Cisco MDS 9000 Family Fabric Switch Portfolio
Table 1 summarizes the features that the Cisco MDS 9000 family fabric switch platforms
offer to meet the storage network requirements of campus, SMB, and enterprise data centers.
Table 1. Cisco MDS 9000 Family Fabric Switch Platform Features
Feature
Cisco MDS
Cisco MDS
IBM Blade
HP Blade
Switch
Switch for
for IBM
HP c-Class
BladeCenter
BladeSystem
10 or 20
12 or 24
4-Gbps Fibre
Channel Ports
10-Gbps Fibre
No
No
Channel Ports
Gigabit
No
No
Ethernet Ports
Modular
N/A
N/A
Expansion
Slot
Trunking or
Yes
Yes
PortChannels
and Safe
Code
Upgrades
Extended
Yes
Yes
Distance
Support
–
–
Redundant
Power
Supplies
Virtual Fabric
Yes
Yes
or VSAN
Yes
Yes
Port Security
Easy
Configuration
Configuration
Configuration,
wizard and Cisco
wizard and Cisco
Event
Fabric and Device
Fabric and Device
Monitoring,
Managers
Managers
and Fabric
Management
QoS
Yes
Yes
Cisco SME
No
No
and DMM
Cisco MDS
Cisco MDS
Cisco MDS
Benefit
9124
9134
9222i
8 to 24
24 to 64
18 to 66
Buy what you need,
pay as you grow
No
Yes
No
Scalability with high
performance
No
No
4
Transparent
integration of FCIP
and iSCSI storage
No
No
1
High flexibility,
smooth migration,
and investment
protection with
fabric storage
services modules
Yes
Yes
Yes
High-availability
features to
minimize
disruption
Yes
Yes
Yes
Capability for
business continuity
solutions
Yes
Yes
Yes
Critical for high
availability
Yes
Yes
Yes
Isolation of fabric
disruption without
the need to spend
money on isolated
SAN islands
Yes
Yes
Yes
Secure port-level
access
Configuration
Configuration
Cisco Fabric
Time-efficient. easy
wizard and
wizard and
and Device
setup and network
Cisco Fabric
Cisco Fabric
Managers
monitoring and
and Device
and Device
fabric management
Managers
Managers
Yes
Yes
Yes
Prioritization of
business-critical
applications in
the fabric
No
No
Yes
Data encryption for
centralized security
and transparent
data movement
with minimal
application
disruption
Storage Networking Solutions with Cisco Fabric Switches
Figure 2 shows sample configurations using Cisco MDS 9000 family fabric switches.
Figure 2. Sample SAN Configurations Using Cisco MDS 9000 Family Fabric Switches
SAN Type
Sample Configuration Diagram
E-mail
Departmental
SAN
Database
E-mail,
Database
Enterprise
Core-Edge
SAN
Cisco MDS 9000
Fabric Switches
Storage Arrays
Tape Libraries
Business
Continuity
Metro-SAN
Cisco MDS 9100
Fabric Switch
Storage Arrays
Tape Libraries
Business
Continuity
SAN over IP
Cisco MDS 9222i
Consolidation
Blade
Fan-out SAN
Cisco Switch Module
for IBM BladeCenter
Storage Arrays
Cisco MDS 9000
Tape Libraries
Fabric Switch
Storage Arrays
Tape Libraries
Cisco MDS 9500
Director Switches
Storage Arrays
Tape Libraries
Storage
MAN
Cisco MDS 9100
Fabric Switch
Storage Arrays
Tape Libraries
WAN/LAN
Cisco MDS 9222i
Storage Arrays
Tape Libraries
Cisco MDS 9100
Fabric Switches
At-A-Glance
Solution Focus
•
Shared
Storage
•
Common
Backup
•
Simplified
Management
•
Scalability
•
Security
•
Compliance
and
Regulations
•
Consolidation
•
Business
Continuity
•
Compliance
and
Regulations
•
Simplified
Management
•
Business
Continuity
•
Compliance
and
Regulations
•
Simplified
Management
•
Consolidation
•
Simplified
Management
•
Scalability
•
Virtualization
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