IBMcisco 9700

Cisco MDS 9710 Multilayer Director for IBM System
Networking
IBM Redbooks Product Guide
This IBM Redbooks Product Guide introduces Cisco MDS 9710 Multilayer Director for IBM System
Networking (9710-E08). It is a director-class storage area network (SAN) switch that is designed for
deployment in large-scale storage networks to enable enterprise clouds and business transformation. By
adding enterprise connectivity options that support IBM FICON connectivity,
MDS 9710 delivers a high performing and reliable FICON infrastructure that is designed to support fast
and scalable IBM z Systems servers.
With the Cisco MDS 9700 48-Port 10-Gbps Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) Module and the Cisco
MDS 9700 24-port 40-Gbps FCoE Module, the MDS 9700 platforms provide multiprotocol flexibility for
SANs that delivers 16 Gbps FC and 10/40 Gbps FCoE capability and 1/10 FCIP capabilities.
Layering a comprehensive set of intelligent features onto a high-performance, protocol-independent

switch fabric, the MDS 9710 addresses the stringent requirements of large virtualized data center storage
environments: High availability, security, scalability, ease of management, and transparent integration of
new technologies for flexible data center SAN solutions. Sharing the operating system and management
interface with other Cisco data center switches, the MDS 9710 enables seamless deployment of fabrics
with high-performance Fibre Channel connectivity to achieve low total cost of ownership (TCO).
For mission-critical enterprise storage networks that require secure, robust, cost-effective
business-continuance services, the FCIP extension module is designed to deliver outstanding SAN
extension performance, reducing latency for disk and tape operations with FCIP acceleration features,
including FCIP write acceleration and FCIP tape write and read acceleration.
The Cisco MDS 9000 24/10-Port SAN Extension Module provides a high-performance, flexible, unified
platform for deploying enterprise-class disaster-recovery and business-continuance SAN extension
solutions.
Cisco MDS 9710 Multilayer Director for IBM System Networking 1

Figure 1 shows the Cisco MDS 9710 Multilayer Director for IBM System Networking.
Figure 1. Cisco MDS 9710 Multilayer Director for IBM System Networking
Did you know?

z The MDS 9710 director class switch enables redundancy on all major components, including the
fabric card.
z The MDS 9000 24/10-Port SAN Extension Module supports hardware-based FCIP compression to
increase the effective WAN bandwidth of SAN extension solutions. The module can deliver
compression ratios in the range of 4:1 - 5:1 over a wide variety of data sources.
z The MDS 9700 Series provides deterministic hardware performance and a comprehensive feature set
that allows virtual machines to have the same SAN attributes as a physical server.
z The combination of the Supervisor-1, 16 Gbps Fibre Channel switching module, and Fabric-1
Crossbar switching modules enables up to 1.5 Tbps of FC throughput between modules for each of
the eight MDS 9710 payload slots.
Product overview
The capabilities of the Cisco MDS 9710 can be extended with modules.
The Cisco MDS 9000 24/10-Port SAN Extension Module
The MDS 9000 24/10-Port SAN Extension Module is supported on Cisco MDS 9700 Series Multilayer
Directors. With 24 line-rate 2-, 4-, 8-, 10-, and 16-Gbps Fibre Channel ports and eight 1 and 10 Gigabit
Ethernet Fibre Channel over IP (FCIP) ports, this module enables large and scalable deployment of SAN
extension solutions. The SAN extension module has two independent service engines that can each be
individually and incrementally enabled to scale as business requirements expand.

The SAN extension module supports the full range of services available on other Cisco MDS 9000 Family
Fibre Channel switching modules, including virtual SAN (VSAN), security, and traffic management
services. The FCIP module uses Cisco expertise and knowledge of IP networks to deliver outstanding
SAN extension performance, reducing latency for disk and tape operations with FCIP acceleration
features, including FCIP write acceleration and FCIP tape write and read acceleration.
Hardware-based encryption helps secure sensitive traffic with IP Security (IPsec), and hardware-based
compression dramatically enhances performance for both high- and low-speed links, enabling immediate
cost savings in expensive WAN infrastructure. Multiple FCIP interfaces within a single engine or across
service engines can be grouped into a port channel of up to 16 links for high availability and increased
aggregate throughput.
Figure 2 shows the Cisco MDS 9000 24/10-Port SAN Extension Module.
Figure 2. Cisco MDS 9000 24/10-Port SAN Extension Module
Main features and benefits
The MDS 9000 24/10-Port SAN Extension Module is designed for mission-critical enterprise storage
networks that require secure, robust, cost-effective business-continuance services. The SAN extension
module offers the following main features:
z FCIP for remote SAN extension

o Simplifies data-protection and business-continuance strategies by enabling backup, remote
replication, and other disaster-recovery services over WAN distances using open standards FCIP
tunneling.
o Optimizes utilization of WAN resources for backup and replication by enabling hardware-based
compression, hardware-based encryption, FCIP write acceleration, and tape read and write
acceleration for both FCIP and FICON over IP. The SAN extension module will support 4 tunnels
per interface and can scale up to 32 tunnels (4 tunnels x 8 1/10GE ports).
o Preserves MDS 9000 Family enhanced capabilities, including VSANs, advanced traffic
management, and security, across remote connections.
z Integrated IP storage services in a high -density form factor : The module supports eight 1 and 10
Gigabit Ethernet ports. Individual ports can be configured with hot-swappable shortwave and
longwave Small Form-Factor Pluggable (SFP) connections.

z Integrated hardware -based VSANs and Inter -VSAN Routing (IVR): The module enables deployment
of large-scale multisite and heterogeneous SAN topologies. Integration into port-level hardware
allows any port in a system or fabric to be partitioned into any VSAN. Integrated hardware-based IVR
provides line-rate routing between any ports in a system or fabric without the need for external routing
appliances.
z Intelligent network services : The module uses VSAN technology for hardware-enforced, isolated
environments in a single physical fabric; access control lists (ACLs) for hardware-based intelligent
frame processing; and advanced traffic management features, such as fabric-wide quality of service
(QoS), to facilitate migration from SAN islands to enterprise wide storage networks.
z Sophisticated diagnostics : The module provides intelligent diagnostics, protocol decoding, and
network analysis tools, in addition to integrated Cisco Call Home capability, for greater reliability,
faster problem resolution, and reduced service costs.
z Comprehensive network security framework : The module supports RADIUS and TACACS+, Fibre
Channel Security Protocol (FC-SP), Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP), Secure Shell (SSH)
Protocol, Simple Network Management Protocol Version 3 (SNMPv3) implementing the Advanced
Encryption Standard (AES), VSANs, hardware-enforced zoning, ACLs, and per-VSAN role-based
access control (RBAC). RBAC provides separate control over management functions and access on
a per-VSAN basis, enabling separation of duties among administrators on the same physical switch.
Gigabit Ethernet ports support IPsec authentication, data integrity, and hardware-assisted data
encryption.
z IP Version 6 (IPv6) support: The module supports IPv6 as mandated by the U.S. Department of
Defense (DoD), Japan, and China. IPv6 support is provided for FCIP and for management traffic
routed in band and out of band
Integrated FCIP for remote SAN and mainframe channel extension
Data-distribution, data-protection, and business-continuance services are significant components of

todays information-centered businesses. The capability to efficiently replicate critical data on a global
scale helps ensure a higher level of data protection for valuable corporate information, and it also
increases utilization of backup resources and lowers total cost of storage ownership. The MDS 9000
24/10-Port SAN Extension Module uses the open-standards FCIP protocol to extend the distance of
current Fibre Channel and FICON solutions, enabling interconnection of SAN islands over extended
distances.
Advanced SAN extension features
The MDS 9000 24/10-Port SAN Extension Module supports hardware-based FCIP compression to
increase the effective WAN bandwidth of SAN extension solutions. The module can deliver compression
ratios in the range of 4:1 - 5:1 over a wide variety of data sources.
The SAN extension module supports AES 256 IPsec encryption for secure transmission of sensitive data
over extended distances. Hardware enablement of IPsec helps ensure line-rate throughput. Together,
hardware-based compression and hardware-based encryption provide a high-performance, highly secure
SAN extension capability.
Additionally, the SAN extension module supports FCIP write acceleration, a feature that can significantly
improve application performance when storage traffic is extended across long distances. When FCIP
write acceleration is enabled, WAN throughput is optimized by reducing the latency of command
acknowledgments.

VSANs
Well suited for efficient, secure SAN consolidation, ANSI T11-standard VSANs enable more efficient
storage network utilization by creating hardware-based isolated environments with a single physical SAN
fabric or switch. Each VSAN can be zoned as a typical SAN and maintained with its own fabric services
for greater scalability and resilience. VSANs allow the cost of SAN infrastructure to be shared among
more users, while helping ensure segregation of traffic and retaining independent control of configuration
on a VSAN-by-VSAN basis.
Integrated SAN Routing
In another step toward deployment of efficient, cost-effective, consolidated storage networks, the MDS
9000 24/10- Port SAN Extension Module supports IVR, the industrys first and most efficient routing
function for Fibre Channel. IVR allows selective transfer of data between specific initiators and targets on
different VSANs while maintaining isolation of control traffic within each VSAN. With IVR, data can transit
VSAN boundaries while maintaining control-plane isolation, thereby maintaining fabric stability and
availability. IVR eliminates the need for external routing appliances, greatly increasing routing scalability
while delivering line-rate routing performance, simplifying management, and eliminating the challenges
associated with maintaining separate systems. IVR reduces the total cost of SAN ownership.
Advanced Traffic Management
The advanced traffic management capabilities integrated into the MDS 9000 24/10-Port SAN Extension
Module simplify deployment and optimization of large-scale fabrics.
z Virtual output queuing : Helps ensure line-rate performance on each port, independent of traffic
pattern, by eliminating head-of-line blocking
z Port channels: Allow users to aggregate up to 16 FCIP ISLs into a single logical bundle, providing
optimized bandwidth utilization across all links; the bundle can consist of any speed-matched ports
from any module in the chassis, helping ensure that the bundle can remain active even in the event of
a module failure
z Fabric Shortest Path First (FSPF)-based multipathing: Provides the intelligence to load-balance
traffic across up to 16 equal-cost paths and, in the event of a switch failure, dynamically reroute traffic
z QoS: Can be used to manage bandwidth and control latency, to prioritize critical traffic
z Shaper: Rate limits the WAN bandwidth according to the maximum bandwidth configured for the FCIP
tunnel
Advanced diagnostics and troubleshooting tools
Management of large-scale storage networks requires proactive diagnostics, tools to verify connectivity
and route latency, and mechanisms for capturing and analyzing traffic. The MDS 9000 Family integrates
the industrys most advanced analysis and diagnostic tools. Power-on self-test (POST) and online
diagnostics provide proactive health monitoring.
The MDS 9000 24/10-Port SAN Extension Module implements diagnostic capabilities, such as Fibre
Channel Traceroute to detail the exact path and timing of flows, and Cisco Switched Port Analyzer
(SPAN) to intelligently capture network traffic. The module also supports the SAN Extension Tuner (SET)
tool, which helps you optimize FCIP performance by generating either direct-access (for magnetic disks)
or sequential-access (for magnetic tape) Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) I/O commands and
directing this traffic to a specific virtual target.

You can specify the size of the test I/O transfers and the number of concurrent or serial I/O operations to
generate while testing. The SET tool reports the resulting I/O operations per second (IOPS) and I/O
latency, which helps you determine the number of concurrent I/O operations needed to get the best FCIP
throughput.
After traffic has been captured, it can be analyzed with the Cisco Fabric Analyzer, an embedded Fibre
Channel analyzer. Comprehensive port-based and flow-based statistics facilitate sophisticated
performance analysis and service-level agreement (SLA) accounting. With the MDS 9000 Family, Cisco
delivers a comprehensive tool set for troubleshooting and analyzing storage networks.
Comprehensive solution for robust network security
Addressing the need for fail-proof security in storage networks, the MDS 9000 24/10-Port SAN Extension
Module offers an extensive security framework to protect highly sensitive data moving in todays
enterprise networks. The module employs intelligent frame inspection at the port level, including the
application of ACLs for hardware enforcement of zones, VSANs, and advanced port security features.
z Extended zoning capabilities restrict broadcasts to only the selected zones (broadcast zones).
z VSANs are used to achieve greater security and stability by providing complete isolation among
devices that are connected to the same physical SAN.
z FC-SP provides switch-to-switch and host-to-switch Diffie-Hellman Challenge Handshake
Authentication Protocol (DH-CHAP) authentication supporting RADIUS and TACACS+, to help
ensure that only authorized devices can access protected storage networks.
The Cisco MDS 9700 Series Supervisor-1 Module
The Cisco MDS 9700 Series Supervisor-1 Module delivers the latest advanced switching technology with
Cisco NX-OS software to power a new generation of scalable and intelligent multilayer switching solutions
for SANs.
Designed to integrate multiprotocol switching and routing, intelligent SAN services, and storage
applications onto highly scalable SAN switching platforms, the MDS 9700 Series Supervisor-1 Module,
enables intelligent, resilient, scalable, and secure high performance multilayer SAN switching solutions
when combined with the MDS 9700 switching modules.
The Cisco MDS 9000 Family lowers the TCO for storage networking by combining a robust and flexible
hardware architecture, multiple layers of network and storage intelligence, and compatibility with all MDS
9000 Family switching modules. It offers advanced management tools for overall lowest TCO. It supports
Cisco Systems virtual SAN (VSAN) technology for hardware-enforced, isolated environments within a
single physical fabric for secure sharing of physical infrastructure, which further decreases TCO.
This powerful combination helps organizations to build highly available, scalable storage networks with
comprehensive security and unified management. The MDS Supervisor-1 Module is supported in the
MDS 9710 Multilayer Director.

Figure 3 shows the 16 Gbps Cisco MDS 9700 Series Supervisor-1 Module.
Figure 3. 16-Gbps Cisco MDS 9700 Series Supervisor-1 Module
The MDS 9700 Series 16-Gbps Fibre Channel Switching Module
The Cisco MDS 48-port 16-Gbps Fibre Channel Switching Module delivers a full-duplex aggregate
performance of 768 Gbps, which makes this module suitable for the attachment of high-performance 16
Gbps storage subsystems, 16 Gbps inter-switch links (ISLs), and high-performance and virtualized
servers.
Figure 4 shows the Cisco MDS 9700 Series 16-Gbps Fibre Channel Switching Module.
Figure 4. Cisco MDS 9700 Series 48-Port 16-Gbps Fibre Channel Switching Module
The MDS 9700 Series 16-Gbps Fibre Channel Switching Module also provides Cisco VMpath technology
to monitor, manage, and control SAN resource allocation and performance on a per-virtual machine basis
and map out paths all the way from the server to storage, which enables tracking mission-critical
workloads end-to-end.
The MDS 9700 Series Fibre Channel Switching Module is hot-swappable, compatible with 2/4/8/16 Gbps
and 10 Gbps interfaces, and supports hot-swappable Enhanced Small Form-Factor Pluggable (SFP+)
transceivers. Individual ports can be configured with Cisco 16, 8, or 10 Gbps shortwave or longwave
SFP+ transceivers. Each port supports 500 buffer credits for exceptional extensibility without requiring
more licensing. With the Cisco Enterprise Package, up to 4095 buffer credits can be allocated to an
individual port, which enables full link bandwidth over long distances with no degradation in link usage.

The Cisco MDS 48-port 10 Gbps and 24-port 40 Gbps FCoE switching modules
The MDS 48-port 10 Gbps and the 24-port 40 Gbps FCoE switching modules for the Cisco MDS 9700
Multilayer Directors combine Fibre Channel and FCoE into a single platform, which enables flexible and
agile SAN designs, investment protection, reduced costs, and streamlined data-center management and
operations. The 48-port 10-Gbps FCoE Switching Module provides the scalability of 384 10 Gbps full
line-rate autosensing ports in a single chassis. The 24-port 40 Gbps FCoE Switching Module provides up
to 192 40-Gbps full line-rate autosensing ports in a single chassis.
Figure 5 shows the Cisco MDS 9700 Series 10-Gbps FCoE Switching Module.
Figure 5. Cisco MDS 9700 Series 48-Port 10-Gbps FCoE Switching Module
Figure 6 shows the MDS 9700 24-port 40-Gbps FCoE Switching Module.
Figure 6. MDS 9700 24-port 40-Gbps FCoE Switching Module

Enterprises can save money, simplify management, reduce power and cooling requirements, and improve
flexibility by deploying FCoE, while using the MDS 9700 10-Gbps 48-Port FCoE Module to protect their
investment in Fibre Channel SANs. FCoE allows an evolutionary approach to I/O consolidation by
preserving all Fibre Channel constructs. It maintains the latency, security, and traffic management
attributes of Fibre Channel while preserving investments in Fibre Channel tools, training, and SANs. In
addition, FCoE extends Fibre Channel SAN connectivity; now 100% of the servers that are connected to
the network can also be attached to the SAN.
The next-generation Cisco MDS 9700 40-Gbps 24-Port FCoE Module (see Figure 6) provides Cisco
Unified Fabric connectivity to the SAN core. It empowers midsize and large enterprises that are rapidly
deploying cloud-scale applications with inter-switch link (ISL) consolidation by four to one over traditional
10 Gbps FCoE, and three to one over 16 Gbps FC, and exceptional investment protection for their SANs.
With the 10-Gbps 48-Port FCoE Module and the 40-Gbps 24-port FCoE Module, the Cisco MDS 9700
Multilayer Director family now offers 16-Gbps Fibre Channel, 10-Gbps FCoE and 40-Gbps FCoE
capabilities, which provide multiprotocol flexibility for SANs. Now you can extend the benefits of FCoE
beyond the access layer to the data center core with full line rate FCoE modules for the Cisco MDS 9700
Series.
Product highlights
The Cisco MDS 9710 for IBM System Networking and its components offer the following main features:
z Outstanding SAN performance: The combination of the 16 Gbps Fibre Channel switching modules
and Fabric-1 Crossbar switching modules enables up to 1.5 Tbps of front-panel FC throughput
between modules in each direction for each of the eight MDS 9710 payload slots. This per-slot
bandwidth is double the bandwidth that is needed to support a 48-port 16 Gbps FC module at full line
rate. Based on central arbitration and a crossbar fabric, the MDS 9710 architecture provides 16 Gbps
line-rate, nonblocking, predictable performance across all traffic conditions for every chassis port.
z High availability: The MDS 9710 director class switch enables redundancy on all major components,
including the fabric card. It provides Grid Redundancy on Power Supply and 1+1 redundant
Supervisors. Users can include a fourth fabric card to enable N+1 Fabric Redundancy at 768 Gbps
slot bandwidth. The MDS 9710 combines nondisruptive software upgrades, stateful process restart
and failover, and full redundancy of major components for higher availability.
z Business continuity: The MDS 9710 director enables large and scalable deployment of SAN
extension solutions through the SAN Extension module.
z Outstanding scalability: The MDS 9710 director provides up to 24 terabits per second (Tbps) of FC
backplane bandwidth. A single chassis delivers 384 2/4/8 Gbps, 4/8/16 Gbps, or 10 Gbps full line-rate
autosensing Fibre Channel ports. The 48-port 10-Gbps FCoE Switching Module delivers up to 384 10
Gbps FCoE full line-rate ports, and the 24-port 40-Gbps FCoE Switching Module up to 192 40 Gbps
FCoE full line-rate ports, in a single chassis. A single rack supports up to 1152 Fibre Channel ports.
The MDS 9700 directors are designed to meet the requirements of even the largest data center
storage environments.
z Enable large and scalable deployment of SAN extension solutions with the MDS 9000 24/10-port SAN
Extension Module
z Intelligent network services: VSAN technology, access control lists (ACLs) for hardware-based
intelligent frame processing, and fabric-wide quality of service (QoS) enable migration from SAN
islands to enterprise-wide storage networks and includes the following features:
o Integrated hardware-based VSANs and Inter-VSAN Routing (IVR): Integration of VSANs into
port-level hardware allows any port in a system or fabric to be partitioned to any VSAN. Integrated
hardware-based IVR provides line-rate routing between any ports in a system or fabric without the
need for external routing appliances.

o Intelligent storage services: MDS 9710 operates with intelligent service capabilities on other MDS
9000 Family platforms to provide services, such as acceleration of storage applications for data
replication and backup, and data migration to hosts and targets that are attached to MDS 9710.
o SmartZoning: When the SmartZoning feature is enabled, Cisco MDS 9700 Series fabrics
provision the hardware access control entries that are specified by the zone set more efficiently,
which avoids the superfluous entries that allow servers (initiators) to talk to other servers, or allow
storage devices (targets) to talk to other storage devices. This feature makes larger zones with
multiple initiators and multiple targets feasible without excessive consumption of hardware
resources.
Thus, smart zones can correspond to applications, application clusters, hypervisor clusters, or
other data center entities, which saves the time that administrators previously spent creating
many small zones, and enables the automation of zoning tasks.
z Virtual machine transparency: The Cisco MDS 9700 Series provides deterministic hardware
performance and a comprehensive feature set that allows virtual machines to have the same SAN
attributes as a physical server. On a per-virtual machine basis, the Cisco NX-OS Software offers
VSANs, QoS policies, access control, performance monitoring, and data protection to promote the
scalability and mobility of virtual machines.
Cisco Data Center Network Manager for SAN (DCNM-SAN) provides end-to-end visibility all the way
from the virtual machine down to storage, with resource allocation, performance measurements, and
predictions that are available on a per-virtual machine basis to enable rapid troubleshooting in
mission-critical, virtualized environments.
z Comprehensive security: The Cisco MDS 9700 Series Family supports a comprehensive security
framework. It consists of RADIUS and TACACS+, Fibre Channel Security Protocol (FC-SP), Secure
File Transfer Protocol (SFTP), Secure Shell (SSH) Protocol, and Simple Network Management
Protocol Version 3 (SNMPv3) implementing VSANs, hardware-enforced zoning, ACLs, and per-VSAN
role-based access control.
z Unified SAN management: The Cisco MDS 9700 Series includes built-in storage network
management with all features available through a command-line interface (CLI) or Cisco DCNM, a
centralized management tool that simplifies managing unified fabrics. DCNM supports the federation
of up to 10 Cisco DCNM servers to manage up to 150,000 devices by using a single management
pane.
z Sophisticated diagnostic tests: The MDS 9710 provides intelligent diagnostic tests, protocol decoding,
network analysis tools, and integrated Call Home capability for greater reliability, faster problem
resolution, and reduced service costs.
z Multiprotocol intelligence: The multilayer architecture of the MDS 9710 enables the following
consistent feature set over a protocol-independent switch fabric:
o 2/4/8 Gbps and 4/8/16 Gbps and 10 Gbps Fibre Channel: The MDS 9710 supports 2/4/8/16 Gbps
and 10 Gbps ports on the 48-port 16 Gbps Fibre Channel switching module for deployment in
open systems and FICON environments.
o FICON: The MDS 9710 is mainframe-ready, with full support for IBM z Systems FICON and Linux
environments.
o A 10 and 40 Gbps FCoE: The MDS 9706 supports 10 Gbps FCoE with the 48-port 10 Gbps FCoE
switching module and 40 Gbps FCoE with the 24-port 40 Gbps FCoE switching module.
o Multihop FCoE: Extend connectivity from FCoE and Fibre Channel fabrics to FCoE and Fibre
Channel storage devices.

Main benefits
The MDS 9710 features the benefits that are described in this section.
Reduce TCO with SAN Consolidation
With data growing exponentially, organizations need efficient, cost-effective, large-scale SANs. You can
scale while managing TCO with industry-leading port densities of up to 384 16 Gbps Fibre Channel ports
per chassis. You can deploy 1.5-Tbps front-panel Fibre Channel performance per slot and up to 24-Tbps
front-panel Fibre Channel line-rate nonblocking system-level switching.
Intelligent fabric services, VSANs for consolidating physical SAN islands while maintaining logical
boundaries, and IVR for sharing resources across VSANs can be deployed. You can consolidate your
data into fewer, larger, and more manageable SANs, which reduces the hardware footprint and
associated capital and operating expenses. Multihop FCoE protects investments in storage infrastructure
with any-to-any connectivity across multiple protocols.
Enterprise-class availability
The MDS 9710 is designed from the beginning for high availability. In addition to meeting the basic
requirements of nondisruptive software upgrades and redundancy of all critical hardware components, the
MDS 9710 software architecture offers outstanding availability. The MDS 9700 Series Supervisor
Modules automatically restart failed processes, which makes the MDS 9710 exceptionally robust. In the
rare event that a supervisor module is reset, complete synchronization between the active and standby
supervisor modules helps ensure stateful failover with no disruption of traffic.
The MDS 9710 director provides redundancy on all major active hardware components. Table 1 lists the
redundancy that is available across all components.
Table 1. Redundancy details for the MDS 9710

Item Redundancy
Supervisors 1+1
Power supplies Grid redundancy
Fabrics N+1 redundancy
High availability is implemented at the fabric level by using robust and high-performance ISLs.
PortChannel allows users to aggregate up to 16 physical links into one logical bundle. The bundle can
consist of any speed-matched ports in the chassis, which helps ensure that the bundle can remain active
if a port, application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or module fails. ISLs in a PortChannel can have
significantly different lengths.
This capability is valuable in campus and metropolitan area network (MAN) environments because logical
links can now be spread over multiple physical paths, which helps ensure uninterrupted connectivity even
if one of the physical paths is disrupted. The MDS 9710 provides outstanding high availability, which helps
ensure that solutions exceed the 99.999% uptime requirements of todays most demanding environments.
Business Transformation with Enterprise Cloud Deployment
With industry-leading scalability and pay-as-you-grow flexibility, the MDS 9710 enables you to quickly
scale enterprise clouds up or down as needed. You also receive the following benefits:
z Multihop FCoE provisions storage in a multiprotocol unified fabric

z Robust security protects multitenancy cloud applications

z Predictable high performance meets stringent service-level agreements (SLAs)
z Resilient connectivity helps ensure always-on cloud infrastructure
z Advanced traffic management capabilities (such as QoS) quickly and cost-efficiently allocate elastic
network capabilities to cloud applications
Cisco DCNM also provides resource monitoring and capacity planning on a per-virtual machine basis.
You can efficiently complete the following tasks:
z Consolidate enterprise cloud deployments

z Federate up to 10 Cisco DCNM servers to easily manage large-scale clouds
z Use information through Storage Management Initiative Specification (SMI-S)-based developer APIs
to deliver IT as a service
Advanced traffic management
Deploy and optimize large-scale fabrics more easily by using the following features:
z Virtual Output Queuing: Helps ensure line-rate performance on each port (independent of traffic
patterns) by eliminating head-of-line blocking.
z Up to 4095 Buffer-to-Buffer Credits: By using extended credits, allows up to 4095 buffer credits from a
pool of more than 6000 buffer credits for a module to be allocated to ports as needed to greatly
extend the distance for Fibre Channel SANs; alternatively, 4095 buffer credits can be assigned to an
individual port for optimal bandwidth utilization across distance.
z PortChannels: Allows users to aggregate up to 16 physical ISLs into a single logical bundle, which
provides optimized bandwidth usage across all links. The bundle can consist of any speed-matched
ports from any module in the chassis, which helps ensure that the bundle can remain active even if
there is a module failure.
z Fabric Shortest Path First (FSPF)-Based Multipathing: Provides the intelligence to load balance
across up to 16 equal cost paths and dynamically reroute traffic if there is a switch failure.
z QoS: Helps manage bandwidth and control latency to prioritize critical traffic.
Ease of management
The MDS 9710 presents the user with a consistent and logical CLI. By using the CLI, customers can
enable debugging modes for each switch feature and view a real-time updated activity log of control
protocol exchanges. Each log entry is timestamped and listed in chronological order.
Cisco DCNM (formerly Cisco Fabric Manager) is an easy-to-use application that simplifies management
across multiple switches and converged fabrics. Its intuitive GUI simplifies day-to-day operations of Cisco
unified fabrics in virtualized data center environments.
The Cisco DCNM offers the following functionality:
z Monitoring of events and performance historically and at scale

z Wizard- and template-based provisioning of Cisco NX-OS technologies and services
z Cisco VMpath analytics, with dynamic topology views for extended visibility into virtual infrastructure
z Resource management through trend analysis of inventory and performance
z Rule-based event notification and filtering
z Role-based access control to provide separation between network and storage teams
You can scale to large deployments through scale-out server architecture with automated failover
capability. DCNM provides a resilient management system that centralizes infrastructure and path
monitoring across geographically dispersed data centers. The Cisco DCNM base management function is
available at no charge, and advanced features are unlocked with a license.

Comprehensive solution for robust security
The extensive security framework of the MDS 9710 protects sensitive data that is crossing enterprise
networks. It features intelligent, port-level packet inspection, including the use of access control lists
(ACLs) for hardware enforcement of zones, VSANs, and advanced port security features. VSANs are
used to achieve greater security and stability by providing complete isolation of devices that are
connected to the same physical SAN. Inter-VSAN routing (IVR) enables controlled sharing of resources
between VSANs.
In addition, FC-SP provides switch-to-switch and host-to-switch Diffie-Hellman Challenge Handshake

Authentication Protocol (DH-CHAP) that supports RADIUS or TACACS+. This feature ensures that only
authorized devices access protected storage networks.
Advanced diagnostic and troubleshooting tools
Managing large-scale storage networks requires proactive diagnostics, tools to verify connectivity and
route latency, and traffic analysis. A comprehensive tool set is delivered for analyzing, troubleshooting,
and debugging storage networks. Power-on self-test (POST) and online diagnostics proactively monitor
system health. The exact path and timing of flows can be identified with capabilities, such as Fibre
Channel traceroute. Network traffic can be captured by using Cisco Switched Port Analyzer (SPAN) and
Remote SPAN (RSPAN). Then, traffic can be analyzed by using the Cisco Fabric Analyzer, which is an
embedded Fibre Channel analyzer. You gain sophisticated performance analysis and SLA accounting by
collecting port-based and flow-based statistics.
Consolidation, reduced complexity , and lower power consumption
With the ongoing increase in server workloads, the converged networks reduce complexity and provide
lower overall data center power consumption, which extends the lifecycle of assets. Moreover, a
converged network improves SAN attachment rates, which simplifies virtual machine mobility.
The benefits that I/O consolidation brings to the access layer can now be achieved in the core of the data
center as well. With the capability to consolidate the network in the core, the MDS 9700 10 Gbps and 40
Gbps FCoE Modules bring an immediate benefit by reducing data center complexity. This type of
approach brings the following important benefits to the data center:
z Investment protection: FCoE is an evolutionary technology with the same management model as
Fibre Channel and with the roadmap of Ethernet, which is rapidly shifting from 10 to 40 Gbps. With
FCoE, you can preserve your investments in Fibre Channel tools, training, and SANs. The MDS 9700
FCoE modules provide investment protection for Fibre Channel storage by transparently bridging the
gap between FCoE SANs (traffic that originates from server-side networks) and Fibre Channel SANs
(traffic that is heading toward storage arrays), as shown in Figure 7.
Figure 7. MDS 9700 Interconnects FCoE and FC SANs

z Agility: Over time, a converged network provides a more efficient usage of network capacity for LAN
and SAN deployments. Moreover, increased bandwidth capacity over time results in improved
responsiveness for all traffic types. The end-to-end benefits of FCoE include the capability to set up,
move, and change physical and virtual assets with greater speed and with fewer points of failure.
z Simplification: Through consolidation, a converged network can reduce complexity and provide a
greater return on investment (ROI).
z Better convergence: The 40 Gbps links benefit from lower latency than lower-bandwidth links, which
brings better-performing converged storage workloads to your storage array. Higher bandwidth also
helps ensure less ISL congestion for newer converged storage workloads that are moving to the
storage arrays; for example, Small Computer System Interface over IP (iSCSI) and FCoE workloads
with a combination of Nexus series switches.
z End to End FCoE: The 40 Gbps FCoE module can also support connectivity to FCoE initiators and
targets that send only FCoE traffic, which provides a way to deploy a dedicated FCoE SAN without
requiring any convergence at 40 Gbps.
Integrated mainframe support
The MDS 9710 is mainframe-ready, with full support for IBM z Systems FICON and Linux environments.
The MDS 9710 supports transporting the FICON protocol in cascaded and non-cascaded fabrics, and an
intermix of FICON and open systems Fibre Channel Protocol traffic on the same switch.
Cisco MDS 9710 Multilayer Director for IBM System Networking product specifications
The product specifications for the Cisco MDS 9710 Multilayer Director for IBM System Networking are
described in this section. The MDS 9710 Multilayer Director supports FC connectivity for servers and
storage. The 9710-E08 model supports all the FICON features and functions that are listed in this section,
and requires Cisco MDS NX-OS 6.2.5a.
For more information about the Cisco MDS 9710 Multilayer Director for IBM System Networking, see this
website:
http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/storage-networking/mds-9700-series-multilayer-directors
/index.html
All of the features that are shown in this view are included in the IBM offering.

Table 2 lists the product specifications for the Cisco MDS 9710 Multilayer Director for IBM System
Networking.
Table 2. Product specifications for the Cisco MDS 9710 Multilayer Director for IBM System Networking
(part 1 of 3)
Feature Description
Product compatibility Cisco MDS 9000 Family
Operating systems For the most current and complete information, see the IBM System Storage
Interoperation Center (SSIC):
http://ibm.co/1Pmc6de
Optional features z MDS 9000 24/10-port SAN Extension Module (3650)

z MDS 9700 24-port 40-Gbps FCoE Switching Module (3640)
z MDS 9700 48-Port 10-Gbps FCoE Switching Module (3620)
z MDS 9700 Series 48-port 16-Gbps Fibre Channel Switching Module (3648)
z MDS 9700 Series Supervisor-1 Module (3601)
z MDS 9700 Series Enterprise Package (7610)
z MDS 9700 Series DCNM for SAN Advanced Edition (7611)
z MDS 9700 Mainframe Package (7612)
z MDS 9700 Series 3000 W AC power supply (5960)
z Small form-factor pluggables (SFPs)
z Fans
Software compatibility Cisco MDS NX-OS Software Release 6.2.3 or later. NX-OS 6.2.5 is recommended.
NX-OS 6.2.5a is required for FICON support. The FCoE switching module requires
Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 6.2.7 or later.
Chassis slot configuration z Line-card slots: 8

z Supervisor slots: 2
z Crossbar switching fabric slots: 6*
z Fan trays: 3 Fan trays at the back of the chassis
z Power supply bays: 8
Performance/Scalability z Up to 24-Tbps FC switching bandwidth

z Supported Fibre Channel port speeds:
o 2/4/8 Gbps autosensing, optionally configurable
o 4/8/16 Gbps autosensing, optionally configurable
z Supported FCoE port speeds: 10 Gbps fixed bandwidth
z Buffer credits: 48-port Line Rate 16 Gbps Advanced Fibre Channel modules:
o Up to 500 per port (dedicated-mode ports) standard
o Up to 4095 on an individual port (dedicated-mode ports with optional Cisco
MDS 9700 Enterprise Package license activated)
z Ports per chassis (one of the following):
o Up to 384 2/4/8/10/16 Gbps Fibre Channel ports
o Up to 384 10 Gbps FCoE full line-rate ports
o Up to 192 40 Gbps FCoE full line rate ports
z PortChannel: Up to 16 ports (the channel can span any speed-matched port on
any module in the chassis)
Fabric services z Name server

z Registered State Change Notification (RSCN)
z Login services
z Fabric Configuration Server (FCS)
z Broadcast
z In-order delivery
*A minimum of three fabrics are required to support fully populated chassis with 8 x 48 Port 16Gbps FC cards or 8 X
48 port 10 Gbps FCoE cards. Four fabrics are required to provide N + 1 protection.

(part 2 of 3)
Feature Description
Advanced functions z VSAN

z IVR
z PortChannel with multipath load balancing
z QoS-flow-based, zone-based
z N_Port ID virtualization
Diagnostic tests and z POST diagnostic tests

troubleshooting tools z Online diagnostic tests
z Internal port loopbacks
z SPAN and RSPAN
z Fibre Channel Traceroute
z Fibre Channel Ping
z Fibre Channel Debug
z Cisco Fabric Analyzer
z Syslog
z Online system health
z Port-level statistics
z Real-Time Protocol Debug
Network security z VSANs

z ACLs
z Per-VSAN RBAC
z Fibre Channel zoning:
o N_Port WWN
o N_Port FC-ID
o Fx_Port WWN
o Fx_Port WWN and interface index
o Fx_Port domain ID and interface index
o Fx_Port domain ID and port number
z FC-SP:
o DH-CHAP switch-switch authentication
o DH-CHAP host-switch authentication
z Port security and fabric binding
z Management access:
o SSHv2 implementing AES
o SNMPv3 implementing AES
o SFTP
FICON z FC-SB-3 compliant

z Cascaded FICON fabrics
z Intermix of FICON and Fibre Channel FCP traffic
z CUP management interface
Serviceability z Configuration file management

z Nondisruptive software upgrades for Fibre Channel interfaces
z Call Home
z Power-management LEDs
z Port beaconing
z System LED
z SNMP traps for alerts
z Network boot

(part 3 of 3)
Feature Description
Reliability and availability z Online, nondisruptive software upgrades

z Stateful nondisruptive supervisor module failover
z Hot-swappable redundant supervisor modules
z Hot-swappable redundant crossbar modules
z Hot-swappable 2N redundant power
z Hot-swappable fan trays with integrated temperature and power management
z Hot swappable Enhanced SFP (SFP+) optics (2/4/8/10/16 Gbps)
z Hot-swappable switching modules
z Stateful process restart
z Any module, any port configuration for PortChannels
z Fabric-based multipathing
z Per-VSAN fabric services
z Online diagnostic tests
z Port tracking
z Virtual Routing Redundancy Protocol (VRRP) for management
Network management z Access methods through Cisco MDS 9700 Series Supervisor-1 Module:
o Out-of-band 10/100/1000 Ethernet port
o RS-232 serial console port
o In-band IP over Fibre Channel
z Access methods through Cisco MDS 9710 Family Fibre Channel switching
module: In-band FICON CUP over Fibre Channel
z Access protocols:
o CLI-using console and Ethernet ports
o SNMPv3-using Ethernet port and in-band IP over Fibre Channel access
o FICON CUP
z Distributed Device Alias service
z Network security:
o Per-VSAN role-based access control by using RADIUS-based and
TACACS+-based authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA)
functions
o SFTP
z Management applications:
o Cisco MDS 9000 Family CLI
o Cisco Data Center Network Manager
Programming interface z Scriptable CLI

z Data Center Network Manager web services API
z DCNM GUI
Physical dimensions z Dimensions (H x W x D): 61.9 x 43.9 x 86.4 cm (24.35 in. x 17.3 in. x 34.0 in.)
z 14 RU
Weight z Chassis (includes fans): 84.2 kg (185.5 lbs)

z Power supply (3000W AC): 2.7 kg (6 lbs)
z Fabric module: 5.0 kg (11 lbs)
z Cisco MDS 9700 Series Supervisor-1 module: 3.2 kg (7 lbs)

Table 3 lists the switching capabilities per fabric.
Table 3. Switching capabilities per fabric

Switching capability per Number of fabric cards Front panel Fibre Channel FCoE bandwidth per slot
fabric bandwidth per slot
1 256 Gbps 220 Gbps
2 512 Gbps 440 Gbps
3 768 Gbps 660 Gbps
4 1024 Gbps 880 Gbps
5 1280 Gbps 1100 Gbps
6 1536 Gbps 1320 Gbps
Table 4 lists the supported protocols for the Cisco MDS 9710 Multilayer Director for IBM System
Networking and its components.
Table 4. Supported protocols for the Cisco MDS 9710 Multilayer Director for IBM System Networking (part
1 of 3)
Supported standards
Fibre Channel and FCoE z Fibre Channel standards (part 1):

protocols o FC-PH, Revision 4.3 (ANSI INCITS 230-1994)
o FC-PH, Amendment 1 (ANSI INCITS 230-1994/AM1-1996)
o FC-PH, Amendment 2 (ANSI INCITS 230-1994/AM2-1999)
o FC-PH-2, Revision 7.4 (ANSI INCITS 297-1997)
o FC-PH-3, Revision 9.4 (ANSI INCITS 303-1998)
o FC-PI, Revision 13 (ANSI INCITS 352-2002)
o FC-PI-2, Revision 10 (ANSI INCITS 404-2006)
o FC-FS, Revision 1.9 (ANSI INCITS 373-2003)
o FC-FS-2, Revision 1.01 (ANSI INCITS 424-2007)
o FC-FS-2, Amendment 1 (ANSI INCITS 424-2007/AM1-2007)
o FC-LS, Revision 1.62 (ANSI INCITS 433-2007)
o FC-LS-2, Revision 2.21 (ANSI INCITS 477-2011)
o FC-SB-4, Revision 3.0 (ANSI INCITS 466-2011)
o FC-SB-3, Amendment 1 (ANSI INCITS 374-2003/AM1-2007)
o FC-SW-2, Revision 5.3 (ANSI INCITS 355-2001)
o FC-GS-3, Revision 7.01 (ANSI INCITS 348-2001)
o FCP, Revision 12 (ANSI INCITS 269-1996)
o FCP-2, Revision 8 (ANSI INCITS 350-2003)
o FCP-4, Revision 2
o FCP-4, Revision 2b (ANSI INCITS 481-2011)

2 of 3)
Supported standards
Protocols z Fibre Channel standards (part 2):

o FC-BB-2, Revision 6.0 (ANSI INCITS 372-2003)
o FC-VI, Revision 1.84 (ANSI INCITS 357-2002)
o FC-SP, Revision 1.8 (ANSI INCITS 426-2007)
o FC-SP-2, Revision 2.71 (ANSI INCITS 496-2012)
o FAIS, Revision 1.03 (ANSI INCITS 432-2007)
o FAIS-2, Revision 2.23 (ANSI INCITS 449-2008)
o FC-IFR, Revision 1.06 (ANSI INCITS 475-2011)
o FC-FLA, Revision 2.7 (INCITS TR-20-1998)
o FC-PLDA, Revision 2.1 (INCITS TR-19-1998)
o FC-Tape, Revision 1.17 (INCITS TR-24-1999)
o FC-MI, Revision 1.92 (INCITS TR-30-2002)
o FC-MI-2, Revision 2.6 (INCITS TR-39-2005)
o FC-DA, Revision 3.1 (INCITS TR-36-2004)
o FC-DA-2, Revision 1.06 (INCITS TR-49-2012)
o FC-MSQS, Revision 3.2 (INCITS TR-46-2011)
z FC-Tape, Revision 1.17 (INCITS TR-24-1999)
z FC-MI, Revision 1.92 (INCITS TR-30-2002)
z FC-MI-2, Revision 2.6 (INCITS TR-39-2005)
z FC-DA, Revision 3.1 (INCITS TR-36-2004)
z Class of service: Class 2, Class 3, and Class F
z Fibre Channel features:
o Fibre Channel standard port types: E, F, FL, and B
o Fibre Channel enhanced port types: SD, ST, and TE
o T11 standards-compliant FC-BB-5 Revision 2.0
o T11 standards-compliant FCoE
o T11 FCoE Initialization Protocol (FIP) (FC-BB-5)
o Fibre Channel forwarding (FCF)
o FCoE Forwarder (FCF)
o Multihop FCoE with virtual E (VE) port support
o Converged Enhanced Ethernet (CEE) interoperability
o Direct attachment of FCoE targets
o Fibre Channel enhanced port types: VE, TE, and VF
o F-port trunking
o F-port channeling
o VSANs
o Fibre Channel PortChannel
o VSAN trunking
o Fabric Device Management Interface (FDMI)
o Fibre Channel ID (FCID) persistence
o Distributed device alias services
o In-order delivery

3 of 3)
Supported standards
Protocols (continued) z Fibre Channel features (continued):

o Port tracking
o IPv6, IPv4, and ARP over Fibre Channel (RFC 4338)
o Extensive IETF-standards-based TCP/IP, SNMPv3, and remote monitoring
(RMON) MIBs
o CEE DCB:
z Priority flow control (PFC)
z Data Center Bridging Exchange (DCBX)
o Enhanced transmission selection (ETS)
o N-port virtualization (NPV)
o N-port ID virtualization (NPIV)
o Fabric services: Name server, registered state change notification (RSCN),
login services, and name server zoning
o Per-VSAN fabric services
o Cisco Fabric Services
o Fabric Shortest Path First (FSPF)
o Diffie-Hellman Challenge Handshake Authentication
o Protocol (DH-CHAP) and Fibre Channel Security
o Protocol (FC-SP)
o Host-to-switch and switch-to-switch FC-SP authentication
o Fabric binding for Fibre Channel
o Port security
o Standard zoning
o Domain and port zoning
o Enhanced zoning
o Cisco Fabric Analyzer
o Fibre Channel traceroute
o Fibre Channel ping
o Fibre Channel debugging
o Cisco Fabric Manager support
o Storage Management Initiative Specification (SMI-S)

MDS 9000 24/10-Port SAN Extension Module specifications
Table 5 lists the specifications for the MDS 9000 24/10-Port SAN Extension Module.
Table 5. Product specifications for the MDS 9000 24/10-Port SAN Extension Module (part 1 of 5)
Feature Description
Product compatibility Cisco MDS 9000 Family
Software compatibility Cisco MDS 9000 NX-OS Software 7.3(0)DY(1)
Protocols Fibre Channel standards

z FC-PH, Revision 4.3 (ANSI INCITS 230-1994)
z FC-PH, Amendment 1 (ANSI INCITS 230-1994/AM1-1996)
z FC-PH, Amendment 2 (ANSI INCITS 230-1994/AM2-1999)
z FC-PH-2, Revision 7.4 (ANSI INCITS 297-1997)
z FC-PH-3, Revision 9.4 (ANSI INCITS 303-1998)
z FC-PI, Revision 13 (ANSI INCITS 352-2002)
z FC-PI-2, Revision 10 (ANSI INCITS 404-2006)
z FC-FS, Revision 1.9 (ANSI INCITS 373-2003)
z FC-FS-2, Revision 1.01 (ANSI INCITS 424-2007)
z FC-FS-2, Amendment 1 (ANSI INCITS 424-2007/AM1-2007)
z FC-FS-3, Revision 1.11 (ANSI INCITS 470-2011)
z FC-LS, Revision 1.62 (ANSI INCITS 433-2007)
z FC-LS-2, Revision 2.21 (ANSI INCITS 477-2011)
z FC-SW-2, Revision 5.3 (ANSI INCITS 355-2001)
z FC-GS-3, Revision 7.01 (ANSI INCITS 348-2001)
z FCP, Revision 12 (ANSI INCITS 269-1996)
z FCP-2, Revision 8 (ANSI INCITS 350-2003)
z FCP-3, Revision 4 (ANSI INCITS 416-2006)
z FCP-4, Revision 2b (ANSI INCITS 481-2011)
z FC-SB-2, Revision 2.1 (ANSI INCITS 349-2001)
z FC-SB-3, Amendment 1 (ANSI INCITS 374-2003/AM1-2007)
z FC-BB-6, Revision 2.00 (ANSI INCITS 509-2014)
z FC-VI, Revision 1.84 (ANSI INCITS 357-2002)
z FC-SP, Revision 1.8 (ANSI INCITS 426-2007)
z FC-SP-2, Revision 2.71 (ANSI INCITS 496-2012)
z FAIS, Revision 1.03 (ANSI INCITS 432-2007)
z FAIS-2, Revision 2.23 (ANSI INCITS 449-2008)
z FC-IFR, Revision 1.06 (ANSI INCITS 475-2011)
z FC-FLA, Revision 2.7 (INCITS TR-20-1998)
z FC-PLDA, Revision 2.1 (INCITS TR-19-1998)
z FC-Tape, Revision 1.17 (INCITS TR-24-1999)
z FC-MI, Revision 1.92 (INCITS TR-30-2002)
z FC-DA, Revision 3.1 (INCITS TR-36-2004)

Table 5. Product specifications for the MDS 9000 24/10-Port SAN Extension Module (part 2 of 5 )
Feature Description
Protocols (cont.) z FC-DA-2, Revision 1.06 (INCITS TR-49-2012)

z FC-MSQS, Revision 3.2 (INCITS TR-46-2011)
z Fibre Channel classes of service: Class 2, Class 3, and Class F
z Fibre Channel standard port types: E, F, FL, and B
z Fibre Channel enhanced port types: SD, ST, and TE
z IP over Fibre Channel (RFC 2625)
z IPv6, IPv4, and Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) over Fibre Channel (RFC
4338)
z Extensive IETF-standards based TCP/IP, SNMPv3, and remote monitoring
(RMON) MIBs
IP standards
z RFC 791 IPv4
z RFC 793 and 1323 TCP
z RFC 894 IP/Ethernet
z RFC 1041 IP/802
z RFC 792, 950, and 1256 Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP)
z RFC 1323 TCP performance enhancements
z RFC 2338 Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP)
z RFC 2460 and 4291 IPv6
z RFC 2463 ICMPv6
z RFC 2461 and 2462 IPv6 neighbor discovery and stateless autoconfiguration
z RFC 2464 IPv6/Ethernet
z RFC 3643 and 3821 FCIP
Ethernet standards
z IEEE 802.3z Gigabit Ethernet
z IEEE 802.1Q VLAN IPsec standards
z RFC 2401 Security Architecture for IP
z RFC 2403 and 2404 Hash Message Authentication Code (HMAC)
z RFC 2405, 2406, and 2451 IP Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP)
z RFC 2407 and 2408 Internet Security Association and Key Management Protocol
(ISAKMP)
z RFC 2412 OAKLEY Key Determination Protocol
z RFC 3566, 3602, and 3686 AES
Internet Key Exchange (IKE) standards

z RFC 2409 IKEv1
z IKEv2, draft
Cards, ports, and slots 24 x fixed 2/4/8/10/16-Gbps Fibre Channel ports, 8 x 1/10 Gigabit Ethernet ports
Features and Functions

z Registered state change notification (RSCN)
z Login services
z Cisco Fabric Configuration Server (FCS)
z Private loop
z Public loop
z Translative loop
z Broadcast
z In-order delivery

Feature Description
Cards, ports, and slots 24 x fixed 2/4/8/10/16-Gbps Fibre Channel ports, 8 x 1/10 Gigabit Ethernet ports
Features and Functions

z Registered state change notification (RSCN)
z Login services
z Private loop
z Public loop
z Translative loop
z Broadcast
z In-order delivery

z IVR
z Port channel with multipath load balancing
z Flow-based and zone-based QoS
z Hardware-based compression for MAN and WAN data
z Hardware-based encryption
z Hardware-based data integrity
z FCIP disk write acceleration
z FCIP tape read and write acceleration
Diagnostics and z POST diagnostics

troubleshooting tools z Online diagnostics
z SPAN and remote SPAN
z Syslog
z Real-Time Protocol (RTP) debug

z ACLs
z Per-VSAN RBAC
z Fibre Channel zoning
o N-port worldwide name (WWN)
o N-port FC-ID
o Fx-port WWN
o Fx-port WWN and interface index
o Fx-port domain ID and interface index
o Fx-port domain ID and port number
o Logical unit number (LUN)
o Read-only
o Broadcast
z FC-SP
o DH-CHAP switch-to-switch authentication
o DH-CHAP host-to-switch authentication
z IPsec for FCIP
z IKEv1 and v2
z Management access
o SSH v2 implementing AES
o SFTP

Feature Description

z Call Home
z Port beaconing
z System LED
z Network boot
Performance z Port speed: Fibre Channel 2/4/8/10/16 Gbps; FCIP 1/10/40 Gigabit Ethernet
z Port channels: Up to 16 FCIP links
z FCIP tunnels: Up to 4 per port
Reliability and availability z Hot-swappable module

z Hot-swappable SFP optics
z Online diagnostics
z Nondisruptive supervisor failover
z Any module, any port configuration for port channels
z Port tracking
z VRRP for management and FCIP
Network management z Access methods through Cisco MDS 9700 Series Supervisor Module
o Out-of-band 10/100/1000 Ethernet port (Supervisor-1 Module)
o Out-of-band 10/100/1000 Ethernet port (Supervisor-2 Module)
o RS-232 serial console port (RJ45 form factor)
o In-band IP-over-Fibre Channel
z Access protocols
o Command-line interface (CLI) through console and Ethernet ports
o SNMPv3 through Ethernet port and in-band IP-over-Fibre Channel access
o Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) Storage Management
Initiative Specification (SMI-S)
z Distributed device alias service
z Network security
o Per-VSAN RBAC using RADIUS- and TACACS+-based authentication,
authorization, and accounting (AAA) functions
o SFTP
z Management applications
o Cisco Device Manager
Programming interfaces z Cisco Fabric Manager GUI

z Cisco Device Manager GUI
Environmental z Temperature, ambient operating: 32 to 104F (0 to 40C)

z Temperature, ambient nonoperating and storage: 40 to 158F (40 to 70C)
z Relative humidity, ambient (noncondensing) operating: 5 to 90%
z Relative humidity, ambient (noncondensing) nonoperating and storage: 5 to 95%
z Altitude, operating: 197 to 6500 ft (60 to 2000m)
Physical dimensions z Dimensions (H x W x D): 4.4 x 40.39 x 55.37 cm (1.75 x 15.9 x 21.8 in.) Occupies
one slot in a Cisco MDS 9700 Series
z Weight: 7.71 kg (17 lb)

Feature Description
Approvals and compliance Safety compliance

z CE Marking
z UL 60950
z CAN/CSA-C22.2 No. 60950
z EN 60950
z IEC 60950
z TS 001
z AS/NZS 3260
z IEC60825
z EN60825
z 21 CFR 1040
EMC compliance
z FCC Part 15 (CFR 47) Class A
z ICES-003 Class A
z EN 55022 Class A
z CISPR 22 Class A
z AS/NZS 3548 Class A
z VCCI Class A
z EN 55024
z EN 50082-1
z EN 61000-6-1
z EN 61000-3-2
z EN 61000-3-3

Cisco MDS 9700 Series 48-port 16Gbps Fibre Channel Switching Module
Table 6 lists the product specifications for the Cisco MDS 9700 Series 48-port 16-Gbps Fibre Channel
Switching Module.
Table 6. Product specifications for the Cisco MDS 9700 Series 48-port 16-Gbps Fibre Channel Switching
Module (part 1 of 3)
Feature Description
Product compatibility Cisco MDS 9700 Series
Cards, ports, and slots z 48 autosensing 2/4/8 Gbps or 4/8/16 Gbps Fibre Channel ports
z 48 autosensing 10 Gbps Fibre Channel ports

z Login services
z Public loop
z Broadcast
z In-order delivery

z IVR
z PortChannel with Multipath Load Balancing
z Flow-based and zone-based QoS
z NPIV
z Local switching with centralized arbitration
Diagnostic and z POST diagnostic tests

z SPAN and RSPAN
z Syslog

Feature Description

z ACLs
z Per-VSAN RBAC
o N-port Worldwide Name (WWN)
o N-port Fibre Channel ID (FC-ID)
o Fx-port WWN
o Fx-port WWN and interface index
o Fx-port domain ID and interface index
o Fx-port domain ID and port number
o Logical unit number (LUN)
z FC-SP:
o Diffie-Hellman Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol (DH-CHAP)
switch-to-switch authentication
o DH-CHAP host-to-switch authentication
z Port Security and Fabric Binding
o SFTP

z Call Home
z Port beaconing
z System LED
z Network boot
Performance z Port speed: 2/4/8/16 Gbps autosensing, optionally configurable for 10 Gbps Fibre
Channel
z Buffer credits: Up to 500 per port and up to 4095 on an individual port (with optional
Enterprise Package license activated)
z PortChannel: Up to 16 ports
Reliability and z Hot-swappable module

availability z Hot-swappable SFP/SFP+ transceivers
z Stateful Process Restart
z Nondisruptive Supervisor Failover
z Port Tracking

Feature Description
Network management z Access methods through Cisco MDS 9700 Series Supervisor module:
o Out-of-band 10/100 Ethernet port (Supervisor-1)
o Out-of-band 10/100/1000 Ethernet port (Supervisor-1)
z Access protocols:
o CLI through console and Ethernet ports
o SNMPv3 through Ethernet port and in-band IP over Fibre Channel access
z Network security:
o Per-VSAN RBAC by using RADIUS- and TACACS+-based authentication,
authorization, and accounting (AAA) functions
o SFTP
o Cisco Fabric Manager
o CiscoWorks Resource Manager Essentials (RME) and Device Fault Manager
(DFM)
Programming interfaces z Scriptable CLI

z Cisco DCNM-SAN Essentials
z Cisco DCNM-SAN Advanced
Physical dimensions z Dimensions (H x W x D): 4.4 x 40.39 x 55.37 cm (1.75 x 15.9 x 21.8 in.)
z Weight: 7.71 kg (17 lbs)
over Ethernet (FCoE) Switching Module.
Table 7. Product specifications for the Cisco MDS 9700 Series 48-port 10-Gbps Fibre Channel over
Ethernet (FCoE) Switching Module (Part 1 of 4)
Feature Description
Product compatibility Cisco MDS 9700 Series Multilayer Directors
Software compatibility Requires Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 6.2(7) or later
Ports 48 fixed autosensing 10 Gbps FCoE ports
Slots Can be used in any and all of eight slots

Feature Description

z RSCN
z Login services
z Public loop
z Broadcast
z In-order delivery
Advanced capabilities z VSAN

z QoS: Flow based and zone based

z Fibre Channel ping
z Fibre Channel debug
z Syslog
z Real-Time Transport Protocol (RTP) debug
z Online Health Monitoring System (OHMS) or Cisco Generic Online Diagnostics
(GOLD)
z Enhanced Small Form-Factor Pluggable (SFP+) digital diagnostic tests
Security z VSANs
z ACLs
z Per-VSAN role-based access control (RBAC)
z Cisco Switched Port Analyzer (SPAN)
o Secure Shell (SSH) Protocol Version 2 (v2) implementing Advanced Encryption
Standard (AES)
o Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) Version 3 implementing AES
o Secure FTP (SFTP)
Serviceability z Nondisruptive, concurrent code load and activation

z Configuration file management
z Nondisruptive software upgrades
z Cisco Call Home
z Port beaconing
z System LED
z Network boot
Performance z Port speed: 10 Gbps fixed bandwidth


Feature Description

z Hot-swappable SFP optics
z Port tracking
Network management z Access methods through Cisco MDS 9700 Series supervisor module:
o Out-of-band 10/100/1000 Ethernet port (Supervisor-2A)
o In-band IPFC
o DB-9 COM port
z Access protocols:
o Command-line interface (CLI) by console and Ethernet ports
o SNMPv3 by Ethernet port and in-band IPFC access
o Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) SMI-S
z Network security:
o Per-VSAN RBAC by using RADIUS-based and TACACS+-based
authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) functions
o SFTP
o Cisco Data Center Network Manager (DCNM) for SAN
(DFM)

z Cisco DCNM for SAN GUI
Environmental z Temperature, ambient operating: 0 - 40C (32 - 104F)

z Temperature, ambient nonoperating and storage: 40 - 70C (40 - 158F)
z Relative humidity, ambient (noncondensing) operating: 5 - 90%
z Relative humidity, ambient (noncondensing) nonoperating and storage: 5 - 95%
z Altitude, operating: 60 - 2000 m (197 - 6500 ft)

Feature Description
z Occupies one slot in a Cisco MDS 9700 Series chassis
z Weight: 7.7 kg (17.0 lb)
Power Typical: 400 watts (W)
Approvals and z Safety compliance:

compliance o CE marking
o UL 60950
o CAN/CSA-C22.2 No. 60950
o EN 60950
o IEC 60950
o TS 001
o AS/NZS 3260
o IEC60825
o EN60825
o 21 CFR 1040
z EMC compliance:
o FCC Part 15 (CFR 47) Class A
o ICES-003 Class A
o EN 55022 Class A
o CISPR 22 Class A
o AS/NZS 3548 Class A
o VCCI Class A
o KN22 Class A
o CNS13438 Class A
o CISPR24
o EN 55024
o EN 50082-1
o EN 61000-6-1
o EN 61000-3-2
o EN 61000-3-3
o EN300 386

over Ethernet (FCoE) Switching Module.
Feature Description
Product compatibility Cisco MDS 9700 Series Multilayer Directors
Software compatibility Requires Cisco MDS 9000 NX-OS Software Release 7.3.0.D1.1 or later
Fibre Channel and FCoE z Fibre Channel standards:

protocols o FC-BB-5, Revision 2.0 (ANSI INCITS 462-2010)
o FC-FS-2, Amendment 1 (ANSI INCITS 424-2007/AM1-2007)
o FC-FS, Revision 1.9 (ANSI INCITS 373-2003)
o FC-LS-2, Revision 2.21 (ANSI INCITS 477-2011)
o FC-LS, Revision 1.62 (ANSI INCITS 433-2007)
o FCP-4, Revision 2
o FCP, Revision 12 (ANSI INCITS 269-1996)
o FC-SB-3, Amendment 1 (ANSI INCITS 374-2003/AM1-2007)
o FC-VI, Revision 1.84 (ANSI INCITS 357-2002)
o FC-SP, Revision 1.8 (ANSI INCITS 426-2007)
o FAIS-2, Revision 2.23 (ANSI INCITS 449-2008)
o FAIS, Revision 1.03 (ANSI INCITS 432-2007)
o FC-IFR, Revision 1.06 (ANSI INCITS 475-2011)
o FC-MI, Revision 1.92 (INCITS TR-30-2002)
o FC-DA, Revision 3.1 (INCITS TR-36-2004)
o FC-FLA, Revision 2.7 (INCITS TR-20-1998)
o FC-PLDA, Revision 2.1 (INCITS TR-19-1998)
o FC-Tape, Revision 1.17 (INCITS TR-24-1999)

Feature Description
Fibre Channel and FCoE z Fibre Channel features:

protocols (cont.) o T11 standards-compliant FCoE
o T11 FCoE Initialization Protocol (FIP)
o FCoE forwarder (FCF)
o Multihop FCoE with virtual Ethernet (VE) port support
o Converged Enhanced Ethernet (CEE) interoperability
o Direct attachment of FCoE targets
o Class of service: Classes 2, 3, and F
o Fibre Channel enhanced port types: VE, TE, and VF
o F-port trunking
o F-port channeling
o VSANs
o Fibre Channel port channel
o VSAN trunking
o Fabric Device Management Interface (FDMI)
o Fibre Channel ID (FCID) persistence
o Distributed device alias services
o In-order delivery
o Port tracking
o N-port virtualization (NPV)
o N-port ID virtualization (NPIV)
o Fabric services: Name server, registered state change notification (RSCN),
login services, and name-server zoning
o Per-VSAN fabric services
o Cisco Fabric Services
o Fabric Shortest Path First (FSPF)
o Diffie-Hellman Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol (DH-CHAP) and
Fibre Channel Security Protocol (FC-SP)
o Host-to-switch and switch-to-switch FC-SP authentication
o Fabric binding for Fibre Channel
o Port security
o Standard zoning
o Domain and port zoning
o Enhanced zoning
o Cisco Fabric Analyzer
o Fibre Channel traceroute
o Fibre Channel ping
o Fibre Channel debugging
o Cisco Fabric Manager support
o Storage Management Initiative Specification (SMI-S)
Ethernet protocols z IEEE 802.3, Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Detect (CSMA/CD) access
method and physical layer (phy) specifications
z IEEE 802.1Q, MAC address bridges and virtual bridged LANs
z IEEE 802.1Qbb, priority-based flow control (PFC)
z IEEE 802.1Qaz, enhanced transmission selection (ETS)
z IEEE 802.1Qaz, Data Center Bridging Exchange (DCBX) Protocol
Ports 24 fixed autosensing 40 Gbps FCoE ports
Slots z Can be used in any and all of 16 payload slots of the Cisco MDS 9718 Multilayer
Director
z Can be used in any and all of 8 payload slots of the Cisco MDS 9710 Multilayer
Director
z Can be used in any and all of 4 payload slots of the Cisco MDS 9706 Multilayer
Director

Feature Description

z RSCN
z Login services
z Public loop
z Broadcast
z In-order delivery
Advanced capabilities z VSAN

z Port channel with multipath load balancing
z QoS: Flow based and zone based
Diagnostics and z Power-on self-test (POST) diagnostics

troubleshooting tools z Online diagnostics
z Fibre Channel ping
z Fibre Channel debug
z FCoE to FCoE SPAN
z Syslog
z Cisco Generic Online Diagnostics (GOLD)
Security z VSANs
z ACLs
z Per-VSAN role-based access control (RBAC)
z Cisco Switched Port Analyzer (SPAN)
o Secure Shell (SSH) Protocol Version 2 (v2) implementing Advanced Encryption
Standard (AES)
o Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) Version 3 implementing AES
o Secure FTP (SFTP)
Serviceability z Nondisruptive, concurrent code load and activation

z Configuration file management
z Nondisruptive software upgrades
z Cisco Call Home
z Port beaconing
z System LED
z Network boot
Performance z Port speed: 40 Gbps fixed bandwidth


z Hot-swappable Small Form-Factor Pluggable (SFP) optics
z Online diagnostics
z Any module, any port configuration for port channels
z Port tracking

Feature Description
Network management z Access methods through Cisco MDS 9700 Series supervisor module:
o Out-of-band 10/100/1000 Ethernet port (Supervisor-1/Supervisor-1E)
o In-band IPFC
o DB-9 COM port
z Access protocols:
o Command-line interface (CLI) by console and Ethernet ports
o SNMPv3 by Ethernet port and in-band IPFC access
o Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) SMI-S
z Network security:
o Per-VSAN RBAC by using RADIUS-based and TACACS+-based
authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) functions
o SFTP
o Cisco Data Center Network Manager (DCNM) for SAN
(DFM)

z Cisco DCNM for SAN GUI
z NX-API
Environmental z Temperature, ambient operating: 0 - 40C (32 - 104F)

z Temperature, ambient nonoperating and storage: 40 - 70C (40 - 158F)
z Relative humidity, ambient (noncondensing) operating: 5 - 90%
z Relative humidity, ambient (noncondensing) nonoperating and storage: 5 - 95%
z Altitude, operating: 60 - 2000 m (197 - 6500 ft)
Physical dimensions z Dimensions: 4.4 x 40.39 x 55.37 cm (1.75 x 15.9 x 21.8 in.)
z Occupies one I/O module slot in a Cisco MDS 9700 Series chassis
Power Typical: 680 watts (W)

Feature Description
Approvals and z Safety compliance:
compliance o CE marking
o UL 60950
o CAN/CSA-C22.2 No. 60950
o EN 60950
o IEC 60950
o TS 001
o AS/NZS 3260
o IEC60825
o EN60825
o 21 CFR 1040
z EMC compliance:
o FCC Part 15 (CFR 47) Class A
o ICES-003 Class A
o EN 55022 Class A
o CISPR 22 Class A
o AS/NZS 3548 Class A
o VCCI Class A
o KN22 Class A
o CNS13438 Class A
o CISPR24
o EN 55024
o EN 50082-1
o EN 61000-6-1
o EN 61000-3-2
o EN 61000-3-3
o EN300 386
Product specifications for the Cisco MDS 9700 Series Supervisor-1 Module
Table 9 lists the specifications for the Cisco MDS 9700 Series Supervisor-1 Module.
Table 9. Specifications for the Cisco MDS 9700 Series Supervisor-1 Module (part 1 of 3)
Feature Description
Product compatibility Cisco MDS 9700 Series
Interfaces z (1) RS-232 RJ-45 console port

z (1) 10/100/1000 Ethernet management port
z (2) USB 2.0 ports
Indicators z Status LED

z System LED
z Power management LED
z Active/standby LED
Backplane bandwidth z Up to 24 Tbps of FC backplane bandwidth

z Up to 384 2/4/8/16 Gbps Full Line Rate autosensing Fibre Channel and 10-Gbps
fixed speed ports in a single chassis
Chassis slot Two Cisco MDS 9700 Series Supervisor-1 modules are required per system.
configuration

Feature Description

z Login services
z Broadcast
z In-order delivery

z IVR
z QoS-flow-based, zone-based
z FCC
z N_Port ID virtualization

z SPAN and RSPAN
z Syslog

z ACLs
z Per-VSAN RBAC
o N_Port WWN
o N_Port FC-ID
o Fx_Port WWN
o Fx_Port WWN and interface index
o Fx_Port domain ID and interface index
o Fx_Port domain ID and port number
o LUN
o Read-only
o Broadcast
z FC-SP:
o DH-CHAP switch-switch authentication
o DH-CHAP host-switch authentication
o SFTP

z Call Home
z Port beaconing
z System LED
z Network boot

Feature Description

z Active-active redundancy
z Stateful Process Restart
z Stateful, nondisruptive supervisor failover
z Online, nondisruptive software upgrades
z Power management
z Thermal management
Network management z Access methods through Cisco MDS 9700 Series Supervisor-1 Module:
o Out-of-band 10/100/1000 Ethernet port
z Access protocols:
o CLI-using console and Ethernet ports
o SNMPv3-using Ethernet port and in-band IP over Fibre Channel access
z Network security:
o Per-VSAN role-based access control by using RADIUS-based and
TACACS+-based authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA)
functions
o SFTP
Programming interface z Scriptable CLI

z Data Center Network Manager web services API
z DCNM GUI
Table 10 lists the feature codes for licensed software.
Table 10. Licensed software

Feature Code Description
7610 MDS 9700 Enterprise Pkg
7611 DCNM SAN Advanced Edition MDS 9700
7612 MDS 9710 Mainframe Package
Why IBM
IBM offers a vast portfolio of hardware, software, and services that can help organizations of all sizes
address their IT infrastructure requirements in a comprehensive and integrated way. With IBM,
organizations can create a more flexible, robust, and resilient infrastructure to support critical business
operations.

Related information
For more information, see the following resources:
z Cisco MDS 9148S 16G Multilayer Fabric Switch for IBM System Storage, TIPS1255:
http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/tips1255.html
z Cisco MDS 9250i Multiservice Fabric Switch for IBM System Storage, TIPS1167:
z Cisco MDS 9396S 16G Multilayer Fabric Switch for IBM System Storage, REDP5274:
http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/redp5274.html
z Cisco MDS 9706 Multilayer Director for IBM System Storage, TIPS1256:
z Cisco MDS 9718 Multilayer Director for IBM Storage Networking, REDP5355:
http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/redp5355.html
z Cisco MDS 9710 Multilayer Director for IBM System Networking:

http://www.ibm.com/systems/networking/switches/san/ctype/9700/
z Cisco MDS 9700 Series Multilayer Directors:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps12970/index.html
z Cisco MDS 9000 Family Pluggable Transceivers:

http://bit.ly/1dbyDXs
z IBM Support Fix Central support site (select a product from drop-down menus):
http://www.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/
z IBM System Storage Interoperation Center (SSIC):

http://www.ibm.com/systems/support/storage/ssic/interoperability.wss

Notices
This information was developed for products and services offered in the US. This material might be available from
IBM in other languages. However, you may be required to own a copy of the product or product version in that
language in order to access it.
IBM may not offer the products, services, or features discussed in this document in other countries. Consult your local
IBM representative for information on the products and services currently available in your area. Any reference to an
IBM product, program, or service is not intended to state or imply that only that IBM product, program, or service may
be used. Any functionally equivalent product, program, or service that does not infringe any IBM intellectual property
right may be used instead. However, it is the user's responsibility to evaluate and verify the operation of any non-IBM
product, program, or service.
IBM may have patents or pending patent applications covering subject matter described in this document. The
furnishing of this document does not grant you any license to these patents. You can send license inquiries, in writing,
to:
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This information could include technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. Changes are periodically made to the
information herein; these changes will be incorporated in new editions of the publication. IBM may make
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Any references in this information to non-IBM websites are provided for convenience only and do not in any manner
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The performance data and client examples cited are presented for illustrative purposes only. Actual performance
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Information concerning non-IBM products was obtained from the suppliers of those products, their published
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names are fictitious and any similarity to actual people or business enterprises is entirely coincidental.
COPYRIGHT LICENSE:
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This document was created or updated on October 24, 2016.
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Cisco MDS 9710 Multilayer Director for IBM System

Layering a comprehensive set of intelligent features onto a high-performance, protocol-independent

Cisco MDS 9710 Multilayer Director for IBM System Networking 1

Did you know?

The Cisco MDS 9000 24/10-Port SAN Extension Module

Cisco MDS 9710 Multilayer Director for IBM System Networking 2

Figure 2. Cisco MDS 9000 24/10-Port SAN Extension Module

Main features and benefits

z FCIP for remote SAN extension

Cisco MDS 9710 Multilayer Director for IBM System Networking 3

Integrated FCIP for remote SAN and mainframe channel extension

Data-distribution, data-protection, and business-continuance services are significant components of

Advanced SAN extension features

Cisco MDS 9710 Multilayer Director for IBM System Networking 4

Integrated SAN Routing

Advanced Traffic Management

Advanced diagnostics and troubleshooting tools

Cisco MDS 9710 Multilayer Director for IBM System Networking 5

Comprehensive solution for robust network security

The Cisco MDS 9700 Series Supervisor-1 Module

Cisco MDS 9710 Multilayer Director for IBM System Networking 6

Figure 3. 16-Gbps Cisco MDS 9700 Series Supervisor-1 Module

The MDS 9700 Series 16-Gbps Fibre Channel Switching Module

Cisco MDS 9710 Multilayer Director for IBM System Networking 7

Figure 6. MDS 9700 24-port 40-Gbps FCoE Switching Module

Cisco MDS 9710 Multilayer Director for IBM System Networking 8

Cisco MDS 9710 Multilayer Director for IBM System Networking 10

Cisco MDS 9710 Multilayer Director for IBM System Networking 11

Reduce TCO with SAN Consolidation

Table 1. Redundancy details for the MDS 9710

Power supplies Grid redundancy

Fabrics N+1 redundancy

Business Transformation with Enterprise Cloud Deployment

z Multihop FCoE provisions storage in a multiprotocol unified fabric

Cisco MDS 9710 Multilayer Director for IBM System Networking 12

z Consolidate enterprise cloud deployments

Advanced traffic management

The Cisco DCNM offers the following functionality:

z Monitoring of events and performance historically and at scale

Cisco MDS 9710 Multilayer Director for IBM System Networking 13

In addition, FC-SP provides switch-to-switch and host-to-switch Diffie-Hellman Challenge Handshake

Advanced diagnostic and troubleshooting tools

Consolidation, reduced complexity , and lower power consumption

Figure 7. MDS 9700 Interconnects FCoE and FC SANs

Cisco MDS 9710 Multilayer Director for IBM System Networking 14

Integrated mainframe support

Cisco MDS 9710 Multilayer Director for IBM System Networking 15

Product compatibility Cisco MDS 9000 Family

Optional features z MDS 9000 24/10-port SAN Extension Module (3650)

Chassis slot configuration z Line-card slots: 8

Performance/Scalability z Up to 24-Tbps FC switching bandwidth

Fabric services z Name server

Cisco MDS 9710 Multilayer Director for IBM System Networking 16

Advanced functions z VSAN

Diagnostic tests and z POST diagnostic tests

Network security z VSANs

FICON z FC-SB-3 compliant

Serviceability z Configuration file management

Cisco MDS 9710 Multilayer Director for IBM System Networking 17

Reliability and availability z Online, nondisruptive software upgrades