Cisco MDS 9100

With Cisco Intelligent Networking now available for small- and medium-sized SANs and edge applications in data centers, the Cisco MDS 9100 Series raises the bar for Fibre Channel fabric switches. The Cisco MDS License for 9100 Series, which comes in a small 1RU form factor, offers the perfect compromise between price, performance, and enterprise-class features. The Cisco MDS 9100 Series provides the port densities necessary for a variety of storage environments and is available in 20- and 40-port configurations.

With this licensed Series’ class-leading scalability, availability, security, and management capabilities, users can quickly and affordably deploy high-performance SANs. The Cisco MDS 9100 Series addresses the cost, performance, management ease, and connectivity requirements of small and medium-scale storage environments and offers full feature compatibility with Cisco MDS 9500 Series Multilayer Directors and the Cisco MDS 9200 Series Multilayer Fabric Switches for transparent, end-to-end service delivery in large data centers.

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Connectivity that is optimized

By matching Cisco switch-port performance to the demands of connected devices, Cisco MDS 9100 Series switches optimize connectivity. The bandwidth requirements of high-performance storage devices, servers, and Inter-Switch Links (ISLs) are satisfied by target-optimized ports. Best-in-class port density and optimum bandwidth for host-attach are delivered by host-optimized ports. 16 host-optimized ports and 4 target-optimized ports are included in the Cisco MDS 9120 model switch’s configuration. Eight target-optimized ports and 32 host-optimized ports make up the Cisco MDS 9140 model switch’s configuration. Hot-swappable Small Form-Factor Pluggable (SFP), LC interfaces are available on the licensed Cisco MDS 9100 Series switches.

For connectivity up to 500 meters and 10 kilometers, respectively, individual ports can be set up with either short-wavelength or long-wavelength SFPs. A low-cost, passive optical multiplexer/demultiplexer can aggregate multiple links onto a single optical fiber using one of the available coarse wavelength-division multiplexing (CWDM) SFPs. All interfaces support 2Gbps. Target-optimized ports allow for maximum extensibility without the need for additional licensing by supporting up to 255 buffer credits per port. 12 buffer credits are supported per port by host-optimized ports.

Diagnostic and troubleshooting tools that are the most cutting edge in the industry.

Proactive diagnostics, tools to check connectivity and route latency, and mechanisms for capturing and analyzing traffic are all necessary for managing large-scale storage networks. The most cutting-edge debugging and analysis tools available are integrated into the Cisco MDS 9000 Family. Online diagnostics and Power-On Self Tests (POST) offer proactive health monitoring.

The licensed Cisco MDS 9100 Series offers the integrated hardware functionality needed to implement diagnostic features like FC Traceroute for pinpointing the precise path and timing of flows and Switched Port Analyzer (SPAN) for capturing network traffic with intelligence. After traffic has been captured, it can be examined using the Cisco Fabric Analyzer, an embedded Fiber Channel analyzer. Comprehensive port and flow-based statistics allow for sophisticated performance analysis and service level agreement (SLA) accounting. Cisco offers the most complete toolkit for troubleshooting and analyzing a company’s storage network with the MDS 9000 Family.

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Comprehensive Solution for Robust Security

The Cisco MDS 9100 Series provides a comprehensive security framework to protect highly sensitive data traveling across today’s enterprise networks in recognition of the need for tight security in storage networks. The Cisco MDS 9100 Series uses intelligent packet inspection at the port level, applying ACLs for Zone, VSAN, and advanced Port Security feature hardware enforcement.

LUN zoning, read-only zoning, and broadcast zones, which limit broadcasts to only the chosen zones, are all examples of extended zoning capabilities. LUN zoning ensures that LUNs are only accessible by particular hosts. Using VSANs, which completely isolate all devices connected to the same physical SAN, it is possible to achieve higher security and more stability. Additionally, to make sure that only authorized devices can access protected storage networks, Fiber Channel Security Protocol (FC-SP) offers switch-switch and host-switch DH-CHAP authentication supporting RADIUS or TACACS.

The licensed Cisco MDS 9100 is the most secure platform of its kind thanks to this functionality, management access, and control plane security.

Cisco MDS 9100 Key Features

Availability

Class-leading availability is a key feature of the Cisco MDS 9100 Series. The ability to automatically restart failed supervisor processes, hot-swappable, redundant fans and power supplies, and other features define a new standard for fabric switch availability. Through the most reliable and effective ISLs in the market, high availability is implemented at the fabric level.

Users can combine up to 15 physical links (Cisco MDS 9140) into a single logical bundle using the PortChannel capability. Any physical link failure in the bundle won’t result in a reset. Furthermore, Fabric-Shortest-Path-First (FSPF) multipathing gives you the intelligence to load balance across up to 15 equal cost paths (Cisco MDS 9140) and, in the event that a switch fails, to dynamically reroute traffic. By maximizing TCO, the Cisco MDS 9100 Series raises the bar for fabric-switch availability.

Management simplicity

To fulfill the promise of SANs, management capabilities must be provided. The Cisco MDS 9100 Series offers three main management options to accommodate the demands of all users: Cisco Fabric Manager, the CLI for the Cisco MDS 9000 Family, and integration with external storage management tools. The Cisco MDS 9100 Series offers the user a logical, consistent CLI.

The licensed Cisco MDS 9000 Family CLI, which follows the syntax of the well-known Cisco IOS® CLI, is simple to learn and offers a wide range of management functionality. Designed to give administrators in corporate environments the best functionality possible, the Cisco MDS 9000 Family CLI is a very effective and straightforward interface.

Cisco Fabric Manager is a Java application that is responsive and simple to use and that makes managing many switches and fabrics easier. Using Cisco Fabric Manager, administrators can complete crucial tasks like topology discovery, fabric configuration and verification, provisioning, monitoring, and fault resolution. A secure interface makes all functions accessible and allows for remote management from any location. The use of Cisco Fabric Manager is optional; it can be combined with other third-party management tools or used independently. For the integration of management tools created by users and third parties, Cisco offers a comprehensive API.