 9132T 32-Gbps 32-Port Fibre Channel Switch include:

●     High performance: MDS 9132T architecture, with chip-integrated nonblocking arbitration, provides consistent 32-Gbps low-latency performance across all traffic conditions for every Fibre Channel port on the switch.

●     Capital Expenditure (CapEx) savings: The 32-Gbps ports allow users to deploy them on existing 16- or 8-Gbps transceivers, reducing initial CapEx with an option to upgrade to 32-Gbps transceivers and adapters in the future.

●     High availability: MDS 9132T switches is designed to provide 99.999% availability. It provides such outstanding availability and reliability by providing redundancy on all major components, such as the power supply and cooling subsystems. Dual power supplies also facilitate redundant power grids.

●     Pay-as-you-grow: The MDS 9132T Fibre Channel switch provides an option to deploy as few as eight 32-Gbps Fibre Channel ports in the entry-level variant, which can grow by 8 ports to 16 ports, and thereafter with a port expansion module with sixteen 32-Gbps ports, to up to 32 ports. This approach results in lower initial investment and power consumption for entry-level configurations of up to 16 ports compared to a fully loaded switch. Upgrading through an expansion module also reduces the overhead of managing multiple instances of port activation licenses on the switch. This unique combination of port upgrade options allow four possible configurations of 8 ports, 16 ports, 24 ports and 32 ports.

●     Next-generation Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC): The MDS 9132T Fibre Channel switch is powered by the same high-performance 32-Gbps Cisco ASIC with an integrated network processor that powers the Cisco MDS 9700 48-Port 32-Gbps Fibre Channel Switching Module. Among all the advanced features that this ASIC enables, one of the most notable is inspection of Fibre Channel and Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) headers at wire speed on every flow in the smallest form-factor Fibre Channel switch without the need for any external taps or appliances. The recorded flows can be analyzed on the switch and also exported using a dedicated 10/100/1000BASE-T port for telemetry and analytics purposes.

●     Intelligent network services: Slow-drain detection and isolation, VSAN technology, Access Control Lists (ACLs) for hardware-based intelligent frame processing, smartzoning and fabric wide Quality of Service (QoS) enable migration from SAN islands to enterprise wide storage networks. Traffic encryption is optionally available to meet stringent security requirements.

●     Sophisticated diagnostics: The MDS 9132T provides intelligent diagnostics tools such as Inter-Switch Link (ISL) diagnostics, read diagnostic parameters, protocol decoding, network analysis tools, and integrated Cisco Call Home capability for greater reliability, faster problem resolution, and reduced service costs.

●     Virtual machine awareness: The MDS 9132T provides visibility into all virtual machines logged into the fabric. This feature is available through HBAs capable of priority tagging the Virtual Machine Identifier (VMID) on every FC frame. Virtual machine awareness can be extended to intelligent fabric services such as analytics^[1] to visualize performance of every flow originating from each virtual machine in the fabric.

●     Programmable fabric: The MDS 9132T provides powerful Representational State Transfer (REST) and Cisco NX-API capabilities to enable flexible and rapid programming of utilities for the SAN as well as polling point-in-time telemetry data from any external tool.

●     Single-pane management: The MDS 9132T can be provisioned, managed, monitored, and troubleshot using Cisco Data Center Network Manager (DCNM), which currently manages the entire suite of Cisco data center products.

●     Self-contained advanced anticounterfeiting technology: The MDS 9132T uses on-board hardware that protects the entire system from malicious attacks by securing access to critical components such as the bootloader, system image loader and Joint Test Action Group (JTAG) interface.

SAN architectural benefits

The new 32-Gbps fabric switches address the requirement for highly scalable, virtualized, intelligent SAN infrastructure in current-generation data center environments. The industry is already poised to transition to 32-Gbps fixed switches with the availability of 32-Gbps HBAs and storage arrays from vendors. Additionally, as low-latency flash arrays and extremely dense virtualization deployments become more pervasive, fixed switches will be expected to provide 32-Gbps connectivity to the SAN core.

This solution offers several important benefits:

●     Server port consolidation: The demand for 32-Gbps fabric switches will increase as hyperscale virtualization doubles the virtual machine density per rack, increasing the need for higher-bandwidth HBA ports per rack of blade or standalone servers. Soon 32-Gbps HBA ports will consolidate the current 16-Gbps HBA installed base, with the need to increase the server capacity in the same rack. Hence, the MDS 9132T, with its lower port density, provides an excellent solution, and the flexibility to increase the port density in the future is an added advantage (Figure 3).

Cisco MDS 9132T in hyperscale server environments

●     Simplification: Through consolidation, the SAN administrator can reduce complexity and simplify management.

●     Multiprotocol convergence: 32-Gbps links benefit from lower latency than lower-bandwidth links, bringing better-performing storage workloads to your storage array. Greater bandwidth also helps ensure less ISL congestion for the newer storage protocols that are expected to be available on externally attached storage arrays: for instance, Fibre Channel Non-Volatile Memory Express NVMe can co-exist on the same link as existing SCSI workloads.

●     Scale and performance: This Small Form-Factor (SFF) switch supports the performance and scale required to deploy a dedicated and standalone Fibre Channel SAN connecting both initiators and targets without requiring any other switching infrastructure.

Platform compatibility

Product specifications

Table 1 lists the specifications for the MDS 9132T 32-Gbps 32-Port Fibre Channel Switch.

Table 1.           Product specifications