get port and bandwidth flexibility with highly scalable switches. With scalable components, you can buy a base product a
Networking for Flex System
To meet today’s complex and ever-changing business demands, you need a solid foundation of server, storage, networking and management resources that is simple to deploy yet can quickly and automatically adapt to changing conditions. The Flex System™ networking portfolio offers clients the right solution to connect with their existing or new infrastructure without compromising performance and management. All modules are built using industry standards and enterprise-class features. Innovative scalability options enable clients to pay for what they need today while scaling to higher performance in the future based on their workload requirements. Flex System networking offers a choice of multiple fabrics on standards-based protocols. Clients can choose Ethernet (1 Gb or 10 Gb or 40 Gb), Fibre Channel (8 Gb or 16 Gb), Fibre Channel over Ethernet (using pass-thru 10 Gb transit switch or 10 Gb converged switch) and InfiniBand (QDR or FDR). Clients looking for a simple unmanaged device in the chassis can leverage the system Interconnect module that simplifies setup and management while maintaining serverto-server communication within the chassis.
Flex System Fabric Flex System Fabric is an interconnect technology that optimizes systems for maximum performance, automates network deployment and offers an integrated management via FlexSystem Manager™. Flex System Fabric is available on both PureFlex System and Flex System. The Flex System Fabric portfolio today offers the following high-performance modules—Flex System Fabric EN4093R 10 Gb Scalable Switch, Flex System Fabric SI4093 System Interconnect Module and Flex System Fabric CN4093 10 Gb Converged Scalable Switch. The network resources in Flex System Fabric are tightly integrated into the system to support virtualization and simple, integrated management. You can move from managing a physical network to managing a logical network in a virtualized environment—supporting business services instead of network components. With integrated management tools based on open standards, these resources are easy to
Networking for Flex System
provision and deploy so you can reduce the cost of managing your virtual fabric. You have fewer elements to manage, but still get port and bandwidth flexibility with highly scalable switches. With scalable components, you can buy a base product and purchase and enable additional ports without adding new hardware. Flex System Fabric products are enabled to work with Intel processor-based compute nodes to support heterogeneous workloads for maximum efficiency.
The Flex System Fabric CN4093 10 Gb Converged Scalable Switch reduces complexity and cost by supporting multiple protocols like Ethernet, Fibre Channel, FCoE and iSCSI in a single solution. This switch when combined with the on-board LOM or the CN4054 (for Intel processor-based compute nodes) adapter offers a cost-effective simple solution that combines the benefits of I/O convergence (FCoE or iSCSI) and Virtual Fabric. In addition, this switch offers easy connectivity to the integrated storage node directly via the chassis midplane. The CN4093 also offers 40 Gb uplinks for highest performance and low latency. With the CN4093, clients have the flexibility to start with a base configuration and grow based on their needs. This switch also supports enhanced features like Virtual Fabric and VMready. Virtual Fabric provides a way to split a pair of 10 Gb ports into virtual NICs (vNICs) to reduce cost and complexity of network virtualization and VMready simplifies VM management and automates VM mobility by making the network VM aware.
The Flex System Fabric EN4093R 10 Gb Scalable Switch offers uncompromised scalability, throughput and performance to meet your growing workload requirements. This switch is ideal for clients migrating to 10 Gb infrastructure or leveraging convergence using FCoE or iSCSI protocols. This switch is among the first to offer 40 Gb uplinks enabling an easy transition to next-generation bandwidth. The base switch supports 14 internal 10 Gb ports and 10 external SFP+ 10 Gb ports and can be expanded with two upgrade options. This switch also supports enhanced features like Virtual Fabric, VMready® and stacking.
Other high-performance Ethernet options
The Flex System Fabric SI4093 System Interconnect Module offers a simple unmanaged device in the chassis. This module offers highest performance but reduces management by enabling ‘End Host Mode’ operation. In this mode, this module is transparent to the upstream top-of-rack switches. This module comes preconfigured to reduce management and setup. The base module supports 14 internal 10 Gb ports and 10 external SFP+ 10 Gb ports and can be expanded with two upgrade options. This module also supports enhanced features like Virtual Fabric and convergence.
The Flex System networking portfolio offers clients the choice of high-performance 40 Gb and 10 Gb offerings to low-cost 1 Gb solutions. Clients looking for the highest performance and lowest latency can leverage the new end-to-end 40 Gb Ethernet offering. For clients who require 1 Gb connectivity, they can use either the 10 Gb Flex System Fabric Switch Module or the Flex System EN2092 1 Gb Ethernet Scalable Switch which is designed for existing 1 Gb Ethernet or mixed 1 Gb and 10 Gb environments. All the 1 Gb and 10 Gb switch modules can scale to support more ports and bandwidth in the future via software upgrade.
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Networking for Flex System
InfiniBand connectivity
Additional 1 Gb, 10 Gb, 40 Gb and converged adapters, as well as pass-thru modules are also available to further enhance the capabilities on your Ethernet network.
High performance computing or financial-services solutions require maximum bandwidth and low latency. To support these demands choose the next-generation InfiniBand solution at both Fourteen Data Rate and Quad Data Rate speed. The options support host channel adapters (HCA) and switches to connect servers with remote storage and networking devices, and with other servers. Intel processor-based compute nodes are enabled to run InfiniBand fabric using the same switch in the chassis.
Fibre Channel connectivity High performance Fibre Channel options are available to connect your Flex System Enterprise chassis to an existing storage area network (SAN)—both 8 Gb and 16 Gb end-to-end SAN solutions for x86-based nodes in the same chassis. The Flex System FC5022 8/16 Gb SAN Scalable Switch offers several choices to customers using dynamic ports on demand so you can maximize your network investment. Clients can buy the 12-port version for small environments or buy one of the 24-port versions—with or without Enterprise Service Bundle license. Clients can enable licenses based on the number of servers they have in the Flex System chassis and choose the exact level of oversubscription based on workload. This module can work at both 8 Gb and 16 Gb so clients can be ready for future bandwidth requirements.
The Flex System IB6131 InfiniBand Switch offers 14 internal FDR links to each server and up to 18 QSFP uplink ports for inter-switch links or to connect to external servers. Additional InfiniBand adapters are available to meet the needs of your solution.
Why System x System x is the leading provider of x86 systems for the data center. The portfolio includes rack, tower, blade, dense and converged systems, and supports enterprise class performance, reliability and security. System x also offers a full range of networking, storage, software and solutions, and comprehensive services supporting business needs throughout the IT lifecycle.
The Flex System FC3171 8 Gb SAN Switch and Flex System FC3171 8 Gb SAN Pass-thru give you connectivity to 8 Gb Fibre Channel networks in full switch mode or pass-thru (NPIV) mode. Additional Fibre Channel 2-port and 4-port adapters that enable both 8 Gb and 16 Gb bandwidth are available so you can configure the Flex System to meet your SAN needs.
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Networking for Flex System
For more information To learn more about the Flex System networking portfolio, contact your Lenovo Business Partner or visit: lenovo.com/systems/servers
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